Pune: ‘Teacher hit our son’s head on bench, facial nerve damaged’, say parents

According to the father of the child who spoke to The Indian Express, the alleged incident took place on November 3, which was the last working day of the school before Diwali break. The father said that his son was enrolled in the sixth standard in June this year. “On November 3, my son’s drawing teacher hit him in such a manner that he is now facing possible facial disfiguration for life. Our son told us that the drawing teacher had given some class assignment or homework and he had not completed it.

“The teacher got so enraged that he hit my son’s head on the bench, pinched his stomach and rained blows on his arms and leg. That day we had come to pick him up from school and his mother noticed that his face was looking a little crooked. Our son told us that he had been hit by the drawing teacher. It is our mistake that we thought it was a minor incident and took him home without raising a ruckus,” he said.

According to the student’s family, a couple of days later they noticed that the facial lopsidedness was getting more prominent as well as he was having difficulty in closing an eyelid after which they rushed him to a child specialist in Baramati, where they were told that the nerve on one side of the face was damaged. The parents claimed there was a possibility of partial loss of eyesight in eye.

SSPMS principal Smita Patil confirmed having met the parents on Monday. “They did not bring up any complaint on November 3 and it was on Sunday when they first called me and turned up at the school on Monday where I met them along with a few management committee members. We heard out their complaint and the boy was taken for a medical examination by the parents. We have instituted an inquiry and suspended the teacher as of now,” she said.

Patil said the teacher was in employment for 18 years at the school and this was the first such complaint against him.