What Justice Chandru panel suggested to cast caste away from schools in TN

CHENNAI: Caste violence is not new in Tamil Nadu. Despite being the pioneer of social justice through its myriad welfare schemes, the State is notorious for its violent clashes between different communities, and the everyday discriminatory practices that are weaved into its cultural fabric.

Last year on August 9, a school student and his sister were brutally attacked by his classmates from a dominant caste community in Nanguneri, Tirunelveli. It created ripples across the socio-political spectrum, and revealed the simmering caste dynamics that have strong roots in the State.

In response to the violence, and as a prevention measure, the State government constituted a one-man committee with retired Justice K Chandru to frame guidelines and rules to end caste violence in educational institutions. The committee’s recommendations shed more light on the need for societal change rather than minor reforms to create a non-discriminative and unbiased society.

School students' attack

Chinnadurai (17) a Dalit student, and his younger sister were attacked by his three classmates from the dominant community at his house. Despite the brutality of the attack, both children survived but with grievous injuries all over their bodies.

Their mother claimed that the attackers were irritated with her son’s academic excellence, and had attacked them with the casteist motive. Immediately after the incident, the State government took measures to provide medical aid to the children, and shifted them to Chennai to perform plastic surgery. The State provided Rs 5.2 lakh to each child as compensation.

Since the whole incident reeked of caste discrimination, the State constituted the one-man committee. Chandru doubled down and got to work immediately. He sought views and suggestions from various stakeholders including schools, colleges, universities, teaching and non-teaching staff associations for the report.

Surprisingly, the report revealed that the notice sent to teachers and students organisations yielded no feedback. Similarly, the larger political parties had also remained silent without any suggestions.

The committee received 1,448 responses from college students, of which nearly 1,300 responses came from a specific government college in Tirunelveli, where students wrote a letter advocating the termination of caste-based reservation.

Condemnation

Followed by the strong attack by the BJP State president K Annamalai, the party’s vice president Narayanan Thirupathy condemned the recommendations of the committee.

“Chandru had prepared the report without knowing the rich culture and heritage of our country. He’s acting like a propaganda secretary to the DMK,” Narayanan attacked. “The report intends to annihilate the culture and customs of Hindus by projecting particular leaders as social justice forerunners. The real social justice leaders are Ramanujar and Bharathiyar. In the last 50 years of Dravidian rule, the education system has been spoiled and taken a path into the abyss.”

Though the general secretary of TN Eradication of Untouchability Front, K Samuel Raj, welcomed the recommendations, he expressed doubts on the State’s capacity to implement them.

“Some of the recommendations are impractical. Since we cannot be prejudiced that only certain castes practice discrimination, the recommendation of no headmaster, CEO or BEO from the dominant caste from that area, will have serious negative outcomes,” he pointed out.

Samuel welcomed the recommendation of including a column in the annual confidential report of how the headmasters were treating students from SC/ST communities.

Chandru says…

Speaking to DT Next about the experience of preparing the report, the retired judge said, “Curiously, except for a few parties, most political parties that raised so much noise in the aftermath of the Nanguneri incident and called for strict action, did not respond to the Committee’s notice. Therefore, I had to rely on the news reports and articles that were published in scholarly magazines, text books and books written on the subject by several known teachers. Chief Minister MK Stalin told me that his government was committed to taking steps and that the report of the committee will be sincerely considered and implemented.”

He also opined that the caste associations played a significant role in poisoning the minds of students and keeping caste differences eternally alive. “We have forgotten to teach social issues to students. Even if a rudimentary form of such subjects are introduced, we do not have competent and sensitive teachers to impart the same,” he stated.

Chandru said he was surprised the BJP’s state executive committee in Tamil Nadu would issue statements and condemn the report without reading it. “How could Annamalai say that imparting ethical lessons, revising the curriculum to impart social values and other recommendations were against the interest of students? It only shows that BJP is starved of any issues especially after the defeat in the recent Lok Sabha polls,” he elaborated. “Annamalai does not know that I had worked for nine months on an honorary basis preparing the report. I didn’t take a single paisa, and yet, he has accused me of having vested interests while submitting the report.”

He also pointed out that if the State government wanted to move towards equality and non-discrimination, it needed a wider change at the societal level, and educational institutions played a huge part in achieving that. “It starts by undoing a 1,000-year-old inhumane practice of caste discrimination. Without exploring avenues for societal change, and restricting only to minor reforms will pave the way for caste violence to recur,” he averred.

KEY RECOMMENDATIONS:

Issue an administrative order to remove the names Kallar Reclamation and Adi Dravidar Welfare as prefixes from school names and solely refer it as government school followed by the place

Remove any caste prefix or suffix associated with government schools that indicate either the donor or their family

Request private schools having caste appellations to drop it and impose conditions on the educational agency seeking to establish a new school that it should not bear any caste appellation

Periodic transfer of teachers from high schools and higher secondary schools

No persons belonging from the dominant caste of that particular area must not be appointed as Chief Education Officer, District Education Officer, Block Education Officer and Head Master

Annual confidential reports for officers and headmasters must include a column to record their attitudes towards Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST)

A code of conduct for teachers and staff of all types of schools, colleges and universities run by the government must be prescribed statutorily

Teachers Recruitment Board must ascertain and take into account the aptitude and attitude of teachers towards social justice issues at the time of recruitment

Before the commencement of every academic year, teachers and staff of all the schools and colleges must undergo a compulsory orientation programme relating to social issues, caste discrimination and the different laws pertaining to sexual violence, sexual harassment, drugs, ragging and offences against SC/ST

A committee with experts should be constituted to provide suggestions for eliminating incorrect views and to include content that will enhance social justice values, non-discriminatory attitudes and concepts of equality

Social justice monitoring committee should be constituted with academicians and social activists to monitor students’ curriculum on social issues, and suggest appropriate modifications by including topics based on social justice, equality and non-discrimination based on caste

Seating arrangements in every classroom in all schools and colleges should be strictly based on alphabetical order, except for those with disabilities who may be accommodated in the front row

Caste names of students must be kept confidential, especially while announcing details of communications received regarding scholarships – these must not be done in classrooms

No teacher can call any students by either directly or indirectly referring to their caste nor make any derogatory comments about the student’s caste, teachers violating the directive must be put against strict disciplinary action

Evolve a code of discipline for students including prohibiting them from wearing any coloured wristbands, rings, or forehead marks

Students should refrain from coming to school on bicycles painted with reference to their caste or exhibiting any caste-related sentiments

Conduct orientation programmes for students in classes 6-12 at the beginning of every academic year

The State must permit schools and colleges to have students’ associations with leadership elected annually by conducting elections

Prohibit use of mobile phones by school students in the campus

Conducting moral classes for students from classes 6-12 in all schools, imparting concepts of social justice, equality and non-discrimination

Appoint one trained counsellor for each block to monitor students and protect them from getting drug addiction, and also to recommend admission of student-addicts to a de-addiction centre at the expense of the State

Establish a social justice students’ force with students from all communities free from communal divisions united in their efforts to combat social evils

Frame guidelines to all educational institutions prohibiting the usage of auditoriums, classrooms, playgrounds or open spaces for non-educational purposes especially propagating communal or caste-related messages

Declare a specific area as prone to caste-atrocity after an assessment and take precautionary and preventive measures in those areas