A private school teacher in Kerala has been ousted from service for beating up a primary school student for speaking in Malayalam and not in English in class.
The Class 2 student belongs to Assisi Vidyaniketan Public School at Njarackal in Ernakulam district. He was allegedly hit by his English teacher for talking to another student in Malayalam during class hours. The student was hit on the face and has incurred injuries on the hands as well.
The school management terminated the teacher, who was a temporary staff of the institution, after the student’s parents filed a complaint with the police and the district Child Welfare Committee (CWC).
According to the officials of the Child Welfare Committee, the student's face had marks from the beating. “We had visited the school on Friday, met the student, teacher, parents and school management. The boy’s face still has the marks of the teacher hitting him. His hands have also been injured. He said that the teacher attacked his hands with a pointed pencil,” advocate KS Arunkumar, Vice President of Ernakulam CWC told TNM.
He also said that the teacher admitted that the student was hit for talking in Malayalam and not in English.
“First she tried to say that the student was ‘punished’ for doing something naughty during class hours, but on further questioning, she admitted that it was for the boy not talking in English,”’ said Arunkumar.
According to the CWC, the school management stated that the rule about speaking only in English had been formulated by the teacher herself and not by the school.
The police complaint, which was registered in the Njarackal police station by the student’s parents, was withdrawn since the teacher was terminated from service. “We have also not gone with any further action as the teacher was expelled from the school. The school management also said that there were multiple complaints regarding similar issues against the teacher,” said Arunkumar.