In an extreme case of corporal punishment, a teacher is accused of hitting four school children with a heated metal spatula on their cheeks at a school in Bhimad in Tanahun district.

According to reports, the students from grade four were making noise during an exam. Teacher Sushma Shrestha of Prabhat Academy in ward 6 of Bhimad Municipality took the students to her office, where she allegedly hit four of them with a heated spatula for allegedly teasing her while she was ‘taking action’.

The marks left by the heated spatula are clearly visible on the cheeks of two students, aged 9 and 10. The incident happened on Tuesday.

The mother of one of the injured boys told the Post that the teacher telephoned her at around noon and informed her that the boy sustained minor injuries when she hit him with the heated spatula. “I rushed to school immediately and inquired about the incident. The teacher and school administration urged me not to reveal the incident and settle the matter internally,” said the guardian.

“The injuries are not so serious. We will cover the medical expenses. Let’s resolve the issue within the school,” the guardian quoted the school official as saying. According to her, the school administration tried to convince her not to disclose the incident or seek legal remedy.

The guardian also claimed that the same teacher had punished her child in the past as well by dipping his hands into hot water. “Despite the teacher and school administration asking me not to reveal the brutal punishment I decided to pursue legal action against the guilty,” she said. She lodged a complaint at the Area Police Office in Bhimad on Tuesday.

The incident has sparked protests from guardians and locals, demanding that the teacher be dismissed and legal action be taken. “We enrolled our child in this private school by paying a good amount of money thinking that education is good there. Children are naturally noisy and mischievous at times. They should be counseled, not punished in such a way,” said a guardian of another child.

The parents of the victims are demanding an apology from the teacher and her expulsion from the school. "They are trying to reconcile with us, but we don't know what to do. We need justice. The perpetrator should be punished according to the law,” they asserted.

The accused teacher, aged 34, is the daughter of school principal Krishna Dev Shrestha. She is an accountant at the school and takes classes whenever other teachers are absent.

Police detained the accused teacher and presented her before the Tanahun district court on Wednesday. The court remanded her into custody for five days for investigation.

“It was a mistake on our part. It happened while trying to correct the students. This is the first incident of its kind. We won’t let it happen again,” said Krishna Dev. “There were no serious injuries. They were treated at a local health institution. The school has covered all the expenses,” he added.

Prabhat Academy, established in 2009, runs classes up to the fifth grade. Currently, there are 150 students and 12 teachers.

Nepal was arguably the first country in South Asia to criminalise corporal punishment, and in 2006, the Supreme Court issued a ruling asking the government to pursue appropriate and effective measures to prevent physical punishment as well as the cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of children. But despite legal frameworks, teachers across the country continue to mete out inhuman levels of punishment to their students, beating them with fists, kicks, sticks and even the dreaded sisnu (stinging nettles).

In 2019, 14 students in Rolpa were beaten so badly by their teacher that five of them suffered severe injuries to their arms, with broken bones and ligament tears. The students, from Bhanu Basic School in Runti Gadhi, were beaten with a sal branch for showing up late to assembly.

Similarly, police arrested a female school teacher from Bhaktaur in 2020 who forced 34 students to cut their hands using sharpener blades as punishment.

In September 2018, a new Act Relating to Children was passed, which ensured each child’s right to be protected against all types of physical or mental violence and punishment. It has mandated a fine of up to Rs 50,000 and a year’s imprisonment for those who practice physical or mental punishment or disrespectful behaviour at home, school or any other setting. But despite legal provisions, many parents and guardians do not wish to take cases to court, activists say.