The controversy over the circular sent by the Director of School Education instructing schools to disallow students wearing coloured wrist bands according to their caste refuses to die down. In the latest, Minister for School Education K.A. Sengottaiyan on Friday said that steps would be taken if any complaints were received about the use of coloured threads to represent caste in schools.
Mr. Sengottaiyan’s comments came a day after he reportedly said that he was not aware of such a circular. He told reporters in Erode district that the circular to Chief Education Officers was forwarded without consulting him.
Mr. Sengottaiyan said: “The existing practices in schools will continue. Currently, we haven’t received any complaints regarding such practices in schools. Necessary action will be taken if complaints are received in this regard.”
Speaking to reporters about the same issue in Royapuram, Fisheries Minister D. Jayakumar was much more categorical.
He said: “The complete abolition of caste was the ideal of Thanthai Periyar [E.V. Ramasamy], Perarignar Anna [C.N. Annadurai], Puratchi Thalaivar MGR as well as Puratchi Thalaivi Amma [Jayalalithaa] .”
The Minister said the State government was functioning with this ideal and added that discrimination would not be tolerated be it in educational institutions or anywhere else. While BJP’s National Secretary H. Raja opposed the move to ban coloured wrist bands under the pretext that it was an attack on Hindu customs, Shyam Krishnasamy, youth wing leader of Puthiya Tamilagam said the party leader had flagged this issue to the Education Secretary in 2015 since there were social problems.
‘Recent phenomenon’
“Students wearing coloured threads is a very recent phenomenon. In fact, these days, they don’t even tie religious threads. Many of them have started wearing commercial bands. In the Devendrakula Vellalar community, they wear red and green. Thevars too have their own colours. It has gone to a stage where girls have started wearing only certain colour ribbons. It is bad for society,” said Shyam Krishnasamy. He said that caste-related identities and symbols should not be allowed in schools.
Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi spokesperson Aloor Shanawaz said the State government should implement its decision to clamp down on wearing of religious threads in schools. “We appreciate the State Government’s decision. We say that nobody should be allowed to wear threads. If one is upper caste or dominant caste, there is no problem. But, how will Scheduled Castes do it? If this was a religious tradition, everyone will wear the same thread but that is not the case ,” he said.
