The principal of a public high school in Murugamalla village, Chintamani taluk of Karnataka’s Chikkaballapur, is facing intense criticism for participating in a photo session with a male student during an ‘educational study tour.’ This incident has stirred outrage among parents, leading to demands for the immediate termination of the teacher.
During the tour, the head teacher, Pushpalatha displayed inappropriate behaviour with a minor boy. She clicked intimate pictures with him on a mobile phone. The clicked pictures are now viral on social media, showing the headmistress in romantic poses with the minor male student. The boy in the picture is wearing a yellow kurta pyjama whereas the teacher is wearing a saree, they both can be seen hugging and kissing each other in the pictures. In one of the pictures, the student is carrying the teacher into his arms.
Notably, after the matter was highlighted on social media the the parents came to know about the pictures and confronted teacher Pushpalatha at the school. They also filed a complaint with the Block Education Officer (BEO) and demanded that the headmistress’s behaviour be thoroughly investigated.
Notably, the National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) also took cognizance of the matter.
Noted! https://t.co/hi5ZMod8HX
— प्रियंक कानूनगो Priyank Kanoongo (@KanoongoPriyank) December 28, 2023
The parents demand for immediate action against the female teacher emphasising on the image of their child and also the accountability of the educational system. The case has raised concerns about the safety of the students in the school campus or among teachers.
Interestingly, such incidents are not uncommon. Instances of inappropriate behaviour by educators have surfaced before. In 2022, a video went viral featuring a teacher dancing to a Bhojpuri song in the classroom, sparking criticism on social media. The video captured a teacher in a saree dancing to the tune of ‘Patli Kamariya Mori,’ while students enthusiastically waved and jumped in the background. This incident reignited discussions about the persistent challenges concerning professional conduct within the education sector.
Readers should know that Organiser reported a case from Kanpur recently where a minor Hindu boy was similarly lured into a fake love trap by the 35-year-old teacher. The student, a brahmin boy was manipulated so much so that he stopped attending pooja at home and started visiting Church.
In October, the father of a minor Hindu boy, accompanied by hundreds of Hindu activists, took to the streets in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh. Alleging that a 35-year-old teacher at Saint Aloysius School had engaged in a prolonged romantic relationship with his 15-year-old son on various social media platforms, the father claimed that the teacher went to extremes by accompanying the boy to church and even cutting his choti, a culturally significant practice for Brahmins. The teacher was accused of ensnaring the boy in a deceptive web of false affection and other troubling behaviours.
Following the revelation of this incident, the entire school applied pressure on the family to retract their protest, resorting to baseless allegations against both the minor and his father regarding their characters. Despite the police acknowledging the situation and initiating investigations, no official complaint was lodged.
Consequently, the minor was compelled to stay home after his identity was openly disclosed by the school in the media. He was also withdrawn from school, as his father refused to abandon the protest and the complaint against the implicated teacher.
On December 26, Organiser contacted the victim’s father, who revealed that despite a court order mandating the registration of an FIR, the police had yet to take any action in the case.
