Dubai The management of a Dubai school has begun investigating an incident of a teacher allegedly humiliating pupils, following complaints from parents.
The teacher allegedly ordered 7th grade pupils to wear tags that read ‘Useless boy of 7 W' for making noise in the classroom.
While several parents said that the tag was insulting, others dismissed the incident, saying it had been blown out of proportion.
The same teacher reportedly punished the class a day before the incident by making them stand up with their hands raised for 45 minutes, prompting the parents to complain.
The incident happened at the Indian High School on Tuesday.
Ashok Kumar, CEO of the Indian High School, said that the teacher as well as the students were spoken to. "We are investigating the incident," he said.
Outstanding rank
The school was rated as outstanding this year by the KHDA.
Despite repeated attempts, the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) could not be reached for comments.
"The teacher teaches us Social Studies. She punished us all by making us wear the tag because we made too much noise," a seventh grader of the ‘W' division, said.
"This way of treating children is unheard of. The school should enquire into the incident," a mother said.
However, one father said: "It's okay. It's all a joke for children. If teacher asked them to raise their hands, they will do it for few minutes while the teacher is looking and then get away with not doing it. This is not such a huge concern for me."
Teachers at some schools are unaware of child protection issues, according to a report titled the Indian and Pakistani School Inspections 2011-12.
