Three schoolchildren face discrimination from village elders

Vetapalem: Three children from a family and students of classes II, III and IV had bitter experience and discrimination as their family was socially boycotted by the village elders.

As the officials did not allow the boycotting the children in the school, the villagers stopped sending their children to the school. The village elders forced the family to accept the punishment as per age-old customs. In addition, the village elders also demanded an apology from the family.

Koduri Venkateswarlu is a native of Ramachandrapuram in Vetapalem mandal of Prakasam district and had worked as an MPTC earlier. The villagers alleged that Venkateswarlu grabbed three acres of land in the village and get registered on his family member's name.

But Venkateswarlu's family condemns the claims of villagers. The villagers said Venkateswarlu was a YSRCP member and won as MPTC earlier, against the wishes of the then Chirala MLA and TDP leader Amanchi Krishnamohan.

As Amanchi joined YSRCP before elections, he supported another faction in the village and started to take revenge on Venkateswarlu for not obliging him in many instances. After elections, Venkateswarlu's family is attacked by others and they fled from the village. On August 28, their family returned home in the village with the support from police.

But the villagers opposed them. Since then the village elders announced that the family of Venkateswarlu was boycotted from the village and no one should cooperate or even talk to them. The former MPTC's family and a few other families complained against one another in the police station about thefts and loss of properties.

Venkateswarlu's grandson and grand-daughters joined the local Mandal Parishad Primary School in Classes 2, 3 and 4 and attending it regularly. On September 4, the village elders called the school headmaster DCR Mohan Raju, teachers B Bhadraiah and P Venkateswarlu to Racchabanda (village centre) and ordered them not to allow the children to school from Thursday.

The teachers tried to convince the elders that they can't do it and informed the MEO about it. The villagers called back all 60 students from the school when they noticed that the three grandchildren of Venkateswarlu entering the school on Thursday. On Friday, MEO N Yekambareswara Rao tried to convince them but in vain.

On Saturday, the DyEO M Venkateswarlu, SI Vejendla Ajay Babu, Tahsildar D Uma Maheswara Rao and representatives of public organisations went to village and tried to convince the village elders.

DyEO Venkateswarlu said that the villagers did not heed to his words. He said that they were submitting a report to higher authorities requesting their presence in the village on Monday to settle the issue amicably.