Police hunt for Panvel teacher who hit 25 kids with duster

Mumbai: Several parents of children who are studying in the Ryan Groups’ St. Joseph’s High School, Panvel, have lodged a police complaint against a female Environmental Science (EVS) teacher of Class 5 for allegedly hitting 25 students with a wooden duster on Saturday.

The teacher reportedly decided to punish the students, as they had not obeyed instructions to bring a particular textbook to school.

The police said that the teacher, identified as Anjali Chauhan, was absconding and they were trying to trace her.

Parents said that on Friday, Chauhan asked the students to bring to school on Saturday an all-in-one EVS textbook (which includes the previous semester’s chapters as well) for a special class. This instruction had been given in writing to all the students in their daily time-table. However, 50 per cent of the class failed to bring the book, which irked Chauhan and she decided to punish them by beating them with a wooden duster, the parents said.

One of the students who was punished, Vishaka Survashe (10), developed what is suspected to be a fracture on her hand. She was taken to a nearby government hospital for treatment, where she was diagnosed as having a ‘crack’ on her hand, parents said.

Though Saturdays are generally holidays for these students, the school had asked them to come as a major portion of their syllabus is yet to be completed.  

“We got to know about this incident when several parents wrote in the school’s parents’ social media group that their children fear to go to school. Finally the children confessed that they were beaten by the teacher,” said Manisha Patil, a parent.

She said around 110 parents tried meeting the principal of the school. “The principal told us, ‘I don’t want to entertain these cases, you can approach anyone from police to city councillor’” Ms Patil said.

Following this, parents went to Khandeshwar police station late on Saturday to lodge a complaint, she said. The police has filed a First Information Report in the case.

The Asian Age tried contacting Neti Srinivasan, spokesperson of Ryan Group for comment but he refused to comment even after several calls and messages.

Yogesh More, senior police inspector of Khandeshwar, said, “Though the teacher is absconding, we will soon trace and find her.”

SC’s Directive
The Supreme Court had in 2000 directed that state authorities should ensure that “children are not subjected to corporal punishment in schools and they receive education in an environment of freedom and dignity, free from fear”. In its judgment, the Court cited the Convention on the Rights of the Child and other human rights instruments. The Supreme Court was hearing a petition brought by the Parents’ Forum for Meaningful Education that challenged the legality of corporal punishment in schools as provided for in the Delhi School Education Rules 1973, arguing that it violated the Constitution.