India has a new goddess. There’s nothing unusual in that for a country with myriads of deities, except that this is the Goddess 'English'. The goddess is a two-feet tall bronze statue based on the Statue of Liberty. The symbolism is not lost on Dalits, who see the English language as a means of escaping the poverty and exploitation which makes them so vulnerable to human trafficking and slavery.

Chandra Bhan Prasad, a Dalit newspaper columnist who came up with the idea of the goddess, describes the statue, “She holds a pen in her right hand which shows she is literate. She is dressed well and sports a huge hat – it’s a symbol of defiance that she is rejecting the old traditional dress code. In her left hand, she holds a book which is the constitution of India which gave Dalits equal rights. She stands on top of a computer which means we will use English to rise up the ladder and become free forever.”

The bronze idol will be situated in a village in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. With almost half of village's population being Dalit, there is a lot of excitement about the new goddess. Locals have long celebrated ‘English Day’ on October 25, the anniversary of Lord Macaulay who was credited with making English the language of the Raj administration.

The key to advancement

Following Independence, Hindi was declared as the official language of India, but this was seen by some, especially in the south, as an attack on regional and local languages, and was met with protest. The compromise was to make Hindi one of two official languages, the other being English, in which the national government would conduct its business.

Mr Prasad believes that in 20 years time there will be no jobs for anyone in India who does not know English. This is increasingly the case for the new professional jobs being created in India. He says, “If we don’t do something now, the Dalits will not be job worthy.” Mr Prasad says that the importance of English is recognised in the cities, but generally not in the rural areas.

Shiv Shankar Lal Nigam, principal of a state school in Bankar, says, “It’s not possible to get by in today’s world without English. Even to communicate with people in other Indian states, you need to know either the local language or English. Since you cannot learn multiple languages, English has to be used as the link language.”

The ruling higher castes in India had for many years restricted teaching in government schools to local languages under the guise of preserving culture and heritage, while their own children were often being taught English in convent schools. However, central government has recently announced that English will be taught from class one in government schools. While this is recognised as major step forward for lower castes and for Dalits, who fall outside the caste system, critics fear that the quality of English teaching will be poor. Professor Kancha Ilaiah, from Maulana Azad National University in Hyderabad, is calling for the gap to be closed between private English medium schools and the government schools in terms of both infrastructure and teaching methods. He urges a two-language formula where 50 percent of the syllabus is taught in English and the other half in the regional language.

Education vital in preventing trafficking

Dalit Freedom Network has long seen education as key to enabling Dalit children to break free from poverty and discrimination, by providing them with better job prospects. Responding to Dalit leaders’ requests in 2001 for quality education in the English medium, DFN now has 103 schools across India^[1], reaching well over 20,000 pupils, mainly Dalits. Not only does this bring hope and brighter prospects for the future, but DFN believes that if the pupils were not in school, 30-40% of them would be trafficked or enslaved in bonded-labour. (The girl pictured right, previously held in bonded labour, has now graduated from one of our schools).

Back in Bankar, Dalits see English as the only means of escaping poverty. Sanjay Kumar, a farmer, cannot speak English but dreams of a better life for his one year-old daughter. He says, “If you want to be a doctor or an engineer or a teacher, you must know English. If you want to live in a city, you cannot survive without English.”

In the words of Ambedkar, a Dalit icon and architect of the Indian constitution, 'English is the milk of lioness’, and in his opinion only those who drink it will roar.

^[1] Operated by DFN UK’s Indian partners, OMIF