Political parties condemn caste question in Periyar University

CHENNAI: After Periyar University landed in soup after a controversial question on ‘who is lower caste' appeared in a semester exam, the state government has announced that action will be taken on those responsible for the question.

State Higher Education Department secretary D Karthikeyan said that a question related to caste was asked in a recent semester exam had created a controversy. “With regard to the issue, a committee comprising higher authorities will be constituted to probe the matter and the members would submit a report. Based on the report, departmental action will be taken against the persons who did the mistake," Karthikeyan said.

The controversial question appeared in the second year question paper of MA History following which there was huge uproar from educationalists and leaders of various political parties.

"Is this the Dravidian rule of DMK government where the very ideals of Periyar have been insulted by asking questions on castes", said AIADMK Interim General Secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami, in a tweet.

PMK Founder S Ramadoss urged stringent action on those responsible for the controversy. "We cannot forgive the controversy in Periyar university which was established after Periyar who fought against the caste atrocities," he said.

VCK MP D Ravikumar said that the person who framed the question was not fit to be a school teacher as there are even mistakes in translating the question from English to Tamil.

Reacting to the issue, Periyar University Registrar D Gopi said that for every semester exam two sets of question papers would be prepared by well-experienced teachers under the chairman of the question paper setting committee.