Counselling sessions to be held for better conduct from teachers: Minister

Following the incident of a teacher beating up a class V student with a prickly stick at a government primary school in Rohru subdivision, Education Minister Rohit Thakur has said counseling sessions and workshops would be held for the teachers to ensure the desired conduct from the teachers. “We have seen quite a few incidents in recent times where the conduct of the teachers was far from appropriate. It’s unfortunate to see teachers beating up children or turning up drunk in schools,” said the minister. “We will plan counseling sessions and workshops for the teachers to ensure there’s no recurrence of such behaviour,” said Thakur.

The police have registered an FIR against the teacher and two others who were present while she was torturing the child. Incidentally, in the last couple of months, there have been incidents of teachers beating up students or turning up drunk in schools. In other incidents, two teachers were suspended for fake attendance and shocking spelling errors on a cheque.

Ashish Kohli, Director, School Education, said such incidents were getting reported as the department was fixing responsibility on the officials. “The officials have been told to take cognizance of such issues and take immediate action. Social media, too, is helping in exposing such cases,” said Kohli.

Meanwhile, teachers have condemned the incident and sought strict action against the erring teacher. “Such incident brings disrepute to the entire teaching community. The teacher should be punished as per the provisions of the law,” said an office-bearer of the teachers’ association.