Hyderabad: A Class 9 student of St Joseph High School in Lal Bazaar was humiliated and physically assaulted by his biology teacher over a haircut, his father alleged.The boy, belonging to the SC community, was told by his teacher: “You are looking like a beggar! I will give you a plate; go and collect coins at the school gate.” The student’s identity is being withheld as he is a minor.The situation escalated when the teacher hit him on the head and on his back, and forced him to stand outside the classroom for four periods.The student’s father told Deccan Chronicle: “My son came home acting strangely and crying alone. When we enquired, he told us about the humiliating treatment he had received from his teacher. This is not just about a haircut, it’s about singling out and perpetually targeting a student from the SC community,” he said. Shanker expressed deep concerns about the teacher’s conduct. “Humiliating students and beating them for illogical reasons is unacceptable. The teacher clearly has issues that need to be addressed. My son is a very bright student, and now he’s all quiet and depressed.”Nitesh bemoaned, “All my classmates will tease me ‘beggar beggar’ from tomorrow.” The young boy, who is an accomplished football player having played in district-level tournaments and drawing inspiration from Cristiano Ronaldo, has seen his confidence levels shattered by this incident. The distressing episode led to people calling out the need to recognise and nurture young talent, not only in academics but also in sports. There are calls for the state government to step in and provide financial assistance to such young talents towards their educational pursuits .The case came to light when social activist Robin Zaccheus posted about it on X. The family believes that this isn’t an isolated case but part of a broader pattern of discrimination that SC students face.”We hope the DEO will take cognisance of the issue and take it up,” Shanker said.The parents have not confronted the biology teacher yet as it was too late by the time the boy returned home and it had started raining by then.”We will go meet the principal tomorrow and give a written complaint,” the parents said.
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