Despite some deep-rooted social faultlines, Kerala continues to make its mark in furthering progressive thought in India. Another reflection of this facet comes with a growing number of school students stating that they don’t belong to any caste or religion.
Earlier today, the State government announced that at the time of admission 1.24 lakh students from both private and public schools did not bother to fill up columns describing caste and religion, according to The Indian Express. This is reportedly a record.
During the ongoing Assembly Session, a legislator of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) from Vamanapuram, DK Murali, asked the State government about the number of students who had chosen not to answer what caste or religion they come under.
Responding to this query during Question Hour, the State education minister C Raveendranath said that 1,23,630 students from Class I-X left those columns blank, while the number in Class XI and XII were 278 and 239 respectively. These figures were based on the 2017-18 academic year. However, the minister reportedly did not give a district-wise breakdown of the figures.
The State’s history is replete with events pushing for greater social equality. The Vaikom Satyagraha of the 1920s is one such example. It was a successful agitation for the right of the lower castes to walk on roads near a Shiva temple in the holy town of Vaikom in present-day Kerala, despite strong opposition from the local priestly class and the Travancore royalty.
Kerala is also home to one India’s most celebrated social reformers—Sri Narayana Guru. Emerging in the late 19th century, this celebrated social reformer rejected the pernicious practice of casteism, and along the way promoted important values of spiritual freedom and social equality.
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In fact, he was part of a larger reformation movement in the State, which really made inroads into Kerala society towards the end of the 19th century.
Of course, the emergence of the Communist Party midway through the 20th century, and their emphasis on formal education, modern medicine, and socialist-driven reforms, particularly in the agrarian and social minority policy, have left their imprint on future generations.
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Having said that, some commentators argue that the State isn’t the progressive bastion as some suggest.
However, the fact that more than 1.2 lakh school students in the State are rejecting caste and religion as primary markers of identity seems to suggest that the story is a touch more complex than critics would like to believe.
(Edited By Vinayak Hegde)