ABSTRACT
While the gates of higher education in Kerala were significantly opened for candidates hailing from scheduled communities from 1950s onwards, the affirmative processes have yielded, at best, only partial results till date. This was, by and large, due to the relative lack of social, economic, cultural, and symbolic capital that these historically excluded communities had always to contend with, even while progressive social reform and class movements had begun to address their overall conditions of civic disabilities from 1930s onwards. In other words, positive discrimination such as reservation only scratched the surface and benefited merely a tiny section in obtaining access to high-end jobs in public/private sectors. While admission to institutions of higher education in Kerala was somewhat assured through reservation, successful completion, for instance, of the professional courses within the stipulated time was, it appears, a rare occurrence. The ensuing study attempts to delineate the various issues and processes that have, over the postindependence decades, tried to reproduce the deep social exclusion of these communities especially in the spheres of professional education in the state. The chapter describes Kerala's social and educational development with special reference to Dalit and Adivasi communities, provides a critical overview of the professional higher education scenario in the state, and finally, describes the Centre for Research and Education for Social Transformation (CREST), experience in bridging the gap. The first section deals with the unique historical and social development of Kerala which led to progressive citizenship as well as empowerment of the under classes cutting across caste and religion. At the same time, the arrival of a radical/vibrant public sphere with the ushering in of universal literacy/access to schooling/spread of print media/healthcare for all in the state seems to have unleashed several inclusive policies and trends.
