Headmaster gets the rap for bizarre stunt

Eager to showcase student’ karate skills, a teacher jeopardised their safety.

Eager to showcase student’ karate skills, a teacher jeopardised their safety.

The fallout? Ramanujam, 56, headmaster of a government school in Tamil Nadu’s Villupuram district, 170 kilometres south of Chennai, will not be considered for this year’s best teacher award.

HT Image

On July 15, during a ‘bravery show’ at the school on the birth anniversary of former Tamil Nadu chief minister Kamaraj, a martial arts expert drove his motorcycle over the hands of students lying on the ground.

Following outrage over the incident, Ramanujam has been issued a memo, Villupuram District Education Officer S. Sridhar told Hindustan Times.

According to Sridhar, the headmaster said the event had been organised with the knowledge of the parents teachers association, he said.

This piece of bizarre bravado was entirely voluntary, said S. Ilangovan, one of the parents present at the event. “The students offered to lie down on their own.”

Despite Ramanujam’s exemplary academic record, the authorities have decided to set an example by punishing him. “In normal course, his name was to be recommended for the award on Teachers’ Day, September 5,” Sridhar said.

“After the incident, we’ve dropped it.”