Staff Correspondent
Katchal, Aug 12: A Sarva Siksha Abhiyan Contract Teacher today reportedly used canes to beat nearly 43 students, out of which 12 got hits including five girl students.
The matter soon took a serious shape as Tribal Council demanded stringent action against the teacher, Prakash Jha, for beating the students mercilessly. They also said that Tribal Students won’t attend classes if action is not taken against the said SSC (Maths) teacher.
Soon all the 43 students were taken to hospital and it was found that 12 students got direct hit of cane and got marks on their hands. Out of 12 nearly 6 were non-tribal students.
As it is not allowed to beat students in classroom as per new law, an NC FIR was lodged against the teacher for causing injuries.
However, as per the version of the teacher, he was taking classes of Class XII students and even after repeated warning these students were making noise just next to his class, which made him furious.
The matter was however tackled by the local Police Station well and soon situation came under total control.
From the reading of the incident here and elsewhere, all I can comprehend is that the teacher lost his cool, because the taunt (read noise) from the neighboring class had become unbearable. Still the teacher should have exercised caution while handing out corporal punishment.
Whatever happened next is equally questionable. The news report rightly mentions that the Department had been harsh in terminating the services of SSA teacher, when a regular teacher in such a situation would have walked away with a transfer order.
Nevertheless, I believe both the sides might have learnt a lesson or two from the incident.