The principal of a girls’ tribal welfare school in Andhra Pradesh cut the hair of around 15 students, after they went to school wearing their hair down. Prasanna, the principal of Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya in G Madugula, Paderu in Alluri Sitharamaraju district, said that she cut the students’ hair as ‘disciplinary action’, District Education Officer (DEO) P Brahmaji Rao said. The students are studying in Intermediate second year, the equivalent of class 12.
The DEO, who visited the school on November 18, Monday, after news of the incident came to light, said that he conducted an inquiry and will submit the report to the District Collector. He said that the Collector will decide further course of action, if any, against the principal Prasanna. The principal also belongs to a tribal community, the DEO said. The students’ parents have demanded that the principal be replaced, he added.
“The principal Prasanna told me that since the girls were walking around the campus wearing their hair loose, she took the action to inculcate discipline among the students,” the DEO said.
One student told the media that the principal threatened to take severe action if any of the girls she wanted to punish tried to hide from her. Some of the students also alleged that the principal hit them for being late to the school assembly, and made them stand in the sun for nearly two hours.