Daijiworld Media Network - Old Goa

Old Goa, Jul 4: In a deeply disturbing incident, a teacher at a school in St Estevam has been accused of assaulting 11 students of Class 9 on Thursday morning, triggering outrage among parents and intervention by police.

Old Goa police booked the teacher late Thursday evening under relevant sections of law, including the Goa Children’s Act, and said the accused is likely to be arrested soon.

According to reports, four students who sustained injuries on their forearms, shoulders, and thighs were taken to Goa Medical College (GMC) Hospital for a check-up after parents filed a complaint. The students alleged that they were playing cricket in the classroom when the teacher, angered by the noise, marched them to the hall and started beating them with a wooden stick.

“She only stopped when another teacher intervened,” said one student at the police station. Another added, “One of us protested the beating, but the teacher hit him even more.”

Parents, furious at the assault, rushed to the school and later to the Old Goa police station to lodge a complaint. One parent said, “The school tried to make us withdraw the complaint, claiming they issued a memo to the teacher. But we are standing firm.”

In another complaint, a parent alleged they were summoned to the school without being informed of the reason. “When we met the headmistress, she admitted a teacher had made a mistake. Later, our son was brought in with visible swelling on his shoulder,” the parent said, adding the teacher beat students despite them having done nothing wrong.

The school management reportedly took the injured students to a private hospital in Corlim, but it was a parent's 100-call that brought the police to the school.

Old Goa police have booked the teacher under Sections 118 (1), 352 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, and Section 8 (2) of the Goa Children’s Act, 2003. The investigation is ongoing, and the accused teacher was seen being questioned at the police station late Thursday night.