IIT Bombay mulling to introduce mandatory course on caste awareness

Some of the observations made in the surveys were on holding more sensitisation events and having a mandatory academic course on caste and racial discrimination on the lines of the mandatory gender sensitisation course, launched last year, the institute said.

The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay is mulling introducing a mandatory course on caste awareness. The initiative has been taken by the SC/ST cell of the institute, which believes that sensitisation is a way toward inclusivity. The SC/ST cell of the institute has recently conducted a few surveys to understand the difficulties that the students face on the lines of caste division. 

Some of the observations made in the surveys were on holding more sensitisation events and having a mandatory academic course on caste and racial discrimination on the lines of the mandatory gender sensitisation course, launched last year, the institute said.

As per the Indian Express reports, the nature and content of the caste awareness course are still under discussion. The IIT Bombay's SC/ST cell included Professor Bharat Adsul from the department of computer science and engineering as the convener and Professor Madhu N Belur of the department of electrical engineering as the co-convener.

The cell said in a written statement, “At IIT-Bombay, it was observed that more sensitisation events would enhance inclusivity and help reduce complaints. For example, increased awareness of caste-based and racist slurs that have entered into colloquial language would help eliminate such slurs and thus, improve cordiality in any environment.”

Last week, the institute also organised a first-ever open house discussion on difficulties faced in the context of caste and the reasons behind them. The meet witnessed a variety of opinions from around 100 participants.  The crowd that gathered to attend the event included students, faculty and non-teaching staff. 

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