Students rally in support of teacher suspended for alleged misconduct in Salem

A group of students staged a road roko on Saturday in support of a mathematics teacher who was suspended after a video showed him getting his foot massaged by students.

The video, which went viral on Friday, depicted J. Jayaprakash, a teacher at East Rajapalayam Government High School, instructing students to massage his foot. Following this, Chief Educational Officer M. Kabir inquired and issued a suspension order for the teacher on Friday evening.

The incident took a new turn on Saturday, as over 20 students, joined by local villagers, staged a protest at East Rajapalayam demanding that the suspended teacher be reinstated. Police arrived at the scene and explained that the teacher’s suspension was a disciplinary measure and outside the purview of police intervention. The protesters also demanded an additional mathematics teacher at school. After assuring them that the request would be passed on to the relevant authorities, the protest was called off.

However, police sources indicated that certain teachers may have divided the students along caste lines and triggered the protests to safeguard themselves from disciplinary action since there were allegations against several of them, which the Education Department is investigating. “We have received reports that some teachers are allegedly encouraging a section of students to boycott classes on Monday,” said a police official.

Published - November 23, 2024 06:17 pm IST