Sanju has learnt to live with his report card. It’s not his marks that bother him but that scrawl next to his name: bhangi. That’s Sanju’s caste—traditionally considered low-caste sweepers—and it’s now his second name. “They all call me bhangi. I don’t have many friends in class,” he said.

Sanju is used to being ridiculed—so are the 1.5 lakh students of 420-odd schools run by the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation. Their teachers don’t don’t fill in their blood groups in their report cards but meticulously fill in their religion and caste details.

While most teachers and principals The Sunday Express spoke to thought these were innocuous details, they often fuel caste-related biases. The principal of one such municipal school said on condition of anonymity that there was nothing new about these report cards. “We have been writing sub-castes on progress cards for over 30 years now. We have chamars, bhangis, vankars and wagri children, among others. What difference does it make whether we write their castes or not? We anyway know each other’s castes.”

Some of the casteist terms the principal mentioned are derogatory enough to invite action under the SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. Even the official records in AMC schools name castes and sub-castes. For instance, the printed instructions for Dalit and OBC students seeking scholarships in AMC schools specify bhangi students may apply. The scholarship form reads: ‘Ganda ane aswachh waleo ne balakon mate shishirvriti (Scholarships for children of people involved in dirty and impure work).’

... contd.