IMPACT OF CONTINUING EDUCATION PROGRAMMES ON SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION AMONG SCHEDULED CASTES

Scheduled castes are those castes/races, which have been or may in future be specified in a list in accordance with Article 341 of our Constitution. The people of these castes are considered outcastes and categorized as untouchables. They remain at the bottom of social hierarchy and have been socially deprived, discriminated and exploited by the upper castes since time immemorial. This is the result of our rigid caste system which divides the Indian society into upper castes and lower castes on the basis of birth. Mythologically, the people of these castes are born impure, culturally they suffer from social disabilities and occupationally they are linked with impure occupation and above all they are exclusively dependent for their survival on the higher castes of the respective villages who have tradition bound attitudes, reflected in the nomenclature, castes etc.