Rakesh Kumar Maurya

Junior Research Fellow (Psychology)

PARENTING PRACTICES AMONG DALIT PARENTS AND ACADEMIC

ACHIEVEMENT OF THEIR CHILDREN
Abstract

In this article, the author argues that effective parenting practices could prove to be an
effective intervention strategy for bringing fast and consistent social, economic and political
development of Dalit communities. By imparting values and practices of positive parenting,
government can achieve its goal of social, political and economic inclusion of Dalit in the
main stream of society.

Economic, social and cultural evolution of any society depends on multiple factors
such as freedom of expression, efforts in the direction of social, political and economic
equality, social justice, developing scientific temperament, having a balance between
individual freedom and community welfare etc. These factors function at macro and micro
level. Changes at macro level are possible when we insure implementation of these factors at
micro level. At micro level, these factors can be observed operating in families and small
communities. Family is the unit of a society and to bring changes at social or community
level, it is important to create intervention strategies at family level.
As history reveals, Dalit communities are suppressed and exploited for thousands of
years in India where they were treated as untouchables. The history of Dalit and other lower

caste people is a history of thousands of years of servitude, exploitation and oppression on the
basis of being born in a particular community or caste. However, after independence, Dr.
Bhim Rao Ambedkar one of the key architects of Indian constitution and a crusader of dalit
revolution, created many constitutional safe-guards to protect Dalit and initiated many
affirmative action policies such as reservation in government jobs, legislation and education
to insure their speedy social, economic and political development. However, even after 68
years of independence, the goal of social, economic and political inclusion of Dalit has not
been achieved. The condition of Dalit has, no doubt, improved, however not as much as it
should have been. According to Indian Institute of Dalit Studies the share of SCs/STs in the
government services has improved quite significantly. There are, however, variations
between different types of jobs. Generally, reservation is fairly proportionate to the required
percentage in group C and D jobs, but unsatisfactory in the case of A and B category jobs.
When we look at the data regarding enrolment for higher education, again it is well below the
population share: 12.47% (ASIHE 2011-12). Literacy among SC/ST is again below the
national average. According to 2011 census, literacy rate among SCs and STs is 54.69% and
47.10% respectively which is well below the national average of 74.04%. Almost half of
Dalit never go to school.
Therefore, one thing is clear that governments intervention strategies have not been
effectively implemented. And even if implemented, they have not been effective in bringing
the desired changes. There should be some other social intervention strategies to complement
governments efforts.
A few years ago, During a training programme in education psychology, the
facilitator, scolded an undisciplined student by saying, The behaviour you just showed is not
yours, its of your home and your parents. Our behaviour is deeply influenced by our
environment. As parents we hardly pay attention to our own behaviour and try to inculcate all
the best possible qualities in our children. Very few parents understand that children do not
follow what they are told but what they observe their parents doing .Effective parenting
practices is hardly a concern for parents, forget about learning those practices.
Parenting practices in any society are the fundamental way of transferring cultural
practices and beliefs to the next generation. That is why when we try to help a community to
come out successfully in its social, economic and political evolution, parents could be the
most potent tool to achieve that. This article focuses on parenting practices among Dalit
parents and how by educating/imparting effective parenting practices to dalit parents, we can
insure a better tomorrow for their children and community. When it comes to parenting, the

role of mother is very significant in overall development of children. From psychological

perspective, the first 7-10 years of a child is crucial in terms of basic personality
development. Since, during initial formative years children spend most of their time around
their mother, their role and parenting style become a crucial element. Dr. Ambedkar knew it
very well. Dalit are placed at the bottom of Indian social hierarchy and Dalit women are at
the absolute bottom as they are subjected to three fold discrimination: being poor, being Dalit
and being women. Dr. Ambedkar, while drafting Indian constitution made a lot of provisions
for the upliftment of the poor, downtrodden and socially backward communities. Apart from
that, he emphasized women empowerment as he was fully conscious of impact of women
empowerment on social inclusion and progress of the nation. He said,
I measure the progress of community by the degree of progress which women had achieved.
Let every girl who marries stand by her husband, claim to be her husbands friend and equal,
and refuse to be his slave. I am sure if you follow this advice, you will bring honour and glory
to yourselves.
The views expressed below are based on my own personal experiences with Dalit
parents as a counsellor. Apart from that, I have a great pool of friends who belong to Dalit
community and are currently in higher education both as student and teaching faculty. They
have contributed immensely in my understanding of their communitys parenting practises.
My rural background has also helped me in observing/understanding dalit parents very
closely. Also, my views about parenting among Dalit are supposed to be valid on general
Dalit population and there must be, I am sure, exceptions where these observations would not
hold water.

Parenting Practices among Dalit:

Parental Involvement: Parental involvement in education is crucial in academic
achievement of children. No matter their income or background, students with involved
parents are more likely to have higher grades and test scores, attend school regularly, have
better social skills, show improved behaviour, and adapt well to school. The most accurate
predictors of student achievement in school are not family income or social status, but the
extent to which the family creates a home environment that encourages learning,
communicates high yet reasonable expectations for the childs achievement, and becomes
involved in the childs education at school. As a counselor, while interacting with teachers

who give coaching classes to students, I came to know an interesting difference in parenting
practices among Dalit and non-dalit parents. They shared,
At the end of month when it is the time for fee to be deposited, parents of most Dalit
students hand over the monthly fee to their children for submission at our centre. But most
parents of non-dalit children visit themselves at our centre to submit their childrens fee.
This example shows the difference between dalit and non-dalit parents involvement in their
childrens education. What message a child perceives when his father gave him the fee to
deposit at the coaching center; obviously this shows that he is not interested in his childs
studies. Even if there is no intension from parent side of such feelings, children indirectly
perceive such implicit messages which may have long term impact on parent-child
relationship. Parents from Dalit community hardly show their involvement in school
activities. As a counselor, I have found that dalit parents attendance at parent-teacher
meeting is lowest as compared to other caste parents. Parent-teacher meetings are held
generally two to four times a year in schools. This is a time when parents have an opportunity
to interact with all the subject teachers and understand how his child is doing in all the
subjects. In spite of sending several reminders, dalit parents hardly show up at school. Even if
they turn up, most of the time it is some younger member of the family like elder brother,
uncle etc. Their attendance at other school functions such as sports day, annual functions etc.
is also significantly low as compared to other castes parents. There are many social factors
responsible for this trend. First, most of the parents who do not turn up at school or show
reluctance in such activities are those who are either illiterate or have studied less than junior
high school. So, they do not understand the importance of their role in childrens academic
achievement. They think that their involvement do not matter as they are too nave to
understand educational matters. And there are some parents who even think that extracurricular activities are sheer wastage of time and have no role in academic achievement and
personality development of children. Another explanation of low attendance of dalit parents
in school is that thousands of years of social discrimination, exclusion and humiliation of
dalits have created a mental blockage where they cant think of going and discussing
education with teachers at school. Schools are also responsible to some extent as they hardly
encourage parents to develop constant communication with school.
One such incident happened during my tenure as a school Counselor in Kendriya
Vidyalay (Central School). I wanted to talk to parents about their parenting practices and
challenges they face; and so I asked my principal to organise a session with parents who were
about to come on the occasion of parent-teacher meeting. Initially our principal agreed but

later he objected saying that it would not be feasible for him to hold parents for this session.
The actual reason behind this was that they did not want parents to stay in school as they
would then had to answer many uncomfortable questions related to fee, infrastructure etc.
Most of the schools in India do not encourage parents to learn or impart effective parenting
practices to parents. Barring few, schools generally call parents only when there are some
disciplinary issues related to children. So there is a belief among parents that they can visit
school when their child has either done a fantastic job or something worse.

Communication Style: There is a common belief among parents at large in India that
child should not be appreciated verbally when she/she performs well or shows an appropriate
behaviour. They feel that appreciating a child would make child content and haughty.
However, they hardly leave an opportunity to communicate in a berating or belittling way if
he/she indulges in an inappropriate behaviour. Dalit parents generally involve in directive
style of communication with their children.
Dalit parents are found to be less involved in intimate conversation with their children
on matters of educational, social and economic inequalities. They hardly share family stories
and reminiscences with their children. They also ignore topics of dalit exploitation,
humiliation and exclusion; and do not discuss about them. Their children gradually learn
about their low socio-economic status by social interactions. These social interactions about
belonging to a low caste create emotional and cognitive dissonance among Dalit children. But
in the absence of a deep and intimate communication with parents, they keep their feelings
and emotions to themselves. One of the students at my school shared the following emotional
outbursts,
I feel bad when some of my class fellows tease me by calling me as
Chamar[untouchable caste] When I look around, I find more questions than answers. But
I dont know whom to ask, how to ask or just let it be.
Parents from communities with low SES should develop emotional and intellectual
bonding with their children so that children can share their emotional responses regarding
their low caste status.
Corporal Punishment: This is another area of concern where dalit parents think that
corporal punishment is an effective tool of upbringing children. They often use corporal
punishment or hash abusive language for their children while assigning tasks at home. While
corporal punishment can not be said to happen only among dalit parents, it is something that
is quite common with LOW SES parents. Parents who use corporal punishment are

considered as good parents in their community. One of the most common strategies used by
parents to change long term behavior of their children is corporal punishment. In spite of a
great deal of research studies showing that corporal punishment or spanking is not effective,
is a risk factor for egregious forms of physical abuse and can negatively affect the behavioral
and cognitive development of children in a variety of ways, it is still practiced in India by
parents. A study on the moral development of children pointed out that children who feared
punishment tended to have less guilt, were less willing to accept responsibility, were less
resistant to temptation and had fewer internal controls than children who were not punished.
Monitoring/Supervision: A great deal of research studies have found that parents
who exercise close monitoring and supervision, their children are less likely to engage in
risk-taking behaviour. More than 70% of dalit parents are illiterate or have studied less than
5th standard. The current generation born after 1985s, have a better literacy ratio. Since, most
dalit fathers either live away from their families in cities or spend a lot of time away from
home in search of work; they hardly supervise or monitor their children. Mothers are also not
very much aware of the importance of proper monitoring and supervision of children. When
it comes to studies, they hardly sit with their children after school to see how the child is
doing at school. They rarely visit school to monitor their children's activities in school and
outside school.
Parents should monitor not only their child's physical whereabouts, but also their
child's emotional well-being and adjustment. Emotional monitoring of children is important
particularly during key life events or changes. Dalit parents have been found to put in less
effort in developing an emotional bonding with their children because they are unaware of
such practices to help children. Since, dalit children are more susceptible to caste based
discrimination and humiliation, it is important for parents to develop an emotional bonding so
that they could freely share if something happens like that.
Inconsistent Discipline: Disciplining children is one of the most crucial aspects of
parenting. Effective discipline requires that it should be applied with mutual respect in a just,
reasonable and consistent way. The purpose is to help children avoid dangerous situations,
learn self-discipline and develop an internal self-control and responsibility. Inculcating values
is also an important part of this practice. However, when parents show an inconsistent
behaviour in terms of discipline such as giving punishment depending on your mood, it
confuses children, regardless of their developmental age. Effective discipline does not instill

shame, negative guilt, a sense of abandonment or a loss of trust. Instead, it instills a sense of
greater trust between the child and the parent. Since Dalit parents show less involvement with
their children, their disciplining acts are mostly inconsistent and unjust. Disciplinary actions
are mostly in the form of instant behavioral reactions rather than a planned, well thought out
and responsible action. We can not solely blame dalit parents for inconsistent disciplinary
acts because they have less or no exposure to such knowledge and understanding of effective
parenting.
The Way Ahead: Effective parenting is one of the key elements in bringing social,
economic and political changes in society as it directly influences the next generation. But the
real tragedy is that not everyone knows about it particularly Dalit communities. We generally
inherit parenting practices from our parents and grand-parents. That is the problem with dalit
communities. With little financial resources, insufficient education and almost no social
exposure, they keep on following the same parenting practices which they have learned from
their own parents. Yes, there are some dalits who are exceptions and have better parenting
style to help their children move confidently in their lives. However, these numbers are still
very limited. Technology has played a crucial role in bringing exposure to them; however, it
is still very limited as technology comes with a cost. Also technology has its dark side as well
particularly for those who are unaware of its long term implications.
Therefore, one of the most suitable options for bringing hope and fast paced change in
the economic, social and political life of Dalit is to impart/educate effective parenting
practices. Schools can play a pivotal role in this parenting revolution. The current condition
of government primary schools where most children of dalit study is very dismal. These
schools face challenges such as insufficient and irresponsible teachers, poor infrastructure
etc. Since dalit parents are too poor to send their children to private schools, their children
studying in these primary schools do not have access to quality education. The need of the
hour is not only to improve the conditions at these schools but also to develop a committed
team of school counselors at district level to impart effective parenting practices among
parents. This would help in controlling drop-out rate of dalit children after primary or
secondary education. Children of dalit require not only mid-day meal at these schools but
also a hope that education would bring positive and long lasting changes in their lives. At a
time when government is spending thousands of crores on primary education, a little effort in
counseling parents about effective parenting practices would work like a catalyst and help
government in achieving its goal of creating a society based on equity and social justice.

Conclusion: Education is the most potent tool we can offer Dalit to fight social,
political and economic inequality; but this can only happen when dalit children have a
childhood where their parents inculcate values such as quest for knowledge, perseverance,
equality and social justice etc. Dalit parents with lack of knowledge, less exposure, mental
blockage created by thousands of years of exploitation and servitude, low self-image, lack of
role models, caste based humiliation, exclusion and discrimination find it difficult to
inculcate those values in their children. An effective way to level these unevenness is to
introduce and impart effective parenting practices to dalit parents through schools where their
children study. Such interventions of helping dalit parents develop knowledge of child
development and how effective parenting can equip their children to secure a prosperous and
peaceful life, would certainly assist government in achieving its goal of creating a society
based on equality and social justice.
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