Educational Challenges of Roma People in Europe and Dalits in India:
A Comparative Analysis (PART II)
By V Santhakumar and Edina Kovács
The situation of Dalits in India
People belonging to the so-called lower castes and tribal communities (together called Dalits) were marginalised in India for centuries.1 They continue to face the remanent of such historical marginalisation even now. This is reflected in their educational achievements too. Currently, nearly half of the teenage population in India does not complete school education and the share of students from lower castes and tribal populations among these dropouts is disproportionately higher.2
There are a number of reasons for these underachievements in education among the Dalits. The historical deprivation of Dalits in terms of assets (mainly land) perpetuated poverty among them. They were denied literacy and education. Even religious texts of Hinduism could only be read by the upper and priestly castes. They were not allowed to interact freely with the dominant sections of society and `untouchability’ in various forms was practised.
Though independent India made several changes legally3 (like making caste discrimination illegal), their impact on the educational and living conditions of Dalits has not been significant. Post-independence governments did not focus on mass literacy and expansion of school education until the 1980s,4 and this worked against Dalits who had minimal resources of their own, were living in underserved areas, and had no exposure to education for generations. Since their children were not getting and completing school education, even though there were reservations for them in higher education and government jobs, they did not benefit from it.
The provision of education has improved in India during the last two to three decades.5 There is a government primary school in or very close to almost all settlements of populations. The facilities in schools, such as infrastructure and the availability of qualified teachers, have also improved. There are other support schemes, such as mid-day meals and the provision of free textbooks and uniforms in government schools. This has encouraged more and more children from the Dalit community to enrol in school.
Despite these improvements, the completion of schooling continues to be an issue.6Sections of boys drop out in secondary grades (ages 13-15 years) and take up unskilled jobs.7 This is more prevalent among tribal communities.8 This non-completion of school education leads to the persistence of a higher level of poverty and underdevelopment among these marginalised groups. And this is partly due to the inadequacies of the education that is provided. There could be practices of exclusion in government schools which may discourage Dalit children from attending school regularly.9 The curriculum may not be connected to the living context of children from tribal communities.10 The education may not be in the home language of sections of these children.
There are certain behavioural patterns which affect the schooling of children in India. There is the practice of arranging the marriage of daughters by paying dowry to the bridegroom’s family among most Indian communities, but this may affect the schooling of girls in poorer families (and the majority of these families are from historically marginalised social groups, like lower castes). The need to pay a higher dowry if the girl is educated (added to it is the possible delay in marriage) and the reluctance of educated girls to accept a less-educated bridegroom, encourage sections of poorer parents to arrange the marriage of their daughter early.11 This can work against the secondary education of girls in such families.12
One can see the lack of adequate aspirations affecting the education of boys and girls in these marginalised social groups. Many less educated parents may think that spending a few more years in education may not be that useful for their children considering the possibility of getting an income through unskilled work when they reach the age of 13-15 years. The availability of such work (disregarding the laws against child labour) may discourage sections of children from continuing in secondary education.13 The work that is done by children at home and on family-owned farms is not recognised as child labour (which is banned) in India. This and other traditional practices may lead to a situation where elder daughters are entrusted with the care of younger siblings, and this may affect their attendance in school. All these create a situation wherein there are states where around one-fifth of the girls drop out without getting ten years of schooling and most of them come from less privileged groups, like lower castes.
In essence, children from Dalit families in India continue to face serious challenges in attaining a school education. This is partly due to the residual effect of historical marginalisation and deprivation. There have been efforts to improve the provision of schooling to all, including these sections, during the last three decades. However, the progress in the educational achievements of Dalits continues to be slow. This can partly be due to the behavioural norms and choices of these families (which itself could be a manifestation of the exclusion that they have encountered historically).
Similarities between Dalit and Roma communities
There are striking similarities between Indian Dalits and the Roma people of Europe.14 Both have undergone historical suppression, exclusion and discrimination for centuries.15 These have implications on their ownership of assets and the material conditions of their life, historically and currently. Education in mainstream schools was inaccessible to them for a long period. Their livelihood and cultural practices, including language (especially in the case of tribal populations in India), were not represented in mainstream education. In addition, they faced exclusion in school and classrooms. Special efforts have been underway to extend education to them in a non-coercive manner in India and Europe during the last three to four decades, but the remnants of past exclusion have not disappeared from the education system as a whole.
The historical underachievements in education shape these communities’ current abilities, interests and aspirations regarding the schooling of their children. Many parents of children belonging to Dalit and Roma communities have little or no education (these children are first-generation school-goers) so these children do not receive academic support at home. This can have a negative impact on their education if schools are not equipped to compensate for this lack of home-based learning support. Parents’ inadequate exposure to schooling may discourage them from taking steps to see that their children attend schools regularly and participate in school processes well to benefit from such attendance. The limited aspirations of these parents, and the fact that the majority of youngsters from Dalits and Roma communities do not gain much from higher levels of education, may reduce their interest to ensure that their children continue in secondary school, complete it successfully, and go for higher education.
There may be similarities in the norms and practices of Dalits in India and Roma people in Europe. There could be a focus on `family’ and `community’ relationships. Arranging marriages based on payments between families (bride and bridegroom) prevails in both communities. The fear that children as they grow up may make choices which may not conform to the family/community expectations may encourage parents to make work or marriage choices for them at a relatively younger age, which may have a negative impact on the educational achievements of children.
The personal choices of individuals may be shaped by family and community norms. These may impact their expectations of what grown-up children can and cannot do. This dependence on internal norms can also mean less attention to what others accomplish through education. The achievements of others (say, in terms of education) may not motivate these marginalised and somewhat secluded communities. It may enhance the `distance’ between these communities and others (that is, mainstream Europeans in the case of Roma people or the upper castes in India). Fewer marriages between Dalits and upper castes in India16 and between Roma people and Europeans may have led to the persistence of this distance. There is a fear on the part of families or communities about some individuals among them breaking their norms/traditions and there can be normative precautions to prevent such actions. If some individuals indeed break such norms, they may be treated as outsiders, and may not have a voice within these communities.
In both these cases, there is a need for public education to evolve to include them. However, that by itself, may not be adequate considering the historical gap between their education and that of the rest. There have to be proactive steps to encourage parents and communities to use education for their children in a much more beneficial manner. These may require additional efforts on the part of schools and also appropriate design and implementation of social policies and programmes. It may also require proactive actions on the part of governments and civil society organisations.
Differences between Dalits and Roma communities
Though there are important similarities between the situation of the Roma people and that of Dalits, there are also notable differences. Dalits, especially the lower castes, were somewhat coercively integrated into Hindu society but were accorded an inferior position. If we take the metaphorical understanding of untouchability, Dalits were kept within the Hindu fold but at a distance. Dalit families might have interacted with upper-caste people closely, but it was an unequal interaction. The latter tried to impose their cultural values on the former. For example, the values of intense patriarchy seemed to have transmitted from the upper castes to Dalits.17 The stigmatisation of Dalits in India was through a close interaction with the oppressor.
On the other hand, Roma people were perceived historically as migrants, different, and ‘othered’. This migrant status on the one hand, and the adversarial attitude of the mainstream society on the other, may have encouraged Roma people to be much more inward-looking. They might have faced an identity crisis (a perception of rootlessness) and this could have encouraged them to depend more on intra-community relationships and less on building networks and relationships with the mainstream community. There were interactions between the Roma people and the dominant sections (in terms of employment), but these were not aimed at integrating them into the dominant system. Roma people were kept at a `distance’. In most cases, they accepted the dominant religion of their host country and in that sense, there was certain religious assimilation. However, this has not reduced the distance between them and the white population. Such a distance also means a marginalisation in terms of access to (and inclusion in the provision of) public services.
The different kinds of marginalisation that Dalits in India and Roma people have faced might have led to different kinds of responses from them. One feature in India is the process of `Sanskritisation’ wherein people belonging to lower castes attempted to adopt the values of the upper castes.18 However, this did not help the former much in terms of education and human development since certain values of the upper castes (like those of intense patriarchy) were inimical to the empowerment of all individuals and development. Poverty combined with these not-so-enabling values made educational advancement much more difficult for Dalits (whereas upper-castes could acquire education and employment due to their economic conditions even though these values might have affected the higher education and/or employment of their women.)
On the other hand, there is a greater incentive to persist with their own community values for Roma people. They may see the adoption of practices of the oppressor as unsettling. However, the greater dependence on the values of their own community also may not enable the education of their children. Some of these norms evolved when education was unimportant, that is, when boys had to take up work as and when they are physically capable; when girls married when they are physiologically ready, etc. Marginalisation, and the lesser readiness to integrate with mainstream society, would mean that some of these norms (which work against the education of children) persist.
Though Dalits and Roma people both have encountered suppression historically and marginalisation currently, and there are behavioural aspects which affect the education of their children. The pathways through which these aspects have evolved, and impacted education could be somewhat different for these two communities.
Possible impacts of stigmatisation
Behavioural experiments have noted the long-term impacts of stigmatisation. There is a general perception that girls do not perform well in mathematics in schools. However, it is demonstrated that this can be due to the stereotype threat.19 This shows that stigmatisation can affect the actual performance of those people who are stigmatised.
Similar experiments were conducted among students belonging to lower castes in India.20 Here the stigma is the poor academic performance of these students (compared to those from mainstream or upper-caste populations). An impact of stigmatisation similar to that in the case of girls could be seen in the case of children from lower-caste families. This again shows that stigmatisation per se can have an impact on the actual performance of those who are subjected to it.
Given that Roma people are subjected to different kinds of stigmatisation historically, one should not be surprised to see them performing based on the expectations (prejudices) behind this stigmatisation. This need not be due to their innate features but could be due to the stigmatisation itself. In summary, the underperformance of children from Roma communities in mainstream education can be partly due to poverty (which is a result of their identity-based discrimination) and partly due to stigmatisation.
There are also narratives of top-performing Roma people. Most people talk about the proficiency of Roma communities in music. They are welcomed as musicians and dancers at parties and functions of mainstream populations in Hungary and other European countries. Some of these musicians have acquired celebrity status in Europe.
All this does not make the underachievements in the education of Roma children unimportant (even if these are due to stigmatisation and discrimination). There is a need to address the limitations of the education system and public policies on the one hand and bring about behavioural changes among Roma people, on the other. This is especially so when there is a need to improve the educational and development status of the Roma communities.
Insights on the long-run transformation of specific social groups
The experience of Roma communities also may provide insights into the long-run social transformation of specific groups of populations. There is an argument that interaction with other communities (or the reduction of distance in a metaphorical sense) between diverse communities may enable social transformation.21 However, the longer period of interaction with the European population has not enabled the development-oriented social transformation of the Roma people. This is true of Dalits in India too. The lower castes who were integrated into the mainstream Hindu society but placed in an inferior position had opportunities to interact economically with the upper castes. Oppression and the inferior position might have worked against the social transformation of Dalits in India. Some of these may be seen as counter-examples of the hypothesis which notes the positive impact of the reduction of `distance’ between social groups.
The cases of the Roma people and the Dalits show that specific social groups can remain less educated and underdeveloped for generations. An equilibrium of social discrimination combined with economic deprivation can sustain for a long time as evident not only from the study of these two sections of people but also from that of the Black community in the United States. This is despite the political transformation which compels countries and their governments to address the marginalisation of these social groups through various strategies. What leads to this long-term persistence of economic underdevelopment of specific social groups is an intriguing issue. Though the lack of assets, like land, is a historical fact, access to education could have improved the situation. However, a combination of the lack of inclusion in education and behavioural norms which discourage them to use education well may prevent the majority of people from these underprivileged groups from overcoming those historically shaped challenges.
Changes in government policies may lead to more inclusive policies in education. However, what enables communities to change their behavioural norms which facilitate the use of education could be a persisting concern. Does the interaction with people outside of their communities help such a behavioural change? There are different trends in this regard. One can see certain closeness (in terms of social interactions) in the behaviour of Indian communities who have migrated to other parts of the world. Africans complain about the reluctance of Indian migrants who have lived in their continent for generations to socially mingle and interact with the locals.22 There is a certain closeness in the behaviour of Indian Americans too.23 However, Indian traders in Africa and most Indian Americans come from the so-called upper castes. There is a certain inward-looking behaviour among them, but it has not affected their economic status (though it may have affected the rights of certain members of these communities, for example, women feeling compelled to marry Indians only). So even though there is a persistence of certain community norms among these privileged groups, these do not work against their educational attainment.
One can also look for reasons which encourage communities to be somewhat `closed’ in terms of behavioural norms and social interactions. Certain closeness in this regard can be seen among all migrants (or most communities). The Chinese and Indian migrants can be seen interacting mostly among themselves in different parts of the world. Social identities may be giving certain comfort to people in general, and this may be more visible among migrants. The external environment can also encourage communities to be inward-looking.24 One may hypothesise that the adversarial attitude towards Roma communities may have encouraged them to be somewhat closed in terms of behavioural norms and social interactions. However, this `closeness’ per se need not be a cause for marginalisation. This is evident from the situation of Indian merchants who live in Africa or even Indian Americans or Indo-Canadians.
On the other hand, the migration of less-privileged Indians happened mainly in two historical contexts. First is that of the Roma people. And the second is the movement of indentured workers to British colonies which happened after 1834 (after the abolition of slavery).25 Understanding the nature of these two migrations, the kind of social interactions that these groups have had, and their impact on the social and economic well-being of their future generations in their destination countries may provide insights into long-run social change. The transformation of indentured workers in Mauritius, Suriname, Guyana, etc., may provide some insights in this regard and this needs to be analysed. Indentured workers developed certain comfort by connecting with their historical roots (based on real and no-so-real perceptions) in India.26 As noted in a study on Indo-Guyanese people, `This inviolable, surreal India was a potent, malleable, instrument of self-preservation, of racial dignity, in a society where few, if any, dared to challenge European definitions of the human condition.’
A Comparison with indentured Indian workers who were taken to Guyana
Thousands of workers mainly from poor backgrounds (and many from the so-called lower castes) were taken from India to the Caribbean and Latin American countries, like Guyana between 1850 and 1915 to work in Colonial-owned plantations. These included female workers too since colonial managers wanted to have more women to address the scarcity of women among Indian migrants in Guyana and used different strategies to recruit women. Women who were abandoned or found refuge in temple cities, like Ayodhya or Vrindavan, were also the targets of such recruitment.
Life was difficult and tumultuous for these workers. New sexual and marital alliances developed during the long-distance travel and stay in Guyana. Caste could not be a barrier to such relationships.27 The scarcity of women among Indian migrants led to the breaking down of life-long monogamous relationships. The very low incomes and the bonded nature of work added to their difficulties.
Though there were choices for indentured Indian women in terms of sexual and marital partners (which sometimes led to violent responses from rejected males), most of these relationships were within Indian people. Though white overseers and managers occasionally had relationships with Indian coolie women, this was not that common or encouraged and did not lead to a sizeable white-brown mixed population. There were very few relationships between Indians and the Blacks – the other populous group in Guyana which came in as slave workers before the Indians. Hence `Indianness’ continued among the newer generations of indentured workers.
Poverty and suppression, and the identity crisis encouraged Indian workers to imagine and reinvent their cultural connections with India. They started recreating cultural forms, like storytelling based on Ramayana and followed what they probably imagined as Indian practices including festivals, in the newfound land. The perception of the masculine role of Indian men continued; the male was seen as the main breadwinner and patrilocal residence was followed.
Though these may have given Indians certain comfort in terms of roots and identity, these also limited many possibilities. Though caste became unimportant, patriarchy persisted in violent forms. The choices that were available to women due to the initial scarcity did not enable them to have a life and culture which was more equitable. Imaginations of Indianness (and its associated rigidities) persisted and people started yearning for it due to their poverty, vulnerability and subordinateness.
When people moved out of plantations, they started peasant farming. This led to some regression in social and gender norms. Sections of women withdraw from paid employment and moved back to the status of housewives. Or like the poorer women workers in India, they considered a housewife status as desirable or ideal (for themselves or their daughters). All these led to a regression in the status of women. Possibly the lack of opportunities as industrial workers and the dependence on peasant farming have accelerated this regressive transition.28
However, the Indian tendency of trying to build assets for the family continued in Guyana too. They saved a part of their income to acquire or build assets. Over time, education was also seen as an asset. There is not a major reluctance to educate girls though one can see both boys and girls opting out of higher levels of education to work and get married and become busy with childcare. Probably as in India or much more than it is in India, a section of people educated their girls so they could migrate to other countries (mainly the USA) or be accepted as part of the professional class in their own country.
Indians as a group have done well economically compared to the Blacks. However, this might have led to political tussles and violent conflicts were common in the past. The interactions with the Blacks were not very friendly even historically. Black slave workers opposed the import of Indian indentured workers. Indian workers did not see Black men and women as appropriate partners in marriage. However, the fact that Indians did not encounter an economically powerful group after colonialism might have enabled them to build up limited assets and gain an upper hand in the economy. The political tussles have encouraged them to migrate to developed countries.
How do we see the transition of Indo-Guyanese in comparison with that of Roma people? The latter too continued with their community norms and cultural practices, probably more vigorously, as part of their identity crisis in the countries to which they migrated. They were also responding to certain economic opportunities which were available to them with family and community endowments. However, the availability of economic opportunities in modern sectors of the economy was limited due to discrimination in the labour market, and historical suppression and exclusion. Though British colonialism ended and the British left Guyana, Roma people continued to interact with Europeans throughout their life in the countries where they lived. The continued confrontation with a more powerful and endowed group might have reduced the economic opportunities for the Roma people (which was not the case with the Indians who lived in Guyana). The incentives to use education may depend on how it helps in utilising economic opportunities. In that sense, the Roma people may not have seen education as useful especially due to the discrimination that they continue to face in employment.
Studies on the social mobility of Roma people have identified two kinds of barriers:29 first is exclusion or cost of entry into modern society and second is the self-isolation or cost of exit from traditional lifestyle. The comparison with other Indian migrants may show that certain kinds of inward-looking social and cultural norms can be practised by all, and these may be driven by a need to assert or articulate one’s identity. This per se need not work against the education of the next generation as evident from the case of Indian migrants in Africa or other parts of the world. However, this may be facilitated by the lesser cost of entry into modern society. The entry does not mean that they are willing to embrace modernisation fully. However, the cost of entry and exit together do not seem to have enabled the higher levels of education of a substantial section of Roma youngsters. This could be due to the fact that the higher cost of entry can also increase the higher cost of exit. For example, Roma people’s internal norms are partly based on their perceptions of non-Roma people30 (and the historical behaviour of the latter towards the former may have played some role in shaping these perceptions.) Though Roma people are entrepreneurial in terms of those `businesses’ which are traditional to them, the dominance of the mainstream society in modern economic opportunities wherein education is important, may make them less willing to explore such opportunities.
What do these mean to policies meant to improve the use of school education by Roma children? There is a need to try out strategies of two kinds: first, to make schools a lot more inclusive, take proactive actions to avoid discrimination in labour markets and to see that educated Roma people can use the economic opportunities like everyone else in the countries where they live. The second is to encourage and enable Roma parents to use not only primary schools but also higher levels of education for their children. Insider role models and social and political activists may have to play an important role in bringing about appropriate changes in internal norms to make these a lot more enabling for the education of Roma youngsters.
The persistence of educational underachievements of Dalits can also be due to a similar process, wherein the exclusion through caste discrimination from the dominant section (upper castes) led to internal norms and perceptions which discouraged them from using education well even when it became available to them. The limited economic opportunities for Dalits who get some level of education may be encouraging them to direct their attention towards those opportunities which do not require higher levels of education.
AUTHORS
V Santhakumar is Professor, Azim Premji University, Bangalore.
Edina Kovács is a Hungarian literature (2009) and Pedagogy (2018) teacher, and educational researcher (2011). She got her PhD at the University of Debrecen, in the frame of the Educational Sciences Doctoral Program. Her main research topics were commitment and achievement of in-service and pre-service teachers and different aspects of teacher training. The dimension of gender is important in this field, because of the feminisation of the teaching profession. She got the Grant of International Visegrad Fund in 2014 and examined Slovak and Hungarian students in teacher training. She is also the recipient of grants of the National Excellence Program in 2013 and 2016. She has been a member of the editorial board of the European Journal of Educational Research since 2018. During the last six years, she has examined how students’ attitudes are developing and how they can reduce their prejudices towards Roma people, especially Roma students.
Featured photo by Archie Binamira on www.pexels.com
