School in dock for pushing girl student into boys restroom as punishment

An 11-year old girl was pushed into boy’s toilet as punishment in school by the teacher for not wearing a uniform in Medak district of Telangana. The incident took place in Rao’s school, the BHEL Township in Ramachandrapuram on the outskirts of Hyderabad on Saturday.

But the episode came to light on Sunday after the girl’s father released a video clip of the traumatized girl narrating the incident and refusing to go to the same school anymore.

As per the narration of the girl to her father (in Telugu) school Physical Education Teacher (PET), caught hold of her at the entrance of her classroom and questioned about not wearing a uniform. “When she asked me I said that my mother washed the uniform. The lady wanted to know how the uniform was washed on a working day. For that, I remained silent. She faulted my silence as defiance", the frightened girl said to her father.

The infuriated staff then declared that the right punishment for the girl is to stay in boy’s toilet. "She threw me inside the boy’s restroom. Students from class IV saw me and laughed at me. I spent five minutes in the restroom", the girl said in shame. The teacher also proudly informed other three teachers passing by about the punishment. " No teacher tried to help me ", the girl says in the recording. The girl said a firm "No" to going to that school anymore. "Shift me to some other school" she pleaded with her parent.

On Monday parents of the girl lodged a complaint against the school with the Ramachandrapuram Police. Meanwhile, Balala Hakkula Sangham a Child rights group took up the case and lodged a complaint with the State Human Rights Commission and also the police.

Students unions also staged a protest at the school on Monday morning and ransacked the furniture. IT Minister KT Rama Rao also responded to the incident and asked Education Minister K Sreehari to take action against the school management.

Immediately education department has slapped notices on the school. Police have booked the school chairman, principal and the PET under sections 75, 82 of Juvenile Justice Act and sections 334 and 43 of IPC. District Education Officer Satyanarayana Reddy, has said that the school has no permission to run.