Corporal punishment: School sacks another teacher

MOHALI - Yet another teacher was sacked by a school here for allegedly thrashing a Class 8 boy during an excursion, following which the student’s mother died of shock.

“Anil Pathania, an environment studies teacher, was also found guilty of beating students during our inquiry. Corporal punishment is totally banned in our school and it is an intolerable offence. Therefore, we have sacked the teacher with immediate effect,” Anita Kashyap, vice-principal of Yadavindra Public School (YPS), said Friday.

On Monday, the school authorities had sacked Geography teacher Harish Kumar after students complained against him.

“We will make sure that such things are not repeated in future. We would make stringent rules to deter teachers from indulging in corporal punishment,” Kashyap said.

Fifty-seven students had gone on a compulsory weeklong trip to Manali May 23.

Kumar and Pathania allegedly collected Rs.500 from Rattanpreet and Rs.200 from another boy as students were not allowed to carry more than Rs.500 each with them.

When Rattanpreet demanded back the money on their return Friday (May 28), the teachers beat him, following which he made a panic call May 28 to his home here.

When Rattanpreet’s mother Gurpreet Kaur learnt that her son was thrashed and humiliated for no fault of his, she suffered cardiac arrest and died the same day, the family said.

“Sir had taken the money from me. When I told other classmates about it, he slapped me repeatedly and hit me with a stick. He said he wanted to teach me a good lesson,” Rattanpreet told IANS.

Some other students had also accused Kumar and Pathania of beating and unnecessarily bullying them.