(ANSA) - NEW DELHI, DEC 21 - The students of a state high school, in the village of Jaul, in the north-eastern state of Uttarakhand, for a week have refused to eat at the canteen, because the cook belongs to the Dalit caste, the former untouchables.
Principal Prem Singh, who heads the state institute, reported it to the media.
The woman, Sunita Devi, was recently hired with the job of cooking lunch.
"The first days there were no objections", the headmaster says with sincere amazement, "but when the news of the cook's origin spread, the upper caste families forced the boys to boycott meals; of a hundred students, only thirteen, they also belong to castes protected because they are marginalized, they eat the food cooked by our cook. The others bring their own lunch "Singh explains that the woman was hired in full compliance with the rules of the government and that her appointment had been approved by the school council. which also includes family representatives.
The episode reveals, for the umpteenth time, the persistence in the country of "caste racism", in spite of the laws that indiscriminately protect all Indians.
The parents of the students on "food strike" argue that the problem is not the cook's caste but the fact that she was favored precisely because of her origin, and affirm that among the candidates there was another one, of a higher caste, much more suitable for the role. .
The head of the State Education Department RC Purohit said he had opened an investigation into the incident.
(HANDLE).