MP: School teacher suspended after asking the tribal student to take off dirty uniform; probe ordered

A school teacher in Madhya Pradesh has been suspended and an inquiry ordered after he allegedly asked a 10-year-old tribal student to take off her dirty uniform in front of other students, an official said on Sunday. A picture of the incident, which took place in Bara Kala village of Shahdol district on Friday, surfaced on social media in which the Class 5 student was seen only in her undergarments and the teacher, Shrawan Kumar Tripathi, was seen washing her clothes and other girls standing nearby. The student had to sit in that condition for about two hours till her clothes dried, some villagers claimed.

After the incident, Tripathi, posted as a teacher at a government primary school run by the tribal affairs department in the village, shared pictures of the incident on a WhatsApp group of the department, while terming himself as “Swachhata Mitra” (cleanliness volunteer), an official said. The villagers expressed anger after pictures of the incident surfaced on social media.

When contacted, MP Tribal Welfare Department’s assistant commissioner Anand Rai Sinha told PTI that after he came to know about pictures of the incident, Tripathi was suspended on Saturday. After seeing the girl’s soiled uniform, the teacher allegedly asked her to take it off and washed it in front of other students, the official said. Sinha said he has also ordered an inquiry into the incident.