A 10-year-old Class 6 student of St Francis School in Secunderabad had to be taken to hospital after her school’s physical education teacher allegedly made her run 60 rounds around the school ground for not doing her homework.
The incident took place on Thursday.
According to the victim's parents, their daughter Madhurika, was made to run around the ground 60 times during the Physical Training (PT) period, and was not allowed to stop even though she complained of difficulty in breathing.
According to her parents, after coming home, Madhurika complained of chest pain and told her parents about the incident. Subsequently, the girl’s father took her to hospital, where doctors said she was suffering from muscular pain
The girl’s father, P Anil Kumar, alleged that though the girl complained of breathing problems and chest pain, the PE teacher, Ramakanth, paid no heed and insisted that she complete the task.
Agitated with the school’s extreme measures to discipline students, Anil wrote a letter to Education Minister, Kadiyam Srihari, demanding the suspension of the PE teacher immediately. Further, he mobilized Students Federation of India--the student's wing of CPI(M) party on Monday and staged a protest.
“The school has asked us to give five days time to probe the incident and take necessary steps,” he told TNM.
Meanwhile, Balala Hakkula Sangham, an NGO working towards child welfare, has filed a police complaint against the school for hiring a male teacher in an all-girls’ school.
BHS alleged that the school violated the state government’s rules and recruited a male teacher.
“As per rules, the school should not recruit a male teacher. It is an exclusive girls’ school. The administration has violated the rules. The school is wrong on two accounts: first, they hired a male teacher, and they were also punishing students using extreme measures,” said BHS president Achyuta Rao.
In his complaint to the police, Rao demanded that the accused teacher be punished under the Juvenile Justice Act for cruelty and criminal intimidation.
However, the school has defended the move and denied the allegations.
"The management thinks it is unfair to rusticate a person without proof. The Head Mistress checked the CCTV footage and found that the child was not following the rules of the warm up exercises taught by the teacher. The footage also shows the girl hardly running and within 20 minutes of the class, it rained heavily and the children were made to sit. So, the Head Mistress feels it is a false allegation as recording is available as a proof," the school said in a statement.
The school also said that the attendance register showed that the child was irregular to school and it was the duty of the parents to inform in advance about any health issues that the children faced.
Note: The earlier version of this story was edited to add the version of the school's management.