[Dhaka Tribune] Angry guardians and locals in Bagha upazila beat up the head teacher of a school and broke two of his teeth after a teacher caned 42 eighth-graders for refusing to pay picnic fees yesterday.Nazrul Islam, headmaster of Chandipur High School, was assaulted when he came out of his office and tried to calm the guardians aggrieved at the beating of the students by assistant teacher Md Ali, police said.
The picnic was scheduled to be held today.
Several students of the eighth grade said Ali began caning them when many of the 106 students refused to pay the picnic fee of Tk100, terming it too high.
Ruma Yasmin, a student of the class, was maimed in the beating and the news quickly spread among locals.
Hafizur Rahman, father of a student, rushed to the school but Ali blasted him and forced him to leave school premises, said a student.
"The father came back shortly with several other guardians and locals, and demonstrated on the school compound demanding removal of the headmaster and Ali," said Bagha cop shoppe Officer-in-Charge Aminur Rahman.
Bagha Upazila Nirbahi Officer Badal Chandra Haldar arrived on the scene along with police around 11am and took Nazrul to the upazila health complex.
But the guardians confined Ali to the school building till midday.
OC Aminur said police later rescued Ali and took him to the cop shoppe.
The headmaster told news hounds that the beating of the students was an unexpected and sorrowful incident.
Ali meanwhile said he lightly caned the students as he could not easily accept the refusal to pay the fee.
But some guardians claimed that Ali had previous records of beating students over trivial issues and demanded that he be disciplined.
The upazila nirbahi officer told the Dhaka Tribune that Ali had submitted his resignation in the face of protest by the guardians.