An Anganwadi teacher, Anandamma, in Melekote village in Doddaballapur taluk of Bangalore rural district has alleged that she is being discriminated by upper caste people for being a Dalit
By Coovercolly Indresh
An Anganwadi teacher, Anandamma, in Melekote village in Doddaballapur taluk of Bangalore rural district, Karnataka has alleged that she is being discriminated by upper class people for being a Dalit.
Anandamma was appointed as an Anganwadi teacher at Melekote Anganwadi center last week. When she went to the Anganwadi to take classes, a few villagers prevented her from entering the school and stopped her from performing her duty.
She alleged that she faced resistance from upper caste villagers and obstructed her to perform duty because she is from the Dalit community. A heated argument ensued in front of the center, as Anandamma demanded justice.
Some women from the village have stated that they want a local woman to be appointed as the Anganwadi teacher, claiming that someone from another village would not be able to arrive on time. They have threatened to send their children to another Anganwadi if Anandamma remains as the teacher.
Officials from the Women and Children Welfare(WCW) department have stated that they will hold a meeting with the teacher and villagers on Monday to resolve the issue.
“Anandamma was working at another anganwadi for the last 15 years and as per department norms we have promoted her as anganwadi teacher and transferred to Melekote anganwadi center,” AnithaLakshmi , district programme officer of WCW department told HT on Sunday.
She said as per norms anganwadi teachers must reside below three kilometers of distance from the centre. As Anandamma resides in Rajghatta village which is two kilometres from Melekote we appointed her, she said.
“We don’t know the exact reason for resistance from the villagers,” she said, adding that on Monday a meeting of villagers and WCW officials and Taluk panchayat executive officer would be held to sort out the issue.
‘’No villager discriminated the Anganwadi teacher just because she is Dalit,” Melekote gram panchayat vice president K Muniraju told HT. He said a section of villagers are demanding the department to appoint a local candidate as the teacher resides more than five kilometers away from the Anganwadi and there is no proper bus facility to reach on time. We will solve the problem in tomorrow’s meeting, he added
Courtesy : HT
Note: This news piece was originally published in hindustantimes.com and used purely for non-profit/non-commercial purposes exclusively for Human Rights
