These days, India is going through a lot of communal disharmonies, and the hate has made its way to the schools. Educational institutions have become political targets. Indian democracy is questionable. There are constant communal attacks in India. In the name of the so-called Hindu Rashtra, we are seeing atrocities. Thanks to Indian politics, the hate has not spared the future of India, and those are the young minds. Section 17 under the Right to Education Act 2009 completely bars corporal punishment on children, and the sentence under Section 75 of the Juvenile Justice Act would be rigorous imprisonment of up to five years and a fine of up to Rs 5 lakh, but when hate is supported by the government and ruling authorities, then there will be reward for such atrocities.
There was one viral video on social media where a Muslim student was slapped by his classmates on the instruction of the teacher. The teacher was telling some Hindu students to beat the Muslim student repeatedly. Soon after the controversy, Uttar Pradesh teacher Tripta Tyagi put out a video message, stressing that she had no communal motive behind asking students to slap their Muslim classmate. With folded hands, she repeated that she had “made a mistake” and sought forgiveness. The incident, which happened on August 24, came to light only after a video of Tripta Tyagi asking her students to slap a Muslim kid went viral.
In the video, Tripta Tyagi is seen asking the students to slap a Muslim child and also allegedly making a communal remark. The student is seen standing near the teacher’s desk, crying, as his classmates take turns to slap him, as the teacher looks on. Tripta Tyagi is also heard asking one of the students to hit the Muslim kid harder. Defending her actions, the Muzaffarnagar teacher has termed the incident a “minor issue”. She said though it was wrong on her part to get a student slapped by his classmates, she was forced to do it as she is handicapped and was not able to stand up and reach the student who had not done his homework.
The Uttar Pradesh government’s Basic Shiksha Adhikari served a show-cause notice to the school. The school was given government affiliation for a period of three years in 2019, which expired last year, but the management did not try for its renewal. In spite of all this, the school will not be closed, and normal teaching activities will continue there in the interests of students until an alternate arrangement is made for them. Meanwhile, the man who shot the video has said that the Muslim kid was beaten because he had not done his homework. The father of the kid has, however, maintained that there was no communal angle to the incident. He has withdrawn his child from school and will not be filing a complaint against the school. A case was registered against Tyagi under sections 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt) and 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) of the Indian Penal Code on the complaint of the victim’s family.
If educators are doing such things, the repercussions will be seen in society when their students grow up and take up important jobs. If other students are hitting one student in front of the entire classroom, then this is shameful. Above all, she gave one arrogant interview to the media, and the biased media promoted that video without any hitch. No one in the media asked her why she brutalized a kid. So, obviously, no action and no arrest. It’s pretty clear that she was instigated by the ideology she followed.
Youngsters are unemployed; children are treated like this in school; girls and women are not safe in the country. It’s high time to stop the hatred and focus on things that are beneficial to the country. Currently, 50 students’ study at the school. Tripta Tyagi, the school teacher involved in the incident, continues to teach at the school. The school has been shut for now, and its students would be shifted to other schools nearby. State education department authorities are finding a solution to damage control. The boy’s father was very upset after the incident and could not eat for a couple of days. He had also started rambling at home after the traumatic experience. The child is doing better following a medical check-up but is still mentally upset even today.
