Dalit teacher suspended over Janeu controversy in REET-2025 in Rajasthan, Dr. Ambedkar Memorial Welfare Society said- became a soft target due to caste!
Earlier too, teachers like Hemalata Bairwa from the SC category and Maneka Damor from the tribal community were suspended under controversial circumstances, leading to allegations that teachers were being unfairly targeted.
On the suspension of Sunita Kumari, Dr. Ambedkar Memorial Welfare Society has alleged that she has been targeted because of her caste.
Published on: 03 Mar 2025, 4:04 pm
Jaipur – Rajasthan Teacher Eligibility Test was held on 27th and 28th February in all the districts of Rajasthan. The issue of making candidates remove their sacred thread during the examination at two centres in Dungarpur district became hot. After this incident, the administration suspended the field supervisor of Sundarpur examination centre, Sunita Kumari, who is a professor at Government Higher Secondary School, Kheda Kachchwasa. Sunita belongs to SC category.
Ambedkar Welfare Society has strongly objected to this action and has written a letter to the Additional Chief Secretary, School Education, Language, Library and Panchayati Raj (Elementary Education) Department demanding cancellation of the suspension order.
Society’s general secretary G.L. Verma wrote in the letter that in the case, the centre inspector Vijay Kumar Joshi has denied any such incident at this centre and has not made any allegation on Sunita Kumari either. Sunita Kumari is a dutiful government employee from the Scheduled Caste and her suspension has deeply hurt the Scheduled Castes in Rajasthan.
This was the matter – candidates were asked to remove the sacred thread
On the second day of REET exam on 28th February, an incident of two Brahmin candidates being forced to remove their sacred thread came to light during the checking at the exam centre in Dungarpur district. In a college in Punali, the sacred thread of two Brahmin candidates was removed. While at Sundarpur centre also a case of a Brahmin candidate being forced to remove his sacred thread came to light.
The candidates protested, saying it was a part of their culture and religion, but they were not allowed to sit for the exam. Later, they had to take off the sacred thread and hang it on a nearby tree. After the exam was over, they wore the sacred thread again.
When this incident came to light, there was outrage in the Brahmin community. Vipra Foundation and other organizations raised this issue and demanded action from Dungarpur District Collector Ankit Kumar Singh.
Vipra Foundation strongly condemned this incident and stressed that the sacred thread has religious and cultural importance for the Brahmin community. Foundation’s district president Lalit Upadhyay and general secretary Prashant Choubisa submitted a memorandum to the district collector demanding accountability. They raised the question that when the government had not issued any instructions to remove the sacred thread, then why was this rule imposed on the candidates? The Foundation said that this incident shows insensitivity towards cultural and religious practices.
After investigation, the administration took a tough stand. The supervisor of Sundarpur examination center, Sunita Kumari, who is the headmistress of Government Higher Secondary School, Kheda Kachchwasa, was suspended. Also, Head Constable Shivlal of Punali center was suspended.
Dr. Ambedkar Memorial Welfare Society’s stance: Targeted due to caste
On the suspension of Sunita Kumari, the Dr. Ambedkar Memorial Welfare Society has alleged that she has been targeted because of her caste. The organization’s general secretary G.L. Verma told The Mooknayak that this incident is not the only one where strict rules have been implemented to prevent copying and cheating in competitive examinations.
He said that earlier also there have been incidents of removing nose rings of women candidates and cutting the threads tied on their hands, but there was not so much uproar over them. Verma said, “Here, since she is a woman and from the Dalit community, she was made a soft target. This is ridiculous. We will raise this issue in the assembly.”
Are lady teachers becoming easy targets- first Hemalatha then Maneka!
This incident is not an isolated one. Earlier, teachers like Hemlata Bairwa from the Dalit community and Menaka Damor from the tribal community were suspended under controversial circumstances, leading to allegations that teachers were being unfairly targeted.
Hemlata Bairwa, a teacher at Government Higher Primary School, Lakadai, located in Baran district of Rajasthan, became a symbol of such a struggle. During a program organized in the school on the occasion of Republic Day 2024, seeing only the pictures of Baba Saheb and Mahatma Gandhi on the stage, some people insisted on placing the picture of Saraswati. Hemlata Bairwa refused them and clearly said, “The real goddess of education is Savitribai Phule.”
Her bold step challenged the local casteist mindset, but it resulted in departmental action against her along with an FIR and she was suspended. Her headquarters were shifted to Bikaner. After winning the legal battle, she was reinstated in April, she also got a posting in July but due to non-payment of salary since March 2024, Hemlata Bairwa and her family are facing a serious financial crisis. She was not paid salary till January 2025.
Similarly, tribal teacher Menaka Damor from Dungarpur was suspended by the Education Department for her remarks on sindoor and mangalsutra during a rally held at Mangarh Dham in Banswara on July 18, 2024.
Maneka Damor, working as a second-grade teacher in a government school in Saddia, Dungarpur, was suspended without notice on July 24, 2024. She was accused of conduct contrary to the service rules.
Maneka shared her views on Hindu traditions during the Bhil Pradesh Cultural Maharally at Mangarh Dham. Damor expressed his opinion on wearing Sindoor-Mangalsutra and emphasized the importance of education in tribal communities.
Maneka challenged the action of the education department in the Rajasthan High Court, Jodhpur, on which the court stayed Damor’s suspension. Justice Farzand Ali passed an order on 2 August 2024, in which, after hearing the arguments of the petitioner’s lawyer, he said that the action of suspension appears to be “arbitrary and irregular” and did not find it in accordance with proper standard procedures.
After Hemlata and Maneka, now the suspension of Sunita Kumari is further strengthening this notion, which raises the question whether the women teachers of SC and ST category in Rajasthan, who put their duty and integrity above the symbols of religion and caste, have really become soft targets for those with casteist mentality and narrow thinking?
