Caste on Campus: The unseen Hierarchy in Indian Campuses
"There will be outcasts as long as there are castes. Nothing can emancipate the outcaste except the destruction of the caste system."
-DR. B.R. AMBEDKAR
Who is free in this independent India? Nithin Raj, did he have freedom? A never-ending story adds one more name: a first-year BDS student at Kannur Anjarakandy Medical College, Kerala, committed suicide, who had been facing constant bullying by professors, raising serious concerns about caste-based violence in contemporary society.
Research’s shows that Dalit students often experience low self-esteem and self-respect, due to discrimination and abuse from childhood. In classrooms, caste-based discrimination and exploitation by peers and teachers are common, often, leading to social exclusion and isolation. In extreme cases, persistent bullying led to suicide. Faculties may contribute to these either by being actively involved, as in the Rohith Vemula case, or by failing to address.
Professors must correct upper-caste students; concrete action must be taken against them, or else, soon, these perpetrators will take the professors' positions. Asking for the caste name is a common ritual in most of the northern Indian states, which makes the Dalit students vulnerable in front of their fellow students. Support system is one of the main reasons for discrimination, caste Hindus often refer to these students as “Quota guy,” one of the main slurs raised against Rohith Vemula in HCU. " My birth is my fatal accident"- his words keep remains us how caste define the life of a dalit.
Many activists and commentators use the term "institutional violence" or "institutional murder" to describe cases where systemic neglect leads to student deaths, from Rohith Vemula to Nithin Raj. Both became victims of caste atrocities inside educational institutions by "professors”. Yet these incidents prove that education does not break caste, that education does not turn animals into humans.
From unfairly kicking out a student from the hostel and blocking his JRF funds to mocking their mother's surgery, the atrocities committed by those engaging in casteist violence know no limits. Still, the institutions would say it was because the students were "weak".
According to NCRB(National Crime Records Bureau) crimes against SC 13 % in just one year, with 57582 reported incidents in 2022 alone, indicates systemic intensification of violence against the marginalised. In 1,70,924 suicides happened in India 7.6 % (13,044) were students (NCRB,2022). The increase in suicide is clear; student have increased from 5,425 in 2001 to 13,044 in 2022. A 140 % increaser over just two decades. In just six months of 2025, the Casts Justice Project reported 113 atrocities, Utter Pradesh, Rajasthan and Madya Pradesh have been identified as hotspots.
According to survey conducted national wide in 2025 covering 12.8 lakh students,1.6 lakh faculty members, and 16,750 higher education institutions by the Supreme Court appointed National Task Force (NTF), confirms institutional violence is real and structural. The NTF found that SC, ST, Non- English speaking and rural background students form a distinct group on campus in terms of privilege and confidence, as Ambedkar said “the starting point is different”.
The Rohith Vemula bill, recently introduced, sparked widespread uproar in India. Another topic to be discussed along with it is reservation. Let us start with the Rohith Bill, which primarily aimed to provide better protection for marginalised people in educational institutions. However, the Savarnas rejected this bill completely as it would make them accountable for the atrocities they had committed for centuries against the marginalised.
Reservations in India have existed since independence due to the struggle of Dr Ambedkar, but now more elites are calling for meritocracy in institutions. Reservation is for equality in opportunity. In a society like India, where segregation has existed for centuries, ‘absolute equality’ would only mean absolute domination of every section of society by the elite bourgeoisie. For a Dalit, a school is often a place to escape the labour at home and not to die of hunger. However, for an upper-caste bourgeoisie, it will be a place of knowledge and skill. When the starting point is different, how can the push given to be equal be injustice?
Caste is so entrenched in Indian culture that even after centuries, it continues to survive, though its forms have changed. Let us talk about caste in education. An educational institute is a space of equality. The learners gain knowledge in that space; thinking that particular space is the breeding ground of caste itself is disturbing. The Dalit community has always faced marginalisation in every aspect of life, including education.
The reason is simple: caste exists so that there will always be someone to serve the upper caste. If the servant is studying and getting agency, who will be left to serve the caste Hindus? If no one picks up your garbage or clears your drainage, who will clean all this? In a highly hierarchical society like India, the only way for the downtrodden to elevate their status is through education. In other words, education is the only pathway to upliftment for them in this society. To block this path is one of the worst things a society can do.
For a lower-caste student, reaching a university or college is never easy. The meritocratic elites often remain unaware of the struggles one had to go through to reach that position. For upper-caste campuses, it has always been a comfort zone. Historically, after the British introduced English education, they would always have someone in the administration or among the professors (both same caste) to support them.
Most Dalit students in higher education are first-generation learners. Their parents would be daily labourers or farmers, struggling to ensure that at least their children were educated. These students who come with a lot of hope will face the reality of Indian society most horrifically.
Multiple student accounts and reports suggest that central universities are breeding grounds for discrimination. Caste Hindus have historically dominated these top universities. A recent study suggests that SC/ST reservation seats in IITs are mostly vacant, with the administration stating that no one meets the eligibility criteria.
This brings us to another problem, education in the primary sectors at the village level. In many regions, public education, except in states like Kerala and Tamil Nadu, remains in poor condition. Both right wing and semi right-wing governments prioritise private bourgeoisies, so it becomes their need to make the public sector bad to make a profit for their elite friends.
This is readily visible from the health sector to education in current India. So, if the quality of primary education is so bad that, even after higher secondary education, you cannot say a single word in English, is it the students' fault? How many children of the elite bourgeoisie are studying in government schools? This raises questions about how 'merit' is defined and evaluated.
From placing the Dalit houses east of the village because Brahmins did not want to breathe the same air as Dalits (wind flows from west to east), caste in India evolved into modern forms. But it was never abolished. It is highly saddening to see that the conditions of Dalits in independent India are worse than in Colonial India. Ambedkar predicted this condition, and it is now becoming a reality at an ever-increasing pace under the right-wing government.
According to the records of NCRB, 13,044 students died by suicide in 2022 alone, 57,582 crimes against Dalits were reported in 2022, 40 students in just IITs in just 30 months, 113 atrocities in just six months of 2025. Neither Nithin raj nor Rohit Vemula, more than 13,000 students who take their own lives every year are not free.
"Swaraj will not bring equal benefit to all. It will mean something to the Hindus, but nothing to the Untouchables."
Here raises the same question again: who is free, and who truly has freedom?
As Ambedkar said, caste will end only by 'annihilation of caste,' not reform or restructuring; it should be destroyed so everyone is treated equally. As long as you are following the Vedas, this is not possible. The contemporary political and social situation compels us to revisit Bhagat Singh and Ambedkar, and if caste is the problem, the simplest answer is to read Ambedkar.
Author
Muhammad Yaseen T
Master's Student, University of Hyderabad
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