Upside-down teaching methods

Teacher punishes four students by tying them to a tree.

KATCHI MUHAMMAD KHAN:

A school teacher punished four students by tying them upside down to a tree for not learning their lessons properly.

Chak-G 259 resident, school teacher Raheem punished four of his students on Friday by tying them to a tree upside down and making them repeat their lessons. The children’s parents have complained to the authorities. Mohammad Bukhsh said that his six-year-old son Qasim was punished for over an hour. “He was hanging by a tree trying to remember his lessons,” he said.

The four students punished by Raheem included Qasim, 6, Naeem, 8, Salman, 5, and Umer, 6, who were unable to recite the Arabic alphabet properly when called upon.

The children’s parents filed a case against Raheem with the police.

They said that strict action needed to be taken against teachers who tortured students. “My son was beaten with a stick while hanging upside down from a tree. This is unforgivable,” said Sameena, Umer’s mother. The parents of the children have protested against the teacher’s behaviour and said that Raheem should be arrested and made a public example of.

Raheem told police officials that he had only penalised the boys for not learning their lessons.

“There was no torture. How will they learn if I am not strict with them?” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 9^th, 2011.