Class IV girl hit for not adhering to dress code

HYDERABAD: In yet another incident of corporal punishment in a city school, an eight-year-old student of Oxford Grammar School Himyathnagar was allegedly thrashed by a teacher for not adhering to the school’s dress code and for sporting a ponytail hairstyle. Almost immediately after the incident came to light, the school suspended the teacher and based on a complaint from the parent, Narayanguda police registered a case against the teacher. 

Though the incident happened on Thursday, it came to light only on Saturday when the girl’s mother, B Nandini filed a complaint with the police. Nandini told Express that when she saw her daughter’s swollen and red cheek after she returned from school she came to know that she had been hit by her science teacher. “There were marks on her hand, cheek, back and chest. When I called up the principal I got a cold response that she would talk to me later as I had called her after school hours. Is this how you discipline such a young child?” she said and added that she approached the police as a last resort.  

Nandini also said that this was the third time her daughter had been subjected to corporal punishment -- the first time when she was in class I and the second time just nine months ago. “Every time we took the matter to the principal she assured us that teachers would be counselled and that was supposed to be the end of the matter. I cannot trust the school’s teachers any more,” she said. In addition to corporal punishment, Nandini has also accused the teacher,  Sita Laxmi of speaking to her daughter in derogatory language.

The school, in the meantime, has taken disciplinary action against the teacher and has suspended her. In a letter addressed to the child rights body Balala Hakkula Sangham, the school admitted that “Sita Lakshmi, science teacher, slapped the child for not wearing uniform hairstyle and for not doing her homework.” It further stated that “upon the insistence of the parent the management has suspended the teacher.”
The principal, Fahmida, however, said that parents were exaggerating the issue. Though she initially said that there was no issue of corporal punishment involved, later she retracted her statement and said that the suspension was issued because the teacher had slapped the girl.