Mandi govt schools warped in caste conundrum

SHIMLA: While the education department claimed to have resolved the caste issue at Government Middle School, Neri, there are other schools in remote locations of Mandi district in Himachal Pradesh where students are divided on caste lines and in one of the schools even teachers were subjected to discrimination recently. With these incidents coming to the fore, now the state government has decided to act tough by fixing the responsibility of school heads.
According to sources, mid-day meals have exposed the fissures between upper castes and dalits in Seraj valley of Mandi district as in many schools students have been sitting separately on caste basis. Sources said that upper caste students have also not been taking mid-day meals from worker belonged to dalit community.
Sources said that similar discrimination has been continuing in Government Senior Secondary School at Thachi, Government High School at Seri-Batwara, Government Senior Secondary School at Somnachi, Central Primary School at Seri-Batwara, Government Primary School at Tandi, beside many other schools in Seraj valley. Sources said that despite complaints no strict action has been taken by authorities till date.
"Majority of schools in Seraj have been facing discrimination and dalit students are made to feel inferior to others. I myself has faced such discrimination but the irony is that authorities concerned have turned a blind eye to this," said Ret Ram, a resident of Chodi Bhatwara village of Lower Thachi, and president of SC/ST Unemployed Association of Seraj in Mandi district.
Ret Ram said that earlier dalits were not allowed to enter temples and now dalit children are subjected to humiliation in schools. "Recently, even dalit teachers at Government Somanachi were subjected to discrimination as they were not allowed a place to stay," he added. President of Seraj Yuvak Mandal, Leela Dhar Premi said that whenever a complaint is made to the district administration or police no strict action is taken, which has resulted in continuous discrimination. Former president of Seraj Gram Panchayat Murah, Uttam Ram said that in June this year he had lodged a complaint with police about discrimination with dalit students but till date police have failed to take the case to its logical conclusion. "Each time we raise the issue, authorities always hush up the matter," he alleged. He said that majority of schools in Seraj valley were witnessing caste discrimination but in most of the cases complaints were not made out of fear.
When contacted, Himachal Pradesh social justice and empowerment minister Col. Dhani Ram Shandil said that discrimination on caste basis cannot be tolerated and strict action would be initiated in all cases and whosoever involved will not be spared. "The issue of discrimination with dalit teachers was brought to my notice recently. On receiving such complaints, police teams would be sent to the spot for strict action," he added.
Shandil said that after coming to know about students not eating mid-day meals at a school in Mandi, chief minister Virbhadra Singh has made it clear that teaches would be held responsible for such acts of discrimination.