ABSTRACT
In this chapter, I look at Sikh schools in India, that is, institutions established by Sikh managements. They are categorized as minority educational institutions across India, except in Punjab, where the Sikhs are in a numerical majority. To explore the philosophy behind Sikh-managed educational institutions, I turn to colonial history when schools and colleges started by the community began to be officially recognized and show that Sikh schools had from the early days focused on providing learning opportunities to the Sikhs as well as preserving and promoting the religion and culture of the community. The decades after Independence and especially after the 1984 anti-Sikh riots present a changed context. Sikh institutions were impacted by the violence inflicted on the community on the one hand and politics around “ideal” Sikh identity on the other. There has also been a growing class divide and rising community aspirations for education. Based on two ethnographic studies, I argue that these trends pose serious challenges for Sikh school managements and raise pertinent questions on their mandate, relevance, as well as diversity and inclusion of students.
