Fifteen-year-old Chandini, who belongs to the ‘Haran Shikari’ tribal community was the teacher’s pet. Sharp and confident, her ambition was to design clothes for actors. But, today, she sells artefacts on the street.

Chandini says she was asked to leave school after class 9 as she failed to submit a caste certificate.

“The Revenue Department has shattered my dreams. By now, I would have been in Bengaluru, designing outfits for actors like Ramya and Radhika Pandit,” she says.

With education inaccessible, employment is a pipe dream for the 350 odd Haran Shikari families living near Krishnaraja Sagar simply because the Mandya district administration has been turning down their applications seeking Scheduled Tribe (ST) certificates.

R. Jamuna told The Hindu, “I speak Kannada and understand English, Hindi, Gujarati and some other languages. I was denied admission to class 10 for not producing the caste certificate.” Jamuna is determined to complete her education and secure a government job, but it hinges on her obtaining the all-important caste certificate.

Tribal activists allege that the Mandya district administration has been refusing to issue these certificates to the Haran Shikari community for several years. M. Krishnaiah, chairman, Karnataka Adiwasi Rakshana Parishad, said the community has been living in tents and huts near the KRS for the last 50 years. They do not get benefits of housing and other welfare schemes.

K.M. Metri, chairperson of Department of Tribal Studies, Hampi University, told The Hindu that the children were experts in making artefacts, and providing proper education to uplift them was the need of the hour.

Children must produce caste certificates to get admission to SSLC, M. Shivamadappa, Deputy Director of Public Instruction, said.

B. Malathi, District Social Welfare Officer, told The Hindu , “We will solve the issue pertaining to issuing ST certificates to them shortly.”

Haran Shikari is one of the ‘denotified tribal communities’ in the country.

Haran Shikari community children are unable to complete SSLC without caste certificates