Dirty picture: Upper-caste parents up in arms against school which appointed Dalit cook!

Mysuru, Dec 2: For people who think India is on the path of progress and social development, here is a news: A group of upper-caste parents have asked their children to stop eating the lunch served at their school as the new cook is a Dalit, says a TOI report.

The caste-issue has led to a deadlock in the government school, located at Kuppegala, about 35km from Mysuru in Karnataka. On Monday a group of parents rushed into the school during lunch hour and shouted at the school officials for feeding their kids lunch cooked by a 'Dalit woman'.

Read: Dalit student beaten up at law college in Muzaffarnagar

Interestingly, the state chief minister Siddaramaiah studied in the same school. He has always spoken against the caste system in the Karnataka's society. Siddaramaiah is due to visit the place this week.

The issue began last week when the school administration appointed a cook, who happened to be from Dalit community. Soon, upper-caste families started pulling their children out of the school and the district administration asked officials to initiate action as per law.

In the latest, some parents have objected to lunch being served at the school. The kids have been forced to stop eating the food served at school and get lunch packed from home. However, Dalit students continue eating lunch at school.

A Times of India report said that although initially the attendance at the school had dropped to 60%, but on Monday, it rose to 90%. However, the issue got worse at lunchtime, when authorities started serving food to kids.

A couple of upper-caste parents rushed into the school premises and shouted at the authoritiesfor feeding their kids lunch cooked by a Dalit woman ! They asked their kids to stop eating and a majority of other upper-caste children also stopped having the lunch.

Classes resumed after the incident, says the TOI report.

"Some kids had carried lunch from home but we'd convinced them to have food served at the school. They did, but were not allowed to continue," school headmaster B Chikkadev said.

Of 133 students at school, 85 students had meals in school, says the report. The school has 82 Dalit students of who six were absent. Chikkadev reported the incident to the higher authorities.

Oneindia News