Date:12/09/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/09/12/stories/2007091261750500.htm

Andhra Pradesh

Caste feud triggers rift among schoolchildren

S. Ramu

Mid-day meal skipped by some as the cook is a BC

— PHOTO: R. Biksham Ruther

Tit for tat: Children belonging to Scheduled Castes going home for lunch by skipping mid-day meal at Dasari Nemalipur in Nalgonda district on Tuesday.

DASARI NEMALIPUR (Nalgonda Dt): A feud between two communities has created a rift among schoolchildren on caste lines in this remote village of Gundlapally mandal. Children belonging to Scheduled Castes are now skipping the mid-day meal being served in the upper primary school here because the cook belongs to a Backward Caste.

“The BC students had not accepted the food served by a SC woman here in the past. Hence we are not accepting the food cooked by a BC woman now,” B.Venkatesh, a class III student, said.

The boy revealed that his parents had advised him to come home for lunch by skipping the mid-day meal served at school.

Danger of ill-will

Of the strength of 94 in this school, 70 students are BCs and 23 SCs. A dispute between two self-help groups over the maintenance of the school kitchen led to the unsavoury development that could leave ill-will among the tender children.

The members of the rival women groups locked the school dining hall on June 22 following some altercation. In a bid to break the deadlock, the sarpanch held a meeting with the villagers and appointed a SC woman as a cook the next day.

Taking exception to the appointment of a Dalit as a cook, the Backward Class families allegedly didn’t allow their kids to partake of the midday meal.

Meal scheme stuck

“The BC students didn’t accept the lunch in the school till August 8 forcing the sarpanch to call for another meeting,” a villager said. The midday meal scheme has come to a halt in the school over the appointment of a cook from August 9 to 21.

“The decision to replace the SC woman with a BC has been taken at the meeting on August 22. In a retaliatory move, the SC students are not accepting the lunch at school ever since,” the hapless headmaster K.Harilal said. “Children don’t carry caste feelings but the parents are resorting to caste politics,” he rued.