8-year-old beaten by teacher

School authorities brush it off as a small incident after police complaint against the teacher

School authorities brush it off as a small incident after police complaint against the teacheru00a0
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"The bell had rung; I was getting up to leave. The teacher asked me where I was going. I hesitated in replying and that is when he struck me with the ruler," said eight-year-old Surekha Mallapa Pujari as she told MiD DAY how a teacher beat her for daring to get up without permission in the classroom. On Monday, Surekha, who studies in a school run by the Pune Municipal Corporation in Koregaon Park, was beaten by her teacher Bajrang Thithe with a wooden ruler.

NGO takes up case
The incident came to light when she went to a day care centre run by an NGO Asha Kiran yesterday. A report was later filed against the teacher at the Bund Garden police station. "The girl comes to our centre daily in the morning and goes to school in the afternoon. When she came to our centre with a swollen hand yesterday morning, we asked her what had happened. When she told us that her class teacher had hit her, we immediately took her to the police," said Manish Shroff, a member of Asha Kiran.

Habitual offender?
Nakul Kate, another child rights activist, said the swelling had subsided with treatment but the girl was extremely scared to go back to school.

Surekha alleged that the teacher regularly hit other students as well.

"He has beaten me before and my friends also. He gets very angry," said Surekha.

'No big deal'
The reaction of the school management to the incident was shocking. Officials of the school, including the headmistress and teachers, pleaded with MiD DAY to downplay the incident. They further said that since the girl's hand was not broken, it was "no big deal."

"The school authorities told us that the girl already had some sort of skin disease. The teacher hit just once and that broke one of the boils in her hand, which led to swelling. We know he made a mistake but he has some family issues, so he is upset," explained Sunil Takavle, assistant area officer of PMC's education department, who came to investigate the case.

Sangeeta Tiwari, PMC's school board chairman, made the assurance that stern action would be taken against the teacher.

She said, "It is sad that a small girl was hit and we know that under no circumstances should a child be hit.

Corporal punishment is against the law and we would take strict action against the teacher as he has admitted to the incident."