Rajasthan teacher strip-searches high-school girls over missing money, suspended
A teacher at a government school in Rajasthan's Sawai Madhopur was suspended on Wednesday after she was accused of making girls from Classes 9 and
A teacher at a government school in Rajasthan's Sawai Madhopur was suspended on Wednesday after she was accused of making girls from Classes 9 and 11 remove their clothes during a search after her money went missing, officials said. The action came after villagers and parents protested at the Government Senior Secondary School in Livali village under Bamanwas sub-division, locking its main gate after the allegations surfaced. The education department has also started disciplinary proceedings against the school principal. Read Full Story Officials said the incident took place on Tuesday after around Rs 1,000 belonging to senior Hindi teacher Saraswati Meena went missing. Suspecting students from Classes 9 and 11, Meena allegedly began a search and made the girls remove their clothes.
Denying the allegation, Meena said, "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. After the students told their families about the incident on returning home, anger spread in the village. On Wednesday morning, a large number of villagers and parents gathered at the school, locked the main gate and staged a protest. Chief Block Education Officer Pratibha Meena reached the school, spoke separately with the students and collected details before informing higher authorities.
Bharatpur division Joint Director of School Education Dalveer Singh said a departmental inquiry had been started against the teacher on the basis of a report sent by the District Education Officer headquarters. He said she had been suspended with immediate effect under Rule 13 of the Rajasthan Civil Services (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules, 1958, and during the suspension period her headquarters had been shifted to the CBEO office in Rajakhera in Dholpur. According to the CBEO, principal Manoj Kumar Meena did not report the matter to higher authorities in time and did not treat it with the required seriousness. A letter has been sent to begin 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 teacher had apologised to the students and a written assurance had been taken from the school administration to prevent such incidents from happening again, which was why the matter was not immediately reported to higher authorities. The case has now led to the teacher's suspension, an inquiry against her and proposed action against the principal. Ends
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