After the officials visit,Headmistress was suspended and cooks relieved from their duties as they said that they could not touch the utensils touched by SC students.
About 60 of the 80 children belong to Scheduled Castes at Daudapur Government Primary School in Mainpuri district of Uttar Pradesh .After a complaint officials discovered that the utensils that these children used for their mid-day meals were kept apart in the school premises, and washed by the children only.
After officials visited the school in Bewar block, Headmistress Garim Rajput was suspended on Friday. The two cooks were relieved of their duties after they said they “could not touch” utensils used by the SC students.
Complaint of caste discrimination at the school, made by the husband of the newly elected sarpanch Manju Devi, had been found to be true.The BDO and other officials visited the school and during the visit, the cooks Somvati and Laxmi Devi refused to touch the utensils of the Scheduled Caste students, and said they can’t work at the school if they were forced to do so.
Sarpanch Manju Devi’s husband Sahab Singh said some parents had told him about the discriminatory practice on September 15. “On September 18, I went to the school for a meeting. I saw the kitchen was dirty and that only 10-15 plates were kept there. I asked the cooks about the other thaalis were, and they said the ones in the kitchen belonged to Backward and General Category students, while 50-60 thaalis were kept separately. I was also told that students belonging to Scheduled Castes and were forced to wash their own dishes and keep them, as no one belonging to other castes was willing to touch them,” Sahab Singh said, adding that after he complained, local journalists and officials took up the matter.
Sahab Singh said while around 35% of the population of the village is Dalit, the Thakurs make up a similar number, with the rest belonging to Backward Classes.
Mainpuri is Samajwadi Party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav’s bastion. Shubham Singh, who won a Mainpuri zila panchayat seat backed by the SP, said he had visited the village.
After the news, several videos are viral on the Internet.In a video, the parent says, “Yahaan bachche aate hain, yahaan bartan dhulwaye jaate hain. Master log dhulwaate hain. Maine khud dekha hai. Master se kaha, unhone ansuni kar di. Bachchon ne bhi bataya, ghar pe bhi bataya "
The BJP makes big claims of Dalit upliftment. They give token posts to some leaders from the community, but this is the reality of UP… decades after Dr B R Ambedkar faced such issues in his school days. If government is claiming this, then it should also hard for the upliftment of the poor section of the society.
