A class III student claims that he uses the buara (broom) twice daily, once in the morning, and then before the meals. His classmate reminds him that they also clean, and set the garbage pile on fire, whenever the school gets too dirty.
“Sweep the floor or we’ll give you a TC”, is a threat that a 12-year-old often hears at school. They are all the Dalit students of Rajkiya Ucch Madhyamik Vidyalaya in Benada village on the outskirts of Jaipur. Last year, following a PIL, the Rajastan High Court had directed an NGO, Bharat Gyan Vigyan Samiti (BGVS), to review the status of toilets in about hundred schools in and around Jaipur.
The NGO reported that the girl children from SC communities were made to clean toilets by the teachers and administration. These children face discrimination because they belong to SC communities, thereby reinforcing untouchability and caste roles of traditional societies, The Indian Express reported.
The kids of Rajkiya Ucch Madhyamik Vidyalaya, where the Gujjars outnumber the Dalit students, do not clean toilets. However, the work they are made to do, does reinforce the caste roles. Parents of these Dalit children told to Delhi-based Indian Express that their kids are made to fetch water for their teachers, are given smaller portions of food at mid-day meals compared to their Gujjar counterparts, and bear the duty of cleaning the school premises.
The school principal, however, denies that the children are made to clean the school. He claims that they pay a “Dalit woman” to clean both the toilet and the school premises. The children say that she comes only once a month and only cleans the toilets.
Even the Gujjars acknowledge the difference between them and their counterparts when it comes to cleaning duty. They claim that they are made to clean the classroom only as punishment for coming late for class.