Beltangady: Caste discrimination in school - students refuse food cooked by dalit
Daijiworld Media Network – Beltangady (SP)
Beltangady, Feb 8: In an incident that proves that we are yet to come out of inhuman practices and outdated beliefs, higher caste students studying in Surya government lower primary school in the taluk, on Thursday February 7, refused to eat lunch served to them under mid-day meal scheme of the government. Reason for the boycott was that a woman belonging to lower caste had prepared the food.
There was some disgruntlement over the appointment of Sumitra, a dalit by birth, as the cooking assistant under the mid-day meal programme for the school recently, even before she joined for duty.
On Thursday, she joined for duties, and took part in food preparation activities. The parents of the students, who came to know this, arrived at the school premises in the afternoon, to take their children home for lunch, refusing the food prepared at school.
The headmaster said that when he questioned the parents about this sudden turnaround, they informed him that lunch prepared by a dalit cannot be consumed by their children. Accordingly, out of 41, only seven students, who are dalits, consumed the mid-day meal.
President of the school development and monitoring committee (SDMC) as well as the headmaster of the school, who reviewed the situation arising out of the boycott, said they are helpless in the matter as the parents of the children did not pay heed to their pleas. They insisted that the appointment of Sumitra was lawful, and that they would seek guidance from higher officials. The statement came in spite of the fact that the two children of the SDMC president were among those who chose not to eat at the school.
Block education officer and local police sub inspector visited the school, and held talks with some parents. Higher officials are expected to visit the school on Friday in an effort to break the deadlock.
In the meanwhile, leaders of Dalit Sangharsh Samiti, Chandu L, Sanjeeva R, Shekhara Laila and others arrived at the school premises and discussed the issue with the teachers. It is gathered that parents of the students have promised to ensure that their children would consume food under the mid-day meal scheme on Friday.