They said Dalit students could not attend classes in Pannai Venkatramaiyar High School in North Gopalasamudram after a murder with caste overtones.

A group of women from South Gopalasamudram, a sleepy hamlet in the district that witnessed a murder with caste overtones in 2013, staged dharna on the Collectorate premises on Monday demanding separate school for Dalit students.

The petitioners sat on the ground in front the District Development Council Hall where the weekly grievance day meeting was going on. They said Dalit students of South Gopalasamudram could not attend classes in Pannai Venkatramaiyar High School in North Gopalasamudram after a murder with caste overtones. Classes for them were being conducted in a community hall in their village since November 2013.

Besides Caste Hindu students, a few teachers of the school also were against Dalit students, which forced them to continue with their studies in the temporary school at the community hall.

Even though the Collector had recommended to the Department of Adi Dravida Welfare to start a new school at South Gopalasamudram for Dalits, no further action had been taken by the higher-ups to convert the temporary arrangement into a full-fledged permanent school.

“While our children cannot go to the North Gopalasamudram school after the murder, they cannot go to the schools at Munneerpallam or Cheranmahadevi also as they have to travel for more than 10 km. Ultimately, good number of children who had been admitted at the temporary school, have put an end to education and have become child labourers. If a high school is started at South Gopalasamudram, Dalit dropouts can continue their education,” said M. Perumal of South Gopalasamudram.