200 non-dalits skip school in dalit colony

CHENNAI: At least 220 of 330 students of a government school in a village around 15km from Sriperumbudur in the city's western suburbs, have stayed off from attending classes for a week due to a conflict between dalits and non-dalits over the new site for the institution. After two meetings of a peace committee comprising representatives of the two sides convened by Kancheepuram collector P Ponniah on Wednesday and Friday, the parents of the abstaining students seem to have relented, but a final decision is likely only on Monday.
The Government Higher Secondary School in Govindavadi, around 70km from the city, is right next to the dalit colony, while the proposed location is near the area where non-dalits reside.

After the buildings, constructed in 1961, were damaged in December 2016 when cyclone Vardah ravaged the city, the school's Parents Teachers Association (PTA) and the local gram sabha resolved to shift the higher secondary school to a new premise.

"The school is presently on water-course poromboke land and can't be regularised as per existing government norms. So, we offered a different piece of land to construct the new building," said V Parasuraman, head of the PTA who also heads the non-dalits.

The government sanctioned 3.7 crore for the construction through the national bank for agriculture and rural development (NABARD), but Jaya Kumar, who represented the dalits during the talks, said they were not consulted. "We oppose this move because students will have to cross the accident-prone highway to reach the new premise and its proximity to the non-dalit settlement," he added.

Sarath Kumar, another dalit, said students of the community in the government elementary school in the non-dalit settlement were already being discriminated on caste lines. "This will worsen if the higher secondary school is also shifted. It might result in a clash."

During the two peace committee meetings, dalits proposed a different site in their colony, but the other community did not agree. In protest, non-dalits stopped sending their children to school from June 11, said Parasuraman. After this, a team headed by the collector held talks with members of both communities.

"The government has now proposed a new site, owned by the Hindu Religious & Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) department, and a proposal requesting land is likely to be sent soon," said a revenue department official. "After this, parents have promised to send their children back to school. Our idea is ensure that the NABARD fund is utilised properly," he added.