A teacher at a school in Kolkata has been suspended after allegedly forcing a student to remove his sandalwood tilak from his forehead. This incident has led to a police case being registered against her. West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari announced the suspension on Friday, emphasizing the government’s stance on such actions in educational institutions.
“A teacher from the Holy Mission English Medium School has been suspended for repeatedly forcing a boy to wash off his sandalwood tilak. “The teacher has been suspended until the matter is decided by the school management committee. Many of them come to school with tilaks. The official, however, underlined that neither the government nor the police had informed the school that an FIR had been lodged.
The school, established 25 years ago, is located in New Alipore, south Kolkata. It is affiliated to the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education and has around 1200 students and 60 teachers. S Chowdhury, the school’s secretary, told HT that the action was taken after the institution received a notice from the district inspector (DI) of schools on Thursday following a complaint lodged by a Class 5 student. Around 80 % of our students are non-Bengalis, and the majority are Hindus.
An FIR (first information report) has also been lodged against the teacher,” Adhikari said. “The teacher was asked to explain the matter before the school’s disciplinary committee,” he said. We never stopped anyone from following any religious custom,” Chowdhury said. “We came to know about this when we saw the video of the chief minister’s press conference,” Chowdhury said.
