School says Dubai teacher is not suspended

The Indian High School on Monday denied a tweet which said that the school had suspended a teacher for allegedly humiliating seventh grade pupils in class. The Social Studies teacher had asked a class of seventh graders to wear tags that read "Useless boy of 7 W" for making noise in the classroom. The incident happened on April 17. The management of the school investigated the incident following complaints from parents, said Ashok Kumar, CEO of the school, which was rated outstanding in school inspections by the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) . The teacher was traumatised by the incident and requested a few days' leave but will be back soon, said Kumar. "The tweet is false," he said. "Following the incident, several parents wrote to us positively about the incident too," he added. While several parents told Gulf News 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 with their hands raised for 45 minutes, prompting the parents to complain. "This way of treating children is unheard of. The school should inquire into the incident," a mother said. However, one father said: "It's OK. It's all a joke for children. If a teacher asks them to raise their hands, they will do it for a few minutes while the teacher is looking and then get away with not doing it. This is not such a huge concern for me."