{"id":98,"date":"2023-03-18T08:12:33","date_gmt":"2023-03-18T08:12:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/acdr.in\/?p=98"},"modified":"2023-03-18T18:12:51","modified_gmt":"2023-03-18T18:12:51","slug":"some-thoughts-on-the-ongoing-debate-around-the-tragic-demise-of-darshan-solanki","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acdr.in\/index.php\/2023\/03\/18\/some-thoughts-on-the-ongoing-debate-around-the-tragic-demise-of-darshan-solanki\/","title":{"rendered":"Some thoughts on the ongoing debate around the tragic demise of Darshan Solanki"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Amit Singh<\/strong>, Research and teaching worker, IIT\nBombay<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The recent death of the first year dalit undergraduate student,\nDarshan Solanki, has once again raised the question of the caste\ndiscrimination and related biases on the IITB campus. The institutions\nand support system that the Institute has built over the years in order\nto deal with the mental stress and the caste related discrimination have\nrightly come under the scanner. The Student Wellness Centre (SWC), whose\nmandate is to provide counselling to the students who are facing or\nhaving \u201cacademic concerns, social (family and peer) pressure etc,\nleading to feelings of loneliness, low confidence, anxiety, stress,\nanger and sadness, to name a few,\u201d has not been able to achieve much of\nits goals. The center does not have wide reach among the student\ncommunity. And when last year the concerned students pointed out\nanti-reservation views expressed in a social media post by the In-charge\nof the SWC and demanded her removal, the Institute did not listen to the\ndemand, except privately reprimanding her following which she deleted\nher post. The demand to increase dalit-adivasi-bahujan psychologists and\ncounsellors in the SWC was also not given any importance. Similarly, the\nSC\/ST Students Cell which aims to address \u201cacademic and non-academic\nissues and complaints received from the students belonging to the SC and\nST communities\u201d has been found to be lacking in its mandate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

It is not that the Institute has not made progress over the years. The increasing visibility of the dalit issues, the increasing representation of the Dalits among the faculty and students, the support system it is trying to build, sometimes reluctantly under the democratic pressure, they all paint not such a bleak picture. However, it would be fair to say that the pace is not satisfactory and a genuine far-sighted radical approach to education and pedagogy is still lacking to address both the academics related mental stress and the overt and subtle presence of caste-related biases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This has been visible one more time in the interim report prepared by\nthe committee to investigate the death of Darshan Solanki. The committee\nconcluded that the deteriorating academic performance of Darshan could\nhave affected him seriously and termed the death of Darshan as a case of\nsuicide. However, the committee did not look at the structural issues\ndeeply which resulted into the lack of interest shown by the victim in\nhis studies even though the committee itself suggests that JEE-rank\ndifferences, computer familiarity and language barrier were some of the\npossible causes for Darshan to remain aloof and introvert. The interim\nreport also found no specific evidence of direct<\/strong>\ncaste-based discrimination except for the statement of Darshan\u2019s sister.\nThis means that the report does not rule out the indirect or\nstructural\/institutional caste-based discrimination. Not catering to the\nlanguage, computer, comfortability (in a not-so-welcoming new\natmosphere) related needs of dalit or other students definitely comes\nunder the purview of discrimination or at least neglect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is clear that the Institute has found itself on the wrong side\ndespite taking some of the measures, although incomplete and not enough,\nto address these issues. This has also forced the Institute to take some\ndamage controlling steps which should have been taken much earlier. For\nexample, the words have spread out that the Institute has already\nchanged the person In-charge of the SWC and fresh advertisements have\nbeen circulated to hire dalit-adivasi-bahujan counsellors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, what is to be done? The progressive organizations have been\ncalling for creating an inclusive atmosphere by adopting measures such\nas creating more awareness on caste discrimination among the general\nIITB community through curricular and extra-curricular activities,\nstrengthening the SC\/ST cell, providing the support system to deal with\nlanguage and computer barriers and so on. These progressive demands are\ndefinitely the need of the hour, however, the Institute in its defense\nwould point out that they are already trying to implement these\nconstructive suggestions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is happening is that the critics are not happy with the measures\nthe Institute has taken citing the pace, the mandate, constitutional\nrules and other things, whereas the Institute has been claiming to\nalready have taken certain steps and mentions its continuous efforts to\nbuild the campus more inclusive. However, there is one question that has\nbeen completely missing from this debate; the need to fundamentally\nchallenge the current student evaluation and grading system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Based on several research and studies, people like Alfie Kohn have\nbeen arguing about abolishing the grades itself. According to Kohn 1<\/sup><\/a>, grades reduce students\u2019 interest in\nthe learning process, their preference for challenging tasks and quality\nof students\u2019 thinking. They are also subjective and not reproducible.\nGrades encourage cheating and spoil the teacher\u2019s relationship with\nstudents and students\u2019 relationship with each other. Thinking from this\npoint of view, as if the world outside was not cruel enough, the current\ngrading and education system fosters cut-throat competition instead of\ncooperation among the students and dehumanizes both teachers and\nstudents in the process on the campus. What we learn in the process of\neducation (both teachers and students) is no longer considered to be\nimportant but how well one has learnt relative to peers becomes the\nprimary focus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are of-course practical difficulties in taking such a radical\nstep, however, as Kohn argues that instead of killing such conversation,\nwe should open it more and find meaningful and constructive solutions to\nthe challenges posed. The assessment of the students could be in terms\nof written detailed comments on the students\u2019 performance, creating\nportfolios which could be collections of students\u2019 writings and projects\nand providing opportunities to students to show their own\ncapabilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The demand for abolition of grades is a universal demand and yet it\nshould be especially paramount for the students coming through the SC\/ST\nquota whose admission is secured on the basis of reduced cut-off marks.\nDue to several socio-politico-economic-historical reasons, the SC\/ST\nstudents therefore start with a lesser training level, but suddenly they\nare asked to compete with the \u2018General\u2019 category students as if the gap\nin the training level has already been bridged just by making a presence\non the campus. It is true that many such students are able to level off\nthis gap during the course of their B. Tech, M. Tech and PhD programs,\nand this is one of the reasons why these reservation systems in the\nadmission process should continue. But many students find it extremely\ndifficult to bridge this gap during their whole program. This has been\nreflected in the A. K. Suresh-led committee report to investigate the\nallegations of the parents of Late Aniket Ambhore, who fell to his death\nfrom the sixth floor of Hostel 13 on Sept 04, 2014. The committee found\nthat nearly 70% of students with CPI below 5 belong to the SC\/ST\ncategory. In other words, there is a need to improve the skills and\ntraining level of the SC\/ST students who are already facing structural\nbiases. This can be aided by abolishing the grades and making the\nlearning more enjoyable in the process without constant threats (F\u2019s)\nand bribes (A\u2019s).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To sum, the recent tragic \u201csuicide\u201d calls for a wider debate on the\nway we teach and the way we evaluate the students\u2019 performance. The\novert and not-so-overt caste-based discriminations, structural or\nnon-structural, direct or indirect, need to be removed. But unless we\nremove a grading system which degrades the students and teachers alike\nbased on the faulty assumption that every student in the campus starts\non the equal footing and all it needs is to fill their mind with\nknowledge following the banking model of education, we cannot even start\nthinking of removing the inequities that we are talking about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PS: I thank several friends who helped me correct factual and other mistakes. Any remaining errors are mine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Republished from countercurrents.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Footnotes<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
    \n
  1. https:\/\/www.alfiekohn.org\/article\/degrading-de-grading\/<\/a>\u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    <\/p>\n

    Amit Singh<\/strong>, Research and teaching worker, IIT
    \nBombay<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    The recent death of the first year dalit undergraduate student,
    \nDarshan Solanki, has once again raised the question of the caste
    \ndiscrimination and related biases on the IITB campus. The institutions
    \nand support system that the Institute has built over the years in order
    \nto deal with the mental stress and the caste related discrimination have
    \nrightly come under the scanner. The Student Wellness Centre (SWC), whose
    \nmandate is to provide counselling to the students who are facing or
    \nhaving \u201cacademic concerns, social (family and peer) pressure etc,
    \nleading to feelings of loneliness, low confidence, anxiety, stress,
    \nanger and sadness, to name a few,\u201d has not been able to achieve much of
    \nits goals. The center does not have wide reach among the student
    \ncommunity. And when last year the concerned students pointed out
    \nanti-reservation views expressed in a social media post by the In-charge
    \nof the SWC and demanded her removal, the Institute did not listen to the
    \ndemand, except privately reprimanding her following which she deleted
    \nher post. The demand to increase dalit-adivasi-bahujan psychologists and
    \ncounsellors in the SWC was also not given any importance. Similarly, the
    \nSC\/ST Students Cell which aims to address \u201cacademic and non-academic
    \nissues and complaints received from the students belonging to the SC and
    \nST communities\u201d has been found to be lacking in its mandate.<\/p>\n

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