A teacher of an unaided school in Kerala's Kottayam has been placed under suspension for caning a class two student. Minimol Jose, a teacher of Mannarappara St Xaviers LP School in Kottayam has been placed under suspension by the manager of the Lower Primary school on Thursday afternoon. 

The incident happened on Wednesday evening; on Wednesday night, Childline Kottayam received a complaint from the mother of the child regarding the incident. “One of our workers visited the child on Thursday morning at his home. There were marks of caning on his body,” a Childline volunteer in Kottayam told TNM.

According to Saudamini, District Education Officer (DEO) Kottayam, the teacher severely caned the child below the knees of both of his legs because he didn’t read out a portion of a Malayalam textbook. The DEO visited the child after being informed by the school manager about the incident.

“The manager of the school later mailed me informing that she has been placed under suspension. The child is at his home now,” Saudamini told TNM. 

In September 2019 a private school teacher from Assisi Vidyaniketan Public School at Njarakkal in Ernakulam district was ousted from service for beating up a primary school student for speaking in Malayalam and not in English during class hours. The student was allegedly hit on the face by his English teacher for talking to another student in the class in Malayalam. The parents had initially lodged a police complaint, but later withdrew it after the school management terminated the teacher.