When Sohaila’s (name changed) 10-year-old son Hasan (name changed) came home on Tuesday, he brought back the strangest thing – a packet of his hair, which had been chopped off in school earlier that day without their permission. Now, she and other parents whose children were subjected to such treatment want action against the teachers who did this.
Three teachers at the Vinayaka English Medium School in Virajpet taluk of Kodagu district cut off the hair of around 50 boys studying between classes I-X with a pair of scissors and have allegedly manhandled some of the students. Some children are now reportedly shaken up by what has happened.
Assad (name changed) says that Hasan, who is a Class 4 student in the school, came home and gave his wife Sohaila the packet of hair, which the school teachers had bizarrely sent back with the children. “Initially, my wife did not take it seriously, because it was just some fun for some of them,” Assad says.
Assad says that had the teachers asked them to give the children a hair-cut, it would have been all right, but they lined up the children and went at with a pair of scissors. “They’ve just cut off two inches from the front, two from the back. There is no shape to the hair now, it is uneven. If they had wanted us to give them a hair-cut, could they not have sent word through a note? Instead, they have sent back the hair in a paper packet.”
According another parent, Syed, “Our children look as if their hair has been chewed off by rats. But that is not the issue, the hair will grow back. But they treated our kids so badly. One boy’s eyebrow has been shorn off. Some have still not stopped crying.”
Describing how events unfolded, Assad said that there was a video. “One teacher called the students from the class, another cut off their hair, a third took a video. What did they take a video of it for? To put it up on YouTube so that others can laugh at it? Let them do this their own children if they wish. Why do this to our kids?”
Assad and other parents met with the teachers and the Block Education Officer on Wednesday. He says they have been assured that the management would take action against those responsible. However, they have been angered by the school’s apathy. “When I reached the school yesterday, there was just one teacher, and she said she did not know what had happened. What if something (untoward) happens in the school and they don’t know about it? When children are in the school, they are teachers’ responsibility.”
Syed says that if action is not taken against the teachers and school staff who were responsible for this, they would lodge an FIR with the police.
Block Education Officer for Virajpet taluk HK Pandu said that three teachers of the school had cut off the hair of around 25 students. During the meeting on Wednesday, the teachers allegedly responsible for the incident were not present and school authorities claimed that it had been done to “discipline” the students.
He said a show cause notice had been issued to the teachers asking them for an explanation. If the explanation was not satisfactory, they would be terminated and blacklisted from being employed in the taluk, he said.