Justice Chandru report illustrates eradicating caste in classrooms remains a tall order

The report shows Tamil Nadu’s education system is infested with deep-rooted caste discrimination, challenging the State’s social justice credentials.

Students at a school at Tirumalaigiri near Salem, Tamil Nadu, in March 2018. The Chandru Committee report recommends dropping caste appellations from the names of all educational institutions and says there is overwhelming support for the merger of all schools under one unified school education department management. | Photo Credit: LAKSHMINARAYANAN E

A shocking incident on August 9, 2023, when a Dalit boy named Chinnadurai, a Class XII student in a higher secondary school in Nanguneri town in Tirunelveli district, was brutally hacked by schoolmates belonging to other backward castes (OBCs), led to widespread outrage in Tamil Nadu.

The government rushed a team of specialists from Chennai to provide Chinnadurai and his sister, also injured in the incident, the best medical treatment. They transferred the two siblings to another school and gave the family a house in another settlement. Chinnadurai’s mother, deserted by her husband, was working at a midday meal centre and raising her children alone. She was transferred to a centre near their new home.

In the wake of the incident, Chief Minister M.K. Stalin formed a one-man Committee headed by Justice K. Chandru, a retired judge of the Madras High Court, to study the incident and suggest how caste-based violence could be prevented in schools.

Justice Chandru submitted his exhaustive 600-page report to the Chief Minister recently. Ironically, he notes that the report about the Nanguneri incident submitted by the then Tirunelveli district Chief Educational Officer to the Directorate of School Education claimed that it was “merely a clash between two sets of students”. Justice Chandru termed this “highly disappointing”.

He also writes that when he sent out questionnaires for the report, there was a surprising lack of response from most political parties, formal teachers’ associations, and student bodies. Responses often seemed staged. He cites one government college in Tirunelveli where it appeared that the principal had orchestrated 1,300 identical responses to be sent by postcard to the Committee. “This reflects poorly on the attitude and seriousness of those involved,” writes Chandru.

Justice Chandru also notes the “shocking reply” of the Vice Chancellor of Periyar University who sent one line claiming there were no caste-based differences in the institution. However, both the Periyar University Teachers’ Association and the Periyar University Employees’ Association sent letters to the Committee reporting persistent caste discrimination against both students and teachers.

Spike in caste violence

Southern Tamil Nadu has seen a revival of caste-based crime in the last five years, with a spike in the numbers of murders and caste gang violence. This region—comprising Tirunelveli, Thoothukudi, and Tenkasi—saw horrific caste clashes, riots, and arson in the decade from 1990 to 2000, which claimed more than 300 lives and destroyed properties worth many crore rupees.

Then too the government constituted high-power commissions of inquiry. Retired Supreme Court judge Mohan was asked to recommend suggestions to avoid the recurrence of caste violence. A three-member committee under Justice Ratnavel Pandian was formed to suggest the socio-economic and industrial development of the region. The Justice Gomathinayagam commission was constituted to probe the Kodiyankulam police violence.

Based on the Justice Ratnavel Pandian report, a Special Economic Zone was set up in Nanguneri, near Tuticorin, to create jobs and infrastructure and bring in investments. It has since languished.

After a brief lull, the region is once again reporting incidents of caste-based violence. The menace appears to have now crept into school and college campuses. Students have started to sport wristbands, studs, bracelets, bindis, and religious symbols in specific colours that serve as caste markers. Even bicycles are painted in specific colours.

The Justice Chandru report cites Viduthalai Chirutaigal Katchi leader Thol. Thirumavalavan decrying the disturbing trend of caste-related accessories being distributed by certain caste organisations and alleging that right-wing groups such as the RSS are playing a role in indoctrinating young minds with religious and caste fanaticism.

The report quotes Kathir, the executive director of the non-profit Evidence, who says: “Caste-based atrocities have been on a rise in Tamil Nadu, especially in the last two years, with the number of such cases increasing from, 1200-1400 a year to 2,000 cases a year.”

Such incidents run contrary to the region’s development and education indices. Tirunelveli district, for instance, boasts an average literacy rate of 90.39 per cent, among the top in the State and higher than the national average of 72.98 per cent. The district’s male and female literacy ratio is 94.75 and 86.18 per cent respectively. Agriculture is the main occupation, yielding a per capita income of Rs 1.34 lakh.

Despite such robust education and economic indices, the district has a dismal social history, with violent discrimination against Dalits continuing to be a major issue. Justice Chandru cites a journalist in his report, who writes: “As they [Dalits] begin to understand their own identities and assert themselves, they have started demanding their rights. Unused to this, the upper classes have been reacting.”

Officials in denial

However, as the Chandru report points out, government officers in most districts of the State “have denied the existence of caste discrimination”. The report states that despite several directives, universities in Tamil Nadu have not established grievances ombudsmen or institutional mechanisms to deal with caste-related issues. “Despite two State legislations and three Central legislations, along with UGC regulations,” the report states, “…there is a lack of awareness about these laws among all concerned stakeholders.”

The report recommends that at the start of each academic year, it be made “essential to hold mandatory orientation programmes for all involved parties, including teachers, staff and students”.

The committee reports that teachers have refused to acknowledge or address caste in classrooms. It calls for the State Council for Education, Research, and Training (SCERT) to give teachers a sound theoretical foundation on social justice and the context and evolution of caste. Teachers, it says, should be equipped to train students to analyse and question issues related to caste and social justice. “Circulars issued over the last 10 years have scarcely included any directives on how to handle caste-related issues by the authorities,” the report notes.

The routine transfer of errant teachers is not a solution because they carry their prejudices with them, but the committee recommends periodic transfers to prevent power nexuses and demands strict disciplinary action against any casteist behaviour. Teachers should also be continuously sensitised after they begin their careers since casteism in the classroom often begins with them. The report also says that dominant caste individuals must be prevented from filling headmaster and other senior school posts in their areas.

The report draws some solace from the fact that of the 1,300 police cases filed for offences against the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe people in 2021, only nine involved Children in Conflict with Law. “This accounts for less than 0.1 per cent of the total. However, the involvement of school children in caste-based offences is troubling and a worrisome trend that must be addressed decisively,” the report says.

Some recommendations

The Justice Chandru report recommends the banning of coloured wristbands, which have become coded markers of caste identity. The State administration has found during investigations that wristbands are often used to target students. The report quotes a newspaper story that classifies the colours: “It’s red and yellow for Thevars, blue and yellow for Nadars, saffron for Yadavs—all socially and politically powerful communities that come under the Most Backward Caste category. Students of the Dalit community of Pallars wear wristbands in green and red and the Arundhathiyars, also Dalits, wear green, black and white.”

The committee also recommends banning rings, tilaks, bindis, and other caste markers. It recommends that caste records be kept confidential with access only to the school heads. Seating arrangements in classrooms must be in alphabetical order, the attendance register should not have caste columns, and teachers should not call students by their caste names. Any breach should be met with strict disciplinarian action.

Justice K. Chandru, retired judge of the Madras High Court, recommends in his 600-page report that at the start of each academic year, it be made “essential to hold mandatory orientation programmes for all involved parties, including teachers, staff and students”. | Photo Credit: JOTHI RAMALINGAM B

The report asks the government to appoint School Welfare Officers in secondary schools to monitor instances of caste, sexual, or ragging offences, and to conduct and monitor sensitisation programmes.

To tackle the issue of discrimination against Dalit cooks in school midday meal centres, the report moots centralised kitchens in each revenue block, ensuring both quality and equality.

The Chandru Committee recommends dropping caste appellations from the names of all educational institutions, such as Kallar Reclamation School, Adi Dravida School, etc. and says there is overwhelming support for the merger of all schools under one unified school education department management. Chandru proposes an amendment to the Tamil Nadu Societies Registration Act, 1975, mandating that any educational agency proposing to start an educational institution ensure that the name does not have any caste appellation.

The report suggests that the National Service Scheme (NSS) establish a volunteer force called the Social Justice Students Force on the line of Kerala’s Student Police Cadet Scheme.

The Chandru report notes that several respondents recommended removing the reservation policy as a solution to caste violence. It goes on to summarily reject the suggestion, writing that “some of those [writing] were themselves beneficiaries of such constitutionally mandated reservations”.

The responses

The report has met with a muted response. The impact of some of its recommendations is unclear, such as the one that local bodies be given full control over primary education, with Panchayat Unions allowed to appoint and remove staff. It is not clear how useful this will be, considering that caste attitudes are most entrenched in local communities and enforced the most there as well.

The call for a ban on religious markers on foreheads and wrists has attracted criticism from the BJP and its allies, who claim that it infringes upon the constitutional rights of Hindus. Their criticism does not clarify why bindis or threads cannot uniformly be in one colour to signify the Hindu religion without colour-coding for caste.

Similarly, a few caste outfits have opposed the move to bring schools such as the Kallar Reclamation school, run by the Most Backward Class Department, or the Adi Dravidar school, managed by the Adi Dravidar Welfare Department, under the unified ambit of the School Education Department. They argue that it would erase the privileges to which the historically wronged children of these groups are entitled.

If the Tamil Nadu government, which often boasts of its social justice credo, implements even a few of the Justice Chandru Committee’s suggestions, it could see a small difference in attitudes. Eradicating caste from classrooms, however, will require a sea change in social and familial attitudes in Tamil Nadu.