Thursday, Mar 28, 2024 | Last Update : 03:38 PM IST

  India   In Badaun schools, mid-day meals feed caste bias

In Badaun schools, mid-day meals feed caste bias

Published : Aug 21, 2016, 4:28 am IST
Updated : Aug 21, 2016, 4:28 am IST

Introduced with an aim of enhancing enrolment and attendance of children in school, India’s free school lunch programme — popularly known as the mid day meal scheme — is also feeding “intolerance” and

Introduced with an aim of enhancing enrolment and attendance of children in school, India’s free school lunch programme — popularly known as the mid day meal scheme — is also feeding “intolerance” and “discrimination” among various castes.

Untouchabilty, even as it was abolished in 1955, remains a stark reality across various schools in Badaun district in Uttar Pradesh (UP). From asking children to get their own plates for their meal, to not letting women from the lower caste cook, the evil practice of caste system plagues almost every school in this district.

In villages and urban slums, where discrimination is rampant, voices are so quiet that they are stifled even before they are raised. A harsh example of this is a dusty little hamlet called, Rehmuddin Nagar, 7 km away from Badaun. With a total population of 1,333 people, comprising mainly of Schedule Castes (SC) — the Jathavs — and Backward Caste (BC), the Lodhe Rajput.

The irony here is that they have not heard of “equality” and nobody bats an eyelid at the goings-on. “I can’t play with an SC nor eat with him,” said Aman, proudly displaying his knowledge of the rules.

Women from the lower caste are not allowed to cook the food. Scuffles became so frequent that the teacher had to tell children to get their own plates. Every day before the bell rings, signalling lunch time, the children go back to their homes to bring their plates. In this process though, many don’t mind coming back to school too. “They don’t eat together, sit together and don’t even play together,” said Kishori Devi, gram pradhan. Even an attempt to cheer up and get two boys to shake hands proved futile.

Untouchability is practised widely in Gihar basti too, earlier known as “Kanjar Basti”, another village in the district. The upper-caste areas here are separated from the low-lying “Kanjar Basti” which has mud puddles all around. A few years ago, the villagers decided to change its name from “Kanjar Basti” to Gihar after oppression crossed all limits.

“While there is no school in the basti, the children don’t go to the one nearby because the upper caste children don’t behave properly. They throw dead mosquitoes on our children and hit them. We made several complaints to teachers, but they only fell on deaf ears. The other children also used to say, ‘yeh to kanjar basti se aaye hain,” said 35-year-old Seema. Seema took out her 12-year-old son who went to that school only for five or six months,” she added.

This year 56 children have dropped out of the school from the same basti, facing outrageous discrimination.

The story continues at every village in the district, with no happy ending. The only silver lining is a “children’s activity centre”, started by Raj Kumar Sharma, a CRY-supported partner. Mr Sharma has been running the centre, called ‘Smaghra Vikas Sanstha’, since July, and been

Location: India, Delhi, New Delhi