‘Corporal punishment’: Teacher suspended for hitting student

EDO orders inquiry into the matter; teacher rejects charge says he is being victimised because he is a Christian.

MULTAN:

A school teacher in a Khanewal village has been suspended from service for allegedly beating a student with a stick.

Executive District Officer (Education) Aijaz Ahmed Joiya has also formed an inquiry team to probe the matter and directed it to submit a report in two days.

The suspension order for Jaan Masih, a teacher at government middle school in Chak 28/10-R, was issued on Monday morning after one of his students, Muhammad Khalil, 11, was reported to have been hospitalised.

Jaan Masih is accused of hitting Khalil in the head with one of the legs of a broken chair. Jaan Masih denies the charge.

Doctors who treated Khalil at Nishter Hospital described the child’s condition as ‘out of danger’. They said he had been treated for some bruises.

Dr Muhammad Affan said a computerised tomography (CT) scan was carried out on the child’s head on account of his complaint of a persistent headache. He said  there were no irregularities in the CT scan.

Khalil, who has now been discharged from Nishter Hospital, was first taken to a basic health unit in Katcha Khoo and then to the district headquarters (DHQ) hospital in Khanewal from where doctors referred him to Nishter Hospital.

Talking to The Express Tribune, his father Noor Khan alleged that the school teacher, Jaan Masih, had beaten him with one of the legs of a broken wooden chair. He quoted some of the students as saying that Khalil, a sixth grade student, was caught fighting with his class fellow Tanveer Ahmed.

Khan, father of the child, said he had taken him to the basic  health unit (BHU) kacha khu where doctors referred him to the district headquarters (DHQ) hospital in Khanewal. He said doctors at the DHQ hospital then referred him to NIshter Hospital in Multan.

Talking to the tribune, Jaan Masih denied the charge. He said he had only tried to stop the two students from fighting but not beaten any of them. He said he was being vicitimised because of his faith and added that he would prove his innocence before the inquiry committee.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 11^th, 2012.