Start student grievance redressal cell, AIDWA urges TN govt

CHENNAI: Condemning the incident of a Class 8 student of a private school in Coimbatore forced to sit outside to write her final exam, the All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA), together with Communist Party of India (Marxist), held a protest in Pollachi on Saturday.

Close to 1,500 members of both AIDWA and CPM took part in the protest to express their anger towards the school management.

During the protest, members urged the State government and Department of School Education to set up a ‘student grievance redressal cell’ in all schools. Not a meagre formation of the cell, but they strongly demanded for proper implementation and redressal of the complaints.

Speaking to DT Next, a protester said, “The protest was held to show our condemnation towards the ordeal the girl had to go through. Though this case was brought to light, perhaps there are many left unreported. But, to avoid such incidents, we demand the education department to set up a student grievance redressal cell in all schools, especially private schools.”

The member further went on to highlight the questionable events conducted in schools across the State. “Students should respect teachers and not worship them. Rituals like pada puja (an ancient Indian ritual of washing someone’s feet with water and flowers) in reverence to the teachers must be punished by the department,” added the member.

Protestors further urged that the Coimbatore case must not be seen as an isolated one. “The incident is exposing the superstition and discrimination deeply rooted in our society, even among those inculcating knowledge and education,” stated the member.

Meanwhile, as per reports, a Class 8 student belonging to Scheduled Caste (SC) was forced to sit outside class to write her science paper. The incident unfolded at Swamy Chidbhavanda Matric Higher Secondary School in Kinathukadavu taluk of Coimbatore district.