HYDERABAD: Incidents of teachers assaulting students have shown a marked increase in the State. In the third instance of corporal punishment to come to light in the last 10 days, a kindergarten student of NRI Talent School, Chintal, was allegedly beaten up by his math teacher for not paying attention in class.
The incident came to the fore on Thursday, when the five-year-old child’s parents saw bruises on his arms, chest and back. “When we asked our son, he told us that his math teacher had beaten him up with a stick in the class. He is a quiet child. If we had not seen the bruises, he probably would not even have told us,” said Prashant Reddy, his father. Regardless of the fault, children should never be beaten up so brutally, he added. “We also approached the school but the principal has asked us to come on Monday,” he said. The parents have taken the issue to Balala Hakkula Sangham, a child rights body.
In an audio recording doing the rounds on WhatsApp, attributed to the accused Paritala Sunitha, the teacher confesses to punishing the child and seeks the apology of the parents. According to the parents, the teacher also called them up and admitted to beating their son and a few other students. “She said that she was only disciplining the children and did not hit them hard. She also added that my son’s bruises are prominent only because he is fair,” the father said.
Express, however, could not independently verify the teacher’s version as she was not available on phone despite several calls. Meanwhile, though the parents claimed to have lodged a complaint with Jeedimetla police, a police official recounted a different version. “We insisted that they lodge a formal complaint, but they did not. Until there is an official complaint, we can’t take any action against the school or the teacher,” he said. Child rights activist Achyuta Rao said that the growing incidents of corporal punishment are happening in the city because of the flippant attitude of the Education department in dealing with such pressing issues.