Religious revival, education, and caste Sosamma ammachi remembers the late 1800s in central Travancore as a time of religious revival and reformation (valiya unarvu). “My grandfather and his brothers and cousins cut the stones, carried it up, and built this church with their own hands. Our church must by 118 years old.” The old, spirited […]

I did not plan it this way; this week unfolded with democracy written all over it, Kerala style. It began with a Sunday meeting at Pathanamthitta where Dalit community groups came together to meet the Pathanamthitta MLA (Member of the Legislative …

“Once upon a time, teaching used to be called a profession suitable for ladies. Now if you are a teacher you will go crazy.” A teacher at a reputed CBSE school in Kochi remarks, handing me her grids for School Based Assessment. Her students are bu…

When I saw what was inside the Godrej almari I wished I was a historian. Admission records, transfer records, Secondary School Leaving Certificate copies, moth eaten and scattered. But these are only from the 1960s. What about the earlier records?…

June 29, 2012 (Names of schools have been changed to protect confidentiality.) “Kerala government’s education policy is racist” a Dalit parent accuses the most extensive and elaborate education reforms in Kerala since independence. Explaining hims…

June 20, 2012 (Names of schools have been changed to protect confidentiality.) The emerging story from Kerala is one of gaps rather than of frictions or connections, and these gaps are strikingly similar across public and private school networks. …

June 11, 2012 I didn’t realize it was this bad. The “craze” for Medical and Engineering careers seems to be a total “social fever” in Kerala (Kipnis, 2011). It is becoming increasingly common for CBSE schools in Kerala to have in-house entrance co…