UP Teacher Is Not Ashamed Of Her Prejudice
Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.
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By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2023-08-28 02:57:23
About the Author
Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.
View all posts by this Author
The video of the UP teacher-cum-principal of a private school that has gone viral is disturbing and dangerous. It shows the lady teacher in a school in Muzaffarnagar asking other students to slap a 7-year-old student she wanted to punish for not remembering multiplication tables. It would have been disturbing on its own for the fact that the teacher thought punishing a student meant hitting him or getting other students to hit him despite the fact that corporal punishment is banned in schools in India. But it was dangerous because of the communal tones the teacher inducted in punishing the student who was a Muslim boy. Although she denied a communal angle and said that the boy's parents had asked her to be strict with him, her remarks showed otherwise. Later, in an interview she said that that was the only way to punish these boys and she asked other students to hit him as she is handicapped. She was also heard saying that if Muslim parents took care of the studies of their wards, this situation would not have arisen.
The video has raised a huge controversy. Although the boy's father has decided not to press the issue and has asked everyone not to make the matter communal, it is clear that the teacher was guided by prejudice. Politicians, cutting across party lines, have condemned the incident. The police have also started a case against the teacher and the school has been shut down till further notice. All students will be admitted to nearby government schools.
It is disgusting that some teachers still think that corporal punishment is the best way to punish students. They think nothing of the mental and physical scars it leaves. Students are more likely to abhor studies and hate going to school if they have to endure corporal punishment. Further, singling out a boy from the minority community and making communal remarks shows that some teachers are also guided by deeply-held prejudices. There must be strict penal action against the teacher.
