Teacher's Risks

It is unfortunate that students are becoming more violent. This is a contagion from countries like the USA. It is not only that violence is more common, attacking teachers is held as a badge of honour by the immature students. As it is, quality teachers are few and far between. This new development makes teaching even less attractive. The other day, a teacher was telling me that the only 'gurudakshina' he seeks from students is that they should abstain from killing him. How pathetic! Please read two recent reports:

1)  "A class 12 student on Saturday (January 20) allegedly killed his school principal by firing four shots with a .32 bore gun in Haryana’s Yamunanagar, news agency PTI reported. “The accused student fired four shots at Swami Vivekanand School principal Ritu Chhabra, who was in her office, with a .32 bore gun and critically injured her,” the police said.

The student, police sources said, was upset over being rusticated from the school.

“47-year-old Chhabra  was rushed to a hospital where she succumbed to her injuries,” PTI quoted Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Desh Raj as saying.

The four bullets hit her in the chest, stomach and shoulder, Yamunanagar Superintendent of Police Rajesh Kalia told PTI. The SP said, “After shooting the school principal, the 18-year-old commerce student tried to flee. However, a couple of parents, who were present for the parents-teachers meet in the school premises, caught hold him of with the help of locals.”

During preliminary investigation, the accused student told the police that he was upset with the school principal for allegedly reprimanding him a couple of times.

“He had a grudge against the school principal for reprimanding him few times in front of his class mates on the complaint of teachers,” the SP said adding that he was not attending school for the past few days.

The SP said the police were also investigating whether the accused was taking drugs.

“He was supposed to attend his tutions today. But rather than going to tutions, he went to the school,” the officer said.

As he was a school student, he was allowed to meet the school principal, SP Kalia said.

“He talked to the Principal for some time and then came out. He then again entered the principal’s room and opened fire at her with the revolver,” said the SP.

During investigation, it came to light that the student stole his father’s licensed revolver by breaking the wooden Almirah at his home. He took the revolver without the knowledge of his parents, Kalia said.

The accused student’s father is a financier and a landlord in Yamunanagar, he said.

The SP said, “He has confessed to his crime and weapon has also been recovered. He will be presented before the court the tomorrow.”

The accused student has been booked for murder under section 302 of the IPC, said the police.

The incident happened between 11:30 am and 12 noon and and triggered panic and horror among the school staff, teachers and students.

(With input from Agencies)"

2) Class 12 student gunned down his school principal on Monday (January 22) over alleged blasphemy in Pakistan’s restive Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, police said.

The incident took place within the premises of privately-run Islamia College in Charsadda district.

Sareer Khan was killed by Fahim Ashraf who was later arrested with a gun, district police chief Zahoor Afridi said.

“The student was raising slogans at the time of his arrest that he killed a blasphemer but so far no evidence of blasphemy has been found against the victim,” Afridi said.

Sources in the college contradicted blasphemy claims, saying the principal had Masters of Arts (MA) degree in Islamic Studies and was also a Hafiz-e-Quran, meaning he had memorised the entire Holy Quran.

Ashraf was angry at the principal who marked him absent when he missed classes for three consecutive days in November last year to attend a protest by religious groups, they said.

He also had an argument with the principal over the issue some days ago.

Afridi said an investigation was being carried out and facts would be made public.

Meanwhile, college students and relatives of the accused blocked a road and disrupted traffic but the district administration pacified them.

Blasphemy is a highly sensitive issue in Pakistan and people have been killed in the past on mere suspicion.

Mashal Khan, a university student, was lynched last year by a mob of fellow students in Charsadda over alleged blasphemy, which was never proved by the police.