What We Do:

Dalit Education Centers

In response to the steps toward freedom for the Dalit community after the Dalit Conversion Ceremony in November 2001, OM India has been invited to help these people realize their new freedom and bring total transformation to the Dalit community. The Dalit leadership believes this transformation begins with education. Thus, education will be the key to bringing authentic freedom to India’s Dalits. OM India and other Christian organizations nationwide have started small schools in key places around the nation as invited by the Dalit community.

The 2004-2005 academic year began with great excitement across the nation as 34 Dalit Education Centers now exist through OM India in both North and South India. Each school has 50-200 students, mostly from a Dalit (“untouchable”) background. These students have never before had the opportunity to attend school and both children and their parents greet this prospect with great joy. Classes are taught in English. Each school has one principal and at least three qualified teachers. In some areas, the local infrastructure makes it difficult to cope with their jobs, but the teachers are doing their best to survive amid water shortages, power cuts and extreme heat. In 2003, OM India started its own teachers’ training course to cultivate teachers with vision for the Dalit people and a commitment to serve in these centers for Dalit children. It is the goal of each Dalit Education Center to bring equal opportunity for children from a Dalit background to receive a good education, ultimately bringing them a sense of social transformation and betterment never before experienced.