Phool Kumari sits on dharna at Vidhan Sabha

Ever since her appointment on December 11, the students had refused to eat meals cooked by her. Some alleged that it was unhygienic, others said it was because she was a Dalit.

Phool Kumari today alleged she was being discriminated against and had been forced to leave the school.

Officials of the Education department and the district administration have refuted her allegations and said they had only abolished the village education committee that had appointed her, on grounds of corruption, but never asked her to move out.

“Ram Babu Chaurasia, the gram pradhan, was responsible for various anomalies in the formation of the village education committee. He had formed three committees for three schools in one village. Moreover, he did not distribute scholarships to students. Because of these anomalies, committees he had formed had to be abolished,” said Rakesh Srivastava, the basic education officer.

He added: “It’s true that Phool Kumari’s appointment was automatically cancelled when the committee that had appointed her was abolished. But no official or teacher asked her to leave. She could have gone on cooking till a new committee was formed, as we still plan to give her preference once the new appointments are made in the next few days.”

When The Indian Express visited the Bibipur school today, another woman, Bitaula, was found cooking mid-day meals and the children ate the food. Education officers said she is also a Dalit. But it appeared that the students were not aware of that.

Lalta Prasad, a resident, however, said Bitaula was not a Dalit as claimed by the officials but an OBC, which was why the children ate the food cooked by her. “Someone has misinformed you,” said he added.

In Lucknow, Phool Kumari herself had yet another story to tell.

“Controversy began the day I started cooking at the school. When I went there to serve food on December 11, principal V D Dixit told me that his students would not eat meals cooked by a Dalit woman,” said Phool Kumari.

She added: “The children would come to me each day and tell me that I cooked unhygienically, even though all outsiders — officials and members of social organisations — didn’t find anything wrong with the meal.”