Dr Ritu Singh, who holds a doctoral degree in Psychology from Delhi University, was an ad-hoc teacher at Daulat Ram College before she was ‘terminated without any notice’.
“Because I am a Dalit’, she says.
It’s been more than two weeks since the Dalit educator is protesting against caste discrimination outside the Arts Faculty of Delhi University. She has been on the streets on strike demanding the removal of Daulat Ram College’s Principal Dr Savita Roy, who she accuses, “discriminated me based on my caste”.
In August 2019, Singh was appointed as an Assistant Professor at Daulat Ram College as she was selected for a post through a procedure for a temporary vacancy reserved for the Scheduled Caste category.
However, after a year, she was terminated from the post in August 2020.
She alleges that her termination came as a result of her caste identity and the college principal Savita Roy discriminated against her because she is a Dalit. During her stay at Daulat Ram College, she “faced severe caste-based discrimination by the principal.”
Soon after her termination in 2020, Singh stonewalled by the academic decision, resorted to protest for ten days outside the college but had to discontinue due to the widespread pandemic, Covid-19.
This story was originally published in maktoobmedia.com. Read the full story here