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Headmistress in Coimbatore govt school accused of casteism, parents seek action

The headmistress of a government primary school in Coimbatore has been accused of using casteist slurs and ill-treating the students. The parents of the students have given a petition to the District Collector requesting action against Jayanthi, the headmistress.  

According to the letter submitted to the District Collector, the incident happened on June 17 during lunch break in the school. Stating that the CP Kandasamy Nagar primary school was built 28 years ago in Kandasamy Nagar, Saravanampatti area in Coimbatore for the benefit of the families belonging to the Scheduled Castes (SC) community in the area, the letter alleged, “On Monday during lunch break and after the school hours are over, the headmistress of the school has beaten and scolded girl students in a vulgar manner.”

The complainant L Baby further stated that the headmistress allegedly scolded the students using casteist slurs. “When we parents and general public living in the locality went to the school on the following Wednesday to ask her why she attacked our children, she told us to complain to anybody and that she is not afraid,” reads the letter. Further alleging that the headmistress used obscene words to target a student who had puked after lunch at school, L Baby requested the District Collector to take appropriate action against Jayanthi. “Such teachers wherever they get posted, they will teach students only with a casteist mindset. Hence please do not give her any other posting either,” alleges the letter.

Speaking to TNM about the issue, a relative of one of the students alleged that the headmistress made the students sweep the ground and clean toilets. “We all belong to the Arundhathiyar community. Our kids have been studying in this primary school and are all aged below 10 years. Jayanthi behaved rudely to them and also scolded them in casteist slurs. She also physically assaulted the students, and some of them have injuries on their hand,” the relative alleged.

Adding that the parents tried to approach the police immediately after the incident, the relative alleged, “When we went to E3 police station in Saravanampatti, the police there said they needed proof of her speaking bad words and using casteist slurs. We gave them photos of her watching our kids sweep the ground. But they refused to register an FIR.”

When TNM contacted the concerned police station for a response, a police officer denied the allegations of the parents about refusal to register an FIR. “Since this is a caste crime, the Assistant Commissioner is looking into it. We had told them to appear for questioning today since we suspect that there is political motive behind the allegations. In fact, the father of the child didn’t know about this when we conducted the first round of inquiries,” he said. Adding that he has been trying to contact the people to appear for questioning, the officer said that they were not responding to calls. “It is not that we are not registering an FIR. We are trying to find out if the allegations really happened,” he added.

Source: The News Minute