Four students allegedly subject to caste discrimination at government school in Chennai

Four students from the Scheduled Caste (SC) community were allegedly subjected to casteist slurs and discrimination by two teachers in the PCKG Government Higher Secondary School in Kodambakkam here.

In a now viral video, a Class X student details how two teachers — Srinivasan, the physical education teacher, and Meenakshi, a Class X teacher — told him to stop coming to school. “They told me to stop my studies and follow my father’s work; he works at a Hindu burial ground. They would not let me sit in class and threatened to stop teaching the class if I am there,” the student said.

He was not allowed into the classroom. “The teachers also took off my shirt and threw my watch away while frisking me for no reason,” he said in the video. Similar instances have been alleged by seven other children from the SC community, sources said.

“My child refused to go to school due to the harassment. The teachers wouldn’t let him into the classroom. Whenever I visited the school, he would be sitting outside the class and then the teacher would claim that he is not studying. How can he? He has to be in class for that, right,” said a parent of another Class X student.

Four students were forced not to attend class and, ultimately, quit the school. According to school sources, the two teachers have not been transferred in over 10 years. “Their seniority in the school ensures that no one can object to their behaviour,” a source in the school added.

The Justice K. Chandru Committee report on caste-based violence and feelings in school and colleges had recommended that high school and higher secondary teachers be transferred periodically. Further, teachers and staff of all schools and colleges should undergo a compulsory orientation programme relating to social issues, caste discrimination, and others, the report recommended. But instances such as this continue to be rampant in Chennai too.

A petition regarding the incident was submitted to the School Education Department and complaints were also submitted to the Police Department, the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and the Tamil Nadu State Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

Since then, the four children, who had missed three months of classes, have been readmitted by the headmistress of the school. However, no action has been taken against the teachers yet. The School Education Department initiated a preliminary inquiry on December 13.

“Our first demand is the transfer of the teachers in question. The students should be treated properly. They should not be denied education,” said T.N. Kubendran, social activist and founder of the Tamil Nadu Dravida Peravai forum.