CASTE DISCRIMINATION AND ITS INTERNALIZATION: STORY OF SARITA
One day went by, a week and then another week went by…..nobody noticed it but as a teacher each child matters so her absence mattered. Sarita (name changed) was a girl from Class 8, quiet in nature she didn’t engage a lot in class, so most of them hadn’t noticed her absence. It had started worrying me when I started hearing from some of my students that she has left school and isn’t planning to come back. The second I heard that I felt a rush of regret and fear flowing within me, ‘Why didn't I notice it earlier? Why didn’t I try to reach out to her earlier? Why didn’t I notice the troubles in her eyes which had led this little girl to take such a big decision to drop out of the school?” These questions kept lingering me so then I decided to go for a home visit. I went to meet her along with three of my students. Her mother welcomed us. As soon as I saw her mother I could notice the sadness in her eyes which looked exhausted. As we started communicating, we ca
