Caste prejudice continues in medical colleges
Caste discrimination against minority students is nothing new in medical colleges in the country. There have been reports of discrimination against scheduled caste (SC) students in medical colleges including prestigious institutes like All India Institute of Management Studies (AIIMS) and Safdarjung Hospital.
The latest being a case of three students of Vardhman Mahavir Medical Colege (VMMC), namely Rajendra Kumar Meena, Lal Ji Meena and Vishal Meena who enrolled in the MBBS programme in 2006. These reserved category students are still struggling to clear their second year, reported India Today. According to these students, the college authorities have allegedly been failing them in pathology and pharmacology papers since the past four years.
According to some scheduled caste (SC) students of VMMC and Safdarjung Hospital, they have been barred from progressing to the next academic year due to caste discrimination. A group of minority students from VMMC have approached the National Commission for Scheduled Caste (NCSC) for help.
In 2010, SC students of VMMC filed a case in the Delhi High Court against the college for discrimination in marking system when as many as 25 SC students repeatedly failed in physiology paper. NCSC also conducted a preliminary inquiry where the commission found discriminatory assessment of the answer papers. Following a writ petition from the students for re-examination, the HC ordered for a re-exam where 24 out of the 25 students cleared the paper. (Read more)
The directorate-general of health services also directed the college to find a way to make up for the attendance shortfall of those students who missed several classes during the legal battle. However, despite the court order and extra classes, these students were still refused to advance to the next year due to attendance shortfall. According to a student, the college allowed students joining in the supplementary batch to use the extra class attendance to qualify for the next year, while such advantage was not given to SC students.
Dr Bhalchandra Mungekar, chairman, NCSC committee told India Today that the matter is being looked into and an inquiry report will be submitted in 10 days, which will also include recommendations and guidelines for college to prevent caste bias.
There have been other controversies regarding caste discrimination. A few months ago, AIIMS students went on strike demanding the resignation from AIIMS director Dr RC Deka for not providing consultation to Anil Kumar Meena. Anil Kumar Meena, 22, a first year student of AIIMS was found dead in his room on March 4, following depression due to poor performance in exams and alleged social discrimination. (Read full story)
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