Paper short abstract:

This paper explores what role caste plays in the access to and provision of education services for a low-caste community in Jaffna Town.

Paper long abstract:

In Jaffna caste identity continues to shape access to both government and private educational institutions. Barriers to entry to better schools not only limit options in further studies or employment but also prevent school going children from completing secondary education; and reinforce historical legacies of marginalization and exclusion.

However, schooling is not solely fixed around an axis of caste identity. A broadening and deepening of the analytical lens allows us to see interrelated phenomena that intersect with caste and shape the experience of children and parents accessing education.

I have identified four phenomena - nationalism, religion (Roman Catholic Church), globalization and class that give a deeper understanding to the relationship between community members and schooling. I have understood and presented these phenomena as co-constitutive, that is, they are not only inter linked but also draw on each other to confirm and consolidate an overarching discourse of homogeniety.

The hegemonic discourse attempts to conceal and disavow ideas or realities that contest them. There is a dual veiling of masking and silencing of caste-speak and a silencing of voices of dissent from marginalized caste groups.

People belonging to lower castes are by no means powerless or without agency, and do have access to schools. However, the quality of education both in terms of the standard of the school and experience within the classroom is shaped by the domination of higher caste/class persons and the active marginalisation and discrimination of low castes.