From 9,40,456 SC students in 1994-95, the number slid by 96,000 to 8,44,311 in 1996-97. The number of SC girl students in the same period fell from 3,90,848 to 3,72,768 and that of boys from 5,49,608 to 4,71,543. The number of SC students in higher education during the same period dropped from 33,530 to 30,356.

So, whatever happened to so-called social justice and empowerment vis-a-vis the education policy? Why are SC students not pursuing studies for jobs?

Says social worker Achyut Yagnik of Centre for Knowledge and Action: "For one thing, employment opportunities in the Government have shrunk following a freeze on recruitment. Besides, the private sectorremains largely prejudiced to SC job-seekers. In fact, more privatisation will lead to a further drop in job opportunities for them. And automation has made industries less labour-intensive."

Besides, the SC people in the rural areas used to get land till 1980s as part of land reforms which made possible comfortable living, he says. "Now with no land, the families have to work hard to make both ends meet. In this situation, how can their children study?" Yagnik asks.

Drawing a comparison, Yagnik says Patels have come up the social ladder because they had got lands. "They started growing cash crop, which created excess wealth."

Social worker Valjibhai Patel of the Council for Social Justice says: "Earlier, job opportunities in Government were good. That is why SC boys and girls pursued studies and their number started rising. But for the last decade, the trend has reversed. With the Government nearly stopping recruitment, employment opportunity has shrunk. And there are a few jobs for them in the privatesector because of casteism."

According to Patel, emphasis on technical education will boost employment opportunities and lead to a rise in the number of SC students. Besides, only land reforms will liberate the SCs in the rural areas.

P K Das, Additional Chief Secretary, Social Justice and Empowerment Department, disagrees that the number of SC students is coming down. "There is no substantial drop. There are about 10 lakh SC students."

He says the fluctuation in the number is because of the dropout rate, especially among girls. Literacy rate among SC girls is 73 per cent, while among the boys it is 75.47 per cent (1991 figures). But, the literacy rate among SC girls is 45 per cent as against 48 among the girls in general.