Chandru Committee
The Justice K. Chandru Committee, constituted against the backdrop of a murderous assault on two Scheduled Caste (SC) siblings by their dominant community schoolmates in Nanguneri, Tamil Nadu has sought to remedy the situation.
Recommendations
In its exhaustive report, it has recommended to the State government that students be prohibited from having any coloured wristbands, rings, or forehead marks (tilaka), which serve as caste identities.
Students must refrain from using bicycles that are painted with any sign of caste reference.
Besides, school names are not to bear any caste appellation.
It has also called for the caste confidentiality of pupils.
The committee has rightly recommended that the government appoint a Social Justice Monitoring Committee comprising academicians and social activists to check the curriculum relating to social issues and suggest modifications, and push for the inclusion of topics based on social justice, equality, and non-discrimination.
The suggestion to revise the B.Ed and Diploma in Elementary Education syllabuses to ensure orientation towards inclusivity is welcome.
But the government would do well to ignore the regressive recommendation to do away with noon meal kitchens in every school.
A centralised kitchen in every block/panchayat union, as recommended by the committee, may perhaps help in masking the caste identity of cooks, but it does not remedy the prevailing discrimination.
Apart from practical difficulties in distributing food from central kitchens, children would be deprived of hot and fresh food.
The suggestion to establish a uniformed Social Justice Students Force, which will “operate independently of the union government”, and conduct regular drills and exercises, also needs to be viewed with caution.
The existing NCC, Scouts and Guides and NSS setup is adequate enough to offer students such a space.
The government must be cognisant of addressing discrimination which starts in children’s habitats that are awash with caste-identifiable colours — from drinking water pipes to bus stops.
COMMENTS