UP school principal removed for dividing class on the basis of caste

Hathras: A principal in Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras district worked out his own “caste arithmetic”, segregating students of Class IX on the basis of their caste and appointing class teachers on a similar basis, prompting authorities to remove him. [caption id=“attachment_2779854” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. AFP[/caption] Acting on complaints that Radhey Shyam Varshney, Principal of Seth Phulchand Bagla Inter College, a government-aided institution, had segregated students on the basis of their caste — Scheduled Caste, Backward and General — District Magistrate Avinash Krishna Singh ordered a probe by the District Inspector of Schools (DIoS). After the matter was found to be true, the principal was removed. Varshney had also appointed same caste teachers in the class and three of them, working as class teachers, have also been removed from their respective posts. As per Varshney’s scheme of things, a general category teacher was appointed for a classroom having general students. Likewise, a a scheduled caste teacher was chosen for a classroom with SC students, and an OBC teacher for OBC students. “We had received a complaint of discrimination against Principal of Seth Phulchand Baagla Inter College for separating classes on the basis of caste. We conducted an inquiry and found that three sections — A, B, C — of Class 9 had difference in ratio over the distribution of General, SC and OBC students,” Singh said. “Section A had more of General category students as compared with OBC and Schedule Caste, in the same way section B had more OBC students and similarly section C had more SC students,” he said. Some students had alleged that discrimination was being done in the class on basis of caste in seating arrangements and admissions in the college. They had complained that the absurd practice was going on since 1 April, the day new session started. “We are planning to take strict action…We have advised the college administration to distribute the students evenly in the class and this should be done urgently,” the DM added.