GUWAHATI: On Teachers' Day, Sept. 5, an Assam village is in the grip of outrage over a schoolteacher who clipped a student's hair in a bid to shame him and got the act filmed. The 16-year-old student of class X has confined himself to his house ever since the video went viral on social media.
The incident occurred on August 17 at Dighaldori Kakati Gaon High School, some 7 km from Raha in Nagaon district in central Assam. It only came to light three days ago. Teacher Phani Bora deemed the student's hair too long and had it clipped with scissors as the boy's classmates, boys and girls, looked on. The boy stood still and did not put up any resistance.
Phani Bora is now in the eye of a storm. He was summoned by the Nagaon district inspector of schools on Monday. It's notknown what action, if any, has been taken against him. The school's acting headmaster, Chandra Kanta Nath, denounced the teacher's action as "disgusting and unacceptable".
The school's policy requires students to sport hair of 'decent' length. The shamed student, the son of a daily wage earner, did not have money for a proper hair cut, so teacher Phani Bora offered him Rs 30. But the boy only trimmed his hair. So an annoyed Phani Bora clipped his hair in the class and got the act filmed by a fellow teacher. The video was posted on social media and went viral.
Headmaster Chandra Kanta Nath said the student stopped going to school after the video went viral. Phani Bora, who teaches English and Assamese, blamed his colleagues for leaking the video.
But the villagers are up in arms, and the headmaster has called a meeting at the school on Wednesday to discuss the incident.
A similar incident was reported from a school in Dhekiajuli in northern Assam on Tuesday. There Sandeep Kandulna, a teacher of St. Ursula English School, was suspended by school authorities for beating up a girl student who did not know how to tie her hair.