Parents demand dismissal of teacher

A petition was submitted to the management of an aided school in the city on Tuesday by a group of parents demanding the dismissal of a teacher, who allegedly accorded corporal punishment to six Dalit students of Class VI and verbally abused them, referring to their caste.

A. Gomathi, a parent, alleged that her daughter and five other girl students in Class VI of Gurukulam Higher Secondary School, Subramaniapuram, were beaten up by their social studies teacher Karthikayini on Friday.

“My daughter and other girls had gone to the office of the headmistress to collect their scholarship. Later, when they returned to the class, the teacher beat them up with a steel scale for not attending her class. My daughter returned home with injury marks on her back,” she added.

On Monday, the parents of the six children had reportedly met the headmistress, complaining about the assault. “On hearing this, the teacher verbally abused my daughter and other students in their class, referring to their caste,” Mrs. Gomathi said.

“She even told my daughter that she is not afraid of anyone and threatened that she should not complain about corporal punishment in future. My daughter refused to go to school on Tuesday,” she added.

Members of the All India Students’ Association accompanied the parents when they submitted the petition. However, District Educational Officer K. Jaya Meena Devi told

The Hindu that officials from the Department of School Education visited the school and sorted out the issue on Tuesday.

“ It was just a misunderstanding between the teacher and students. The teacher told us that she never abused them on caste lines,” she said.