Bhopal govt school teacher shifted after Gen Alpha students protest on streets

• Class 11 students at Bhopal's Naveen Higher Secondary School protest against physics teacher Babita Kushwah, accusing her of threats, beatings, forced chores and demanding money for projects.

• Education authorities shift Kushwah to another school, bring in new physics teacher after four-hour protest.

• Teacher denies allegations, district education officer orders inquiry and says it will be completed in two days.

Tempers flared outside a government-run higher secondary school in Bhopal on Monday, 5 October, as a group of Class 11 students took to the road, accusing a female physics teacher of threatening to fail them, making them perform chores and demanding money in the name of projects.

The protest by students of Naveen Higher Secondary School in the Misrod area continued for around four hours before Misrod police station house officer Vimlesh Kumar Rai intervened and brokered a truce between the students and the school management. The students subsequently returned to their classrooms at around 2.00 pm.

Following the protest, education authorities shifted the teacher to another school and brought in another physics teacher to teach the students.

District education officer Abhinav Arya told PTI that the allegations against the teacher would be investigated. "The serious allegations against the teacher will be investigated. We are going to complete the impartial inquiry looking into all the aspects in two days," Arya said. He said the students had been assured that appropriate action would be taken following the inquiry.

According to the students, mainly from the mathematics and biology streams of Class 11, they had submitted a written complaint to the school principal on 3 October, alleging that they were routinely made to perform tasks unrelated to their studies.

The students claimed they were asked to arrange benches, clean the school premises and write roll numbers during UPSC and other recruitment examinations conducted at the school. They also alleged that they were called to school on Sundays to carry out such work. "We come to school to study, not to work as employees," the students said during the protest.

The students further alleged that the teacher demanded money from them every month in the name of projects and told them that only students who could afford it should study science. They also accused her of spending considerable time on her mobile phone during classes and alleged that senior students had been beaten with an iron pipe in their presence.

The teacher, identified as Babita Kushwah, denied the allegations. She said she had been teaching since 1999 and maintained that she was strict only to ensure good results in physics. Kushwah also rejected allegations that she demanded or accepted money from students to pass or fail them, or that she forced students to clean the school premises.

Education authorities have now shifted Kushwah from Naveen Higher Secondary School and appointed another physics teacher there pending the inquiry. The school was established in 1962 and has 37 staff members. Kushwah had been teaching at the school since 2010.

With PTI inputs