COIMBATORE: The headmistress of the government school at Iduvai village near Tirupur, who was placed under suspension on Saturday for making scheduled caste students clean toilets, had been repeatedly abusing SC children for the past three years, according to students of the school and their parents.
A parent told TOI that some parents had raised the issue with the headmistress last year after children complained that she was forcing them to clean toilets. “At least 10 of us met the headmistress then, but she maintained that our children were at fault. We left assuming she was punishing children for their mistakes, but it seems now that she abused children in the name of caste,” the parent said.
A Class IX girl, who was one of the complainants, said she had been witnessing such treatment of SC students for three years. “On a few occasions when we were caught coming late to the school, the headmistress would mock us citing our poverty and our caste. She would say our lower caste parents have put us in government schools as they could not afford private schools. When she saw us talking to boys, she would say that we are not good at studies and we should be married off soon,” the student said.
It is learned that a teacher had persuaded the students to take up the issue with district chief education officer R Ramesh, who visited the school on Friday. Prima facie evidence pointed out that the allegations were true, a senior official from the school education department said. “The headmistress was silent when questioned, so we placed her under suspension,” the official said.
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