TN Education dept probes allegations of casteism in Virudhunagar school

The Tamil Nadu School Education department is probing allegations of discrimination against Class 10 students belonging to Scheduled Castes in a high school in Virudhunagar district. The department commenced a probe after a group of Class 10 students of the Government High School, Perapatti, complained that they were discriminated against by the teachers including the headmistress and that they were being verbally abused using caste expletives. The students also complained that they were forced to clean toilets.

"The students were being discriminated against in this school. A Class 10 student was forcibly dismissed from school and a Transfer Certificate (TC) was given. The teachers speak ill of the Scheduled Caste students," the parent of a student told IANS.

There are many students belonging to the Scheduled Caste category in this school and there were complaints that almost all these students were abused using caste slurs. A Class 10 student's parent had also lodged a complaint with the Virudhunagar District Collector, J Megnath Reddy alleging that the boy was verbally abused by the headmistress. The Collector's office told IANS that they had received a complaint from the family and have commenced an investigation into the same.

Tamil Nadu School Education Minister, Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi, told IANS that they have already sought a report from the Chief Educational Officer, "and if the allegations are found true, stringent action will be taken against those indulging in such activities".

On September 17, a video of a shopkeeper in Panchakulam near Sankarankoil in Tenkasi denying snacks to school children belonging to Scheduled Castes (SC) went viral on social media. The video showed the shopkeeper, Maheshwaran, using casteist slurs against the school children and asking them not to come back to the shop. The shop was sealed by the district administration officials shortly after the video was released on social media. The Karivalamvanthanallur police arrested Maheshwaran and another man, Ramachandran alias Murthy, in connection with the case. 

With IANS inputs