AP school principal makes students wear slippers around their neck as ‘punishment’

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A private school principal allegedly made students wear their own slippers around their neck as ‘punishment’ for not wearing shoes prescribed as part of the school uniform in Vuyyuru town of Andhra Pradesh’s Krishna district. 

The incident occurred at Vijay Sai Public School in Vuyyuru, on Friday, March 6. One of the students told the media that the principal made students tie their own slippers with a rope, and forced them to wear them around their neck. 

One of the students’ father filmed himself confronting the principal, Lakshmi Devi, who defended her actions. 

The parent questioned her about making students wear a garland of slippers as punishment, mentioning that fellow students laughed at him, and cautioning that the students could’ve harmed themselves out of humiliation. He also suggested alternative ways to discipline students, such as making them stand in class or even hitting them. 

In response, the principal said that all such punishments were already imposed. “Was it just your son who was punished? Fifteen students were punished the same way,” the principal said, in an apparent attempt at defending her actions. She also accused the parent of planting ideas of self-harm among the students by mentioning that they could take such steps. 

An official of the education department who visited the school to conduct an inquiry based on instructions from the District Education Officer, said that they have sought a written report from the school authorities on the matter. She mentioned that further action would be taken by the DEO. 

Defending her actions to the media, the principal said, “Why do we have a school uniform? So there is a common look for the students and there are no distractions. We told them not to wear slippers, but they were coming in gaudy, colourful slippers. So I made them tie their own slippers with a rope and made them wear those around their own neck, in their own classrooms for ten minutes. Today, they have all come to school in full uniform including shoes.”