Govt to set up panels to monitor caste conflicts in TN schools

CHENNAI: In a bid to prevent caste conflicts among the students, the School Education Department will be setting up monitoring committees led by Chief Education Officers (CEOs) in the schools across the State.

The guidelines pertaining to the committee formation were issued by the Directorate of School Education. The committee, comprising the deputy superintendent of police, educationists, and student protection officers, will be constituted in each district, stated the guidelines.

Accordingly, the committee will monitor the instances of caste discrimination, caste-based atrocities, violence among students, and incidents of sexual harassment among school students. According to the guidelines, the committee members should seek monthly reports from the school headmasters and take swift action accordingly.

The guidelines further stated that if the students have any grievances related to caste based discrimination, they could contact the toll-free numbers 14416 and 104.

The guidelines also stressed that teachers should take responsibility to create awareness among the students about misinformation related to caste conflicts on social media. The students should also be sensitised about misinformation on social media to discourage them from sharing it and causing unnecessary uproar, said the guidelines.

In addition, the school managements were also instructed that they should not use the properties of the institution to organise any programme irrelevant to education.