Tamil Nadu: Class 10 Students Of Virudhunagar School Allege Caste-Based Discrimination, Govt Orders Probe

The Class 10 students of Government High School in Perapatti alleged that they were even forced to clean toilets at the school.

A classroom (Image for representation)

Chennai: The Tamil Nadu School Education department has ordered a probe into the alleged caste-based discrimination against Class 10 students belonging to the Scheduled Caste community at a high school in Virudhunagar district. The issue came to light after a parent of a Class 10 student brought the issue to Virudhunagar Collector J Megnath Reddy.

The Class 10 students of Government High School in Perapatti alleged that they were even forced to clean toilets at the school.

A report on IANS said, the Class 12 students said that they were discriminated against by the teachers and the headmistress. They also said that they were verbally abused and casteist slurs were raised against them. They said that they were even forced to clean the toilets.  

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

Almost all the students who belonged to the Scheduled Caste category in this school complained that they were abused using caste slurs. Recently, the parents of a Class 10 student complained about caste discrimination to Virudhunagar District Collector J Megnath Reddy alleging that the boy was verbally abused by the headmistress.

The Collector's office also confirmed that they received a complaint from the boy’s parents. They also said that they 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".

Of late, several instances of caste-related violence and other issues have been cropping up in many parts of the state. 

(With IANS inputs)