Chennai, Nov 2 (BPNS)

The Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC ) has taken action against a lower primary school for maintaining the attendance register of students on the basis of their caste. Instead of maintaining the attendance on an alphabetical basis, the school clubbed together students on the basis of their caste.

The students were divided into three batches following Covid -19 restrictions but instead of dividing them on the basis of alphabetical order, the children were divided on caste lines. The GCC pulled up the school on Monday and directed to discontinue the practice immediately.

The school headmistress told media persons that it was unintentional and that the students were earlier also and that the attendance register had caste put against the name of each student.

The headmistress also said that this was only for administrative purposes and that students will not know of the castes of their classmates.

Deputy Commissioner of Greater Chennai Corporation, D. Sneha while speaking to media persons said,” The issue is sorted out and the attendance register is corrected. It seems to have been unintentional as per oral investigation.”

The Deputy Commissioner said that the issue has been resolved and the attendance is now maintained in an alphabetic manner. She said that the Assistant Education Officers are directed to check the attendance registers of schools under GCC.

C. Rajeev, Director, Centre for Policy and Development Studies, a think tank based out of Chennai while speaking to BPNS said, “This is shocking and how can the headmistress go scot-free after maintaining an attendance register on caste basis. While the government is trying to fizzle out the caste feel among the people, teachers are intentionally injecting caste consciousness in minor children. Stringent action must be taken against those who have erred.”