Toronto school board becomes 1st in Canada to take steps to ban caste system

Toronto school board becomes 1st in Canada to take steps to ban caste system

Board will ask rights commission’s help to ‘address caste oppression’

By Barry Ellsworth

TRENTON, Canada (AA) – Toronto’s public school board has become the first in Canada to acknowledge discrimination based on the caste system and to ask for help to tackle the historic social status order of South Asia.

The Toronto District School Board, the largest in Canada, with about 235,000 students, voted 16-5 at a meeting Wednesday in favor of a motion to ask the Ontario Human Rights Commission to “assess and provide a framework for addressing caste oppression.”

India’s caste system, which dates back thousands of years, involves the slotting of Hindus into rigid levels in society based on factors such as their birth, work and economic status. It is also found in other South Asian countries.

The caste defines most of their social life, including where they live, the jobs they are able to get and even who they marry. There are several levels, and the lowest are the Dalits, who are considered impure and therefore untouchable.

It is not a Canadian practice, but there has been growing evidence of the caste system invading the education system in Toronto, the country’s largest city, with a population of about 2.8 million.

“The caste equity movement has been taking Toronto by storm these past few weeks,” school board trustee Yalini Rajakulasingam told Global News in a phone interview. “We’ve heard from an outpour of caste-oppressed voices, from academics, about 100 labor unions and social justice advocacy groups, and over 200 faculty members (who) shared their experiences with this.”

Rajakulasingam, who introduced the motion, also said she has been overwhelmed with emails from students who suffered discrimination because of their so-called caste social placement.

“Kids were saying caste slurs to one another,” she recounted. ​​​​​​​

About 56,000 students overseen by the Toronto board are South Asian.

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