The Department of School Education has placed under suspension the headmistress of a government school in the outskirts of Tiruppur on charges of caste-based discrimination against students from the Scheduled Caste (SC) in the school.
Sources privy to the development said on Saturday that Geetha, the headmistress of Government High School in Iduvai, allegedly used casteist slurs and obscenities against the SC students, particularly girls. She also allegedly forced them to clean the toilets in the school. On Friday, R. Ramesh, Chief Educational Officer (CEO) for Tiruppur district, received a complaint from a group of Class IX and Class X students from the school, based on which he conducted an inquiry with the students and placed her under suspension till further notice, according to the sources.
He said Ms. Geetha had been the headmistress for the past three years. Investigation on whether her past behaviour towards students of other classes in the school also involved caste-based discrimination will be carried out, based on which further action will be taken, he said. A complaint has also been lodged at Mangalam police station against the headmistress following this incident, the CEO said.
Collector S. Vineeth told The Hindu that the Department of School Education will also initiate departmental action against her. “Since the allegations are serious in nature, this person has been placed under suspension,” he said, adding that these allegations require further investigation.
