Daijiworld Media Network - Chennai (SHP)

Chennai, Aug 15: Certain schools in Tamil Nadu have been identified for discriminating against students based on caste. Schools were accused of making students wear bands of different colours to identify their caste. In a directive issued by the TN education department strict action was to be taken against these schools.

In a circular based on a representation by a batch of 180 trainee IAS officers, the director of School Education said, “All chief educational officers are requested to take appropriate steps to identify such schools in their district, where such kind of discrimination is practiced." The officials were to bring an immediate stop to such discriminatory activities.

Further, the circular required the regional officials to submit a report on action taken by them against the ones responsible. Complaints started flooding in when physical instructors and senior district level officials began restricting certain students from participating in sports event. In some schools, the wrist bands were used to discriminate kids from using plates to eat during mid-day meals.

In one of the reports by a trainee IAS officer, some schools in TN used colour coded wrist bands to define the caste of the student. In addition to wrist bands, couple of other schools used rings and tilak on the forehead to indicate caste, status or sect.