Jaipur:
A teacher in a government school in Rajasthan’s Sawai Madhopur was suspended on Wednesday after she allegedly made Class 9 and 11 girls remove their clothes during a search after her money went missing, officials said.
Villagers and parents staged a protest and locked the main gate of the Government Senior Secondary School in Livali village under Bamanwas sub-division on Wednesday after allegations surfaced of the inappropriate behaviour with the girl students, they said.
According to the officials, the incident occurred on Tuesday when around Rs 1,000 belonging to senior Hindi teacher Saraswati Meena went missing. Suspecting Classes 9 and 11 students, Meena allegedly launched a search and made the girls remove their clothes, they added.
Following an inquiry into the matter, the education department has suspended the accused teacher and issued a letter to initiate disciplinary action against the school principal.
However, denying the allegations, Meena said that “Around Rs 1,000 had gone missing. Students were questioned in that regard. Allegations of making them remove clothes are baseless. Being a female teacher, I considered it appropriate to question only the girl students.” Students and their family members alleged that the girls were asked to remove their clothes during the search, causing them mental distress. The students informed their families after returning home, triggering outrage in the village.
On Wednesday morning, a large number of villagers and parents gathered at the school, locked its main gate and staged a protest.
Chief Block Education Officer (CBEO) Pratibha Meena also reached the spot, spoke separately with the students and gathered details of the incident before informing higher authorities.
Bharatpur division Joint Director of School Education Dalveer Singh said that based on the report submitted by the District Education Officer headquarters, a departmental inquiry has been initiated against the accused teacher.
Singh said the teacher has been suspended with immediate effect under Rule 13 of the Rajasthan Civil Services (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules, 1958. During the suspension period, her headquarters have been shifted to the CBEO office in Rajakhera (Dholpur).
According to the CBEO, the school principal, Manoj Kumar Meena, failed to report the matter to higher authorities in time and did not treat it with the required seriousness. A letter has been sent to initiate disciplinary action against him as well.
Parents also alleged that some teachers tried to pressure the students not to make the incident public. The CBEO assured a fair inquiry and action against those found guilty as per the rules.
Principal Manoj Kumar Meena said the concerned teacher had apologised to the students and a written assurance was taken from the school administration to prevent recurrence of such incidents, which is why the matter was not immediately reported to higher authorities.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
