Corporal punishment: Case against teacher for rupturing child’s eardrums

Principal, also nominated in FIR, says teacher dismissed from service.

BAHAWALPUR:

Police have registered a case against a teacher and a school principal after a medical report confirmed that a student of class nine was left with ruptured eardrums due to a beating.

The boy was allegedly beaten up by his teacher a few days ago. His medical report was received on Thursday. Police are looking for the teacher, who has been reportedly missing since the incident.

Police said Moeez Jameel, a resident of Satellite Town and a student of Oxbridge School in Rahim Yar Khan had asked his teacher Faisal Gulzar some questions about a lecture. They said after a few consecutive questions, Gulzar called Moeez towards his desk and started slapping him with both hands on the ears.

Some of Moeez’s class fellows later said that his cheeks and ears had turned red. They said after some time, the teacher told him to return to his desk.



When Moeez went home he told his father about the beating. His father, Chaudhry Muhammad Jameel, said his son complained about a continuous buzzing sound in his ears. He said his eyes were also watery.

He said Moeez was taken to Sheikh Zayed Hospital, where doctors who checked him said that his eardrums had ruptured.

He said he went to meet the principal, Ziaullah, to complain about the teacher, but he refused to listen to him. He said he then lodged a complaint against the principal and the teacher at City A-Division police station. The police told him to conduct Moeez’s medical examination.

On Thursday, he said, the doctors told him that Moeez’s hearing had been damaged. They said he might require an operation, but that did not guarantee any recovery.



Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, Moeez’s father requested the chief minister to take notice of the incident. He said careless and violent teachers not only destroyed a student’s self-confidence, but could also destroy their future. He said he worried for the effect the incident would have on his son’s life, education and career.

On the other hand, Principal Ziaullah told The Express Tribune that he had conducted an investigation into the incident and had dismissed Gulzar from service.

He said when teachers were hired, they were told that corporal punishment was prohibited. He said teachers also signed a memorandum and took an oath not to beat students in any situation.

District Officer (Education) Shaukat Sherwani expressed disappointment at the incident. He told The Express Tribune that the school would be issued a show cause notice and departmental action would be taken against the school administration.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 14^th, 2012.