KARUR: About 10 parents of 15 students of Velanchettiyur panchayat union primary school at Aravakurichi in Karur, who were refusing to allow their children to consume breakfast in the school saying that their wards won’t consume food cooked by a Scheduled Caste woman, relented after Karur collector Dr T Prabhushankar warned them of legal action on Tuesday.
After the CM’s breakfast scheme was expanded to all primary schools in the state on August 25, about 30 students of the Karur school were also brought under the scheme. The breakfast for the children was being prepared by a women's self-help group. Sumathi, a Scheduled Caste (SC) woman, was a member of the group.
After the parents opposed breakfast being cooked by Sumathi, the district women’s welfare project director met them on August 29 and advised them against it. Following this, two children started consuming food on August 30. Against this backdrop, Karur collector Dr T Prabhushankar held a surprise inspection at the school on Tuesday. He checked the quality of the breakfast prepared by Sumathi. He also spoke to the 10 parents who were raising caste issues.
During the talks, one of the parents, Balasubramanian, told the collector that he wouldn’t allow his child to eat the food cooked by the SC woman and said he wanted to admit his child to a different school. Hearing this, the collector ordered police officials to take action against him under the SC/ST Act.
After the collector’s stern warning, Balasubramaniam apologised and said he would take steps to make his child eat breakfast prepared in the school. Accepting his words, the collector dropped legal action against him. Prabhushankar also advised and warned parents not to promote caste discrimination in the school. Women welfare project director Srinivasan, chief education officer, RDO Rubina and Aravakurichi tahsildar Senthil Kumar were present during the inspection.