ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the specificities of Dalit experiences of access to and the processes in formal institutions of education. It looks at Dalit women’s struggles against all odds to venture into the citadel of dnyan (knowledge) that was controlled by the upper castes. The chapter explores how ‘untouchability’ is re-visioned and reproduced within formal institutes of education. It argues that the matrix of social structures and cultural forces interacted with the system of education to constrain the thoughts and actions of Dalit girls. Despite these impediments, many Dalit girls successfully completed their education at various levels. For the majority of the population, Dalit and non-Dalit, the teacher was likened to God, who would impart knowledge in order to ‘open’ their eyes. Thus, the operation of power leads to the reproduction of conditions of inequality, where the upper-caste Brahman teacher is bhudeva or God on earth, and the lower caste, an ‘untouchable’.
