The Greater Chennai Corporation on Tuesday issued a circular directing all schools under its control to list the names of students in their attendance registers only in alphabetical order, a senior official said. The Corporation’s directive to all schools comes a day after The Hindu published a report that one of its school listed students in the attendance register on the basis of caste classification and not in alphabetical order. However, the circular to the schools was not made available in the public domain as yet. The headmistress of the primary school which had the controversial attendance registers has been transferred, an official said.
“In case the school management needed to maintain details of the students’ caste categories for administrative or scholarship purposes, a separate register has to be maintained, and it cannot be merged with the attendance register,” the official said.
The Corporation runs 281 primary, middle, high and higher secondary schools.
Meanwhile, a source said the school in question withdrew its batches divided on the basis of the old attendance register, and fresh batches were formed with new attendance registers.