In a recent incident, some Dalit students of Vande Matarm Vidyapitha of Andara in Kendrapada were allegedly restrained from peeling coconut by the physical education teacher and the headmaster of the school during Ganesh puja celebration in the school just because they were of low caste.
According to Sabita Mallick, a student of class IX, who came to the SP office with other Dalit students and their guardians, while she and other Dalit girl students were peeling coconut during the Ganesh Puja at school, PET Ashok Kumar Mallick allegedly restricted them not to peel coconut. He said if they peeled off coconut to be mixed in the lord’s Prasad, the Prasad would not be consumed by the upper caste people. When the Dalit students faced the humiliation and casteist remarks of the teacher, they went to bring the matter before the knowledge of headmaster Ramesh Chandra Rout. But the headmaster did not pay any heed.
“Being humiliated, we returned to our house by jumping off the school boundary wall as the school gate was locked. We immediately brought the matter before our parents. As a result, palpable tension erupted in the school premises,” said Monalisa Mallick, another girl student of class X students. ASP Ramesh Chandra Mohanty informed that he had directed Choudakulat police outpost in-charge Basant Satapathy to look into the matter and keep a close watch on the village to avert any law and order situation.