File picture of local residents staging a protest by locking up Chandpur School in Jagatsinghpur after a student was caned by a teacher

Paradip, Aug. 10: The head of a government-run primary school has been placed under suspension at Jagatsinghpur district for inflicting corporal punishment on a student.

“Gitanjali Sahu, the headmistress of Chandpur Primary School under Biridi block, had allegedly caned a student Saroj Nath and injured him. Local residents had staged a protest and had locked up the school,” said Rajashree Sahu, block education officer.

The alleged incident, which had occurred on August 1, was inquired into and since there was veracity in the accusations, Sahu was suspended, as government has prohibited caning, she said.

A series of unsavoury incidents in government schools in the recent past has hogged the limelight with authorities of the school mass education department penalising the erring teachers.

Last month, the headmistress of a government-run upper primary school in Jagatsinghpur was sacked after a teacher had locked up the school building leaving a nine-year-old girl student inside one of the classrooms.

Similarly, a teacher of another government school had been arrested in Kendrapara for allegedly beating up a student.

“Teachers have been asked not to subject children to corporal punishment. The incident was departmentally inquired. As there was veracity in the allegation, the accused teacher has been placed under suspension,” said Prasant Kumar Swain, district education officer.

“It has often been found that teachers are not aware of the fact that corporal punishment has become a punishable offence. Many cases are being suppressed and are not being reported. The rising cases of harassment, physical torture and abuse of children in schools indicate that it has become imperative for teachers to attend workshops and learn the difference between child abuse and discipline,” said child rights activist Biraja Kumar Pati.

The state government had imposed a ban on corporal punishment in all state-run and private schools in the state in September 2004.

The governmental guidelines had ordered that no kind of physical punishment is meted out to students studying in schools across the state.