In a deeply disturbing case of alleged corporal punishment, a Class 6 student in Andhra Pradesh’s Chittoor district suffered a severe head injury that resulted in a skull fracture. The incident took place in Punganur, where the young girl, identified as Sathvika Nagasri, was reportedly assaulted by her Hindi teacher, Saleema Basha. According to initial reports, the teacher struck her on the head with a school bag that contained a heavy steel lunch box. The blow, delivered in a fit of anger after the student allegedly engaged in some mischief, left the child in excruciating pain.
At first, the seriousness of the injury was not fully understood. Sathvika’s mother, who herself teaches Science in the same school, initially assumed it was a minor incident. However, when the child began to complain of intense headaches, dizziness, and persistent discomfort, the family sought medical attention. She was taken to multiple hospitals before being transferred to a private facility in Bengaluru. There, a CT scan revealed the alarming truth: the girl had sustained a skull fracture, a condition requiring urgent medical care.
The family, shocked by both the incident and the negligence surrounding it, filed an official complaint against not only the teacher but also the school principal for failing to prevent or appropriately address the matter. Acting on this complaint, the Punganur police registered a case and launched a formal investigation to establish accountability and determine the course of legal action.
Disturbingly, this was not an isolated case. In a separate incident in Visakhapatnam’s Madhuravada area, another child fell victim to alleged teacher brutality. A Class 8 student of Sri Tanush School was left with multiple fractures after a violent attack. Reports indicate that the Social Sciences teacher, identified as Mohan, allegedly used an iron table to assault the boy, striking his arm with such force that doctors later confirmed three separate fractures. The shocking nature of this assault, which left the student with a broken arm in multiple places, has once again raised serious concerns about the unchecked use of corporal punishment in schools across Andhra Pradesh.
Both incidents have sparked outrage among parents and child rights advocates, highlighting the urgent need for stricter enforcement of laws prohibiting physical punishment in educational institutions and ensuring that schools remain safe spaces for students rather than places of fear and violence.
