MITA MUKHERJEE
A 16-year-old schoolboy slapped twice by his principal for changing seats in the middle of a show retaliated with kicks and punches in front of the entire school for over 10 minutes until a teacher separated the two.
The incident, which occurred on Tuesday afternoon at the St Aloysius Orphanage and Day School, is the first known instance in the city of an alleged victim of corporal punishment hitting back in such a manner.
More than 900 children and their teachers stood stunned in the school auditorium as the Class IX student — Metro is withholding the boy’s name pending an inquiry — repeatedly punched and kicked 45-year-old Father George Anthony before tearing his shirt.
The only ones apparently oblivious to the ugly drama were the tiny tots on the stage, who continued their performance even as the boy rained blows on the principal.
“We were too shocked to react. Minutes earlier, everyone was enjoying the musical performance by our kindergarten kids and suddenly we were seeing a high school student hitting the principal. I had never seen anything like this in my 15-year career,” recounted a teacher.
The trigger for the boy’s assault was the humiliation of being slapped and dragged by his collar in front of his schoolmates for allegedly trying to “disrupt the concert” by getting off his seat in the middle of the performance.
“He was seated in a row from where he didn’t get a clear view of the stage. So he got up to shift to another seat, only to be spotted by the principal, who was keeping an eye on us. Then all hell broke loose,” said a classmate who was a couple of rows behind.
“Don’t move, sit down where you are,” Father George had warned the moment he saw the boy get up.
When the 16-year-old tried to argue that he wasn’t being able to enjoy the performance from where he was seated, the principal “lost his cool”, a witness said.
“Father George walked up to my classmate and slapped him hard twice. He then grabbed him by his shirt collar to haul him out of the hall, causing him to lose balance and hit his head against a wall,” he added.
With the boy’s response taking everyone in the audience by surprise, it wasn’t until more than 10 minutes later that one of the teachers — a nun — intervened. “As our teacher separated them, we didn’t know where to look. The incident was as embarrassing as it was shocking,” recalled a Class X boy.
The principal immediately left the hall and went into his office while the boy, who is the only child of his parents, was taken to the staff room. His parents were later summoned and asked not to send him to school until further orders.
“The principal had hit me hard for no fault of mine. I struck back in self-defence,” the Class IX student told Metro on Wednesday.
His mother claimed the school authorities refused to meet her when she visited the institution on Wednesday.
Father George was unavailable for comment.
Father Moloy D’Costa, an official of the Calcutta Diocese of the Roman Catholic Church and the inspector of schools under the Roman Catholic Churches in Calcutta, said “a preliminary investigation” had revealed that the boy had been disrupting rehearsals for the show for a few days.
He promised an impartial inquiry into the incident. “The annual function will continue till Thursday. The boy has been asked not to attend school to ensure that there is no disruption over what happened on Tuesday,” said Father D’Costa.
Psychologists said the incident highlighted behavioural problems on either side of the student-teacher divide. “A student is expected to obey the principal’s orders, irrespective of whether he or she likes it or not. In this case, the principal had probably asked him not to leave his seat in the middle of the show to maintain discipline. But today’s children have a tendency to oppose anything that doesn’t suit them,” said psychologist Mahua Ghosh.
She also blamed the principal for failing to show restraint and resorting to corporal punishment, which is banned.
A few days back I had posted an article on how a cock which was being forced to fight, turned on its master and killed him.
The above case is quite similar.
Thank God, the boy did not kill the Principal, but the indignity suffered and the loss of prestige is equal to a thousand deaths.
While I do not condone what the boys did, I would request teachers and parents to make the punishment fit the crime.
They should not go overboard in punishing their wards.
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