School assistant suspended for allegedly encouraging untouchability
Setting an example:Collector Smita Sabharwal and SP V. Ravinder having lunch prepared by Dalits along with students at ZPHS Sundaragiri village in Karimnagar district on Friday.— Photo: Thakur Ajay Pal Singh
It was a welcome surprise for students of Zilla Parishad High school in Sundaragiri village of Chigurumamidi mandal on Friday as they had community lunch along with top officials of the district.
Collector Smita Sabharwal, Superintendent of Police V. Ravinder, Karimnagar RDO Hymavathi, Huzurabad DSP Nagalaxmi, DEO Purnanda Rao and others set an example by eating the midday meals prepared by the Dalits at the school.
Warning the officials of serious action if anyone encouraged untouchability, the Collector ordered suspension of Hindi school assistant Satyanarayana for allegedly encouraging untouchability among the students and forcing them to shun meals prepared by the Dalits due to differences with the school headmistress.
She also found fault with headmistress Vasantha for not informing higher authorities about the issue.
She said that the sensitive issue came to the administration’s notice through a report published in The Hindu on December 16.
The Collector visited the village on Friday and interacted with the students. Later, she inquired with the headmistress Vasantha about why the students were refusing to eat the meals and inspected the records.
Ms. Sabharwal and Mr. Ravinder picked up plates, had the food served by Dalit women and sat along with the school students to eat the lunch comprising potato curry and sambar.
Surprise checks
The Collector said that the food quality was good and nutritious and noted that over 200 students were eating midday meals against the school’s total strength of 260.
She said the RDOs and DSPs had been instructed to visit the schools regularly to check the practice of untouchability in the educational institutions.
source: http://www.TheHindu.com / News> National / by Staff Reporter / Karimnagar, December 24th, 2011