MUZAFFARABAD: A schoolteacher who had appointed a ‘surrogate’ instructor in her stead at a girls’ primary school in Upper Tengerran village of Abbaspur tehsil, was suspended on Monday after the surrogate subjected a nine-year-old to harsh corporal punishment on Thursday.

According to a notification issued by Rehana Shah Mohammad, the district elementary and secondary education officer (female) in Poonch, a high school headmistress has been appointed as an inquiry officer to proceed against Asma Siddique, one of the two teachers at the school, under the Efficiency and Disciplinary Rules.

Sajida Begum, the surrogate instructor, had used a cane to ‘punish’ Adeela for not memorising her lessons, causing swelling in both of her eyes.

Following the incident, the child’s grandfather and uncle took her to Abbaspur police station and the police sent her to the local rural health centre (RHC). The RHC referred Adeela to Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahayan Hospital in Rawalakot, where she was admitted for treatment.

‘Surrogate’ instructor who caned child booked

According to the police, since there is no law in Azad Jammu and Kashmir that deals with corporal punishment in educational institutions, they were left with no choice but to register a case under the penal code sections after receiving a medical report.

Meanwhile, human rights activist Chaudhry Saqib Mushtaq posted pictures of the girl with bruised swollen eyes on Facebook over the weekend. A brief video clip of the girl from her hospital bed also went viral on social media.

The police registered an FIR against Ms Begum on Saturday after receiving a provisional report from the Rawalakot hospital. However, she had gone into hiding.

The same day, Ms Mohammad, visited the girl at the hospital and assured her family that justice would be served.

Irshad Ahmed Qureshi, AJK’s secretary for elementary and secondary education, told Dawn on Monday that he had directed Ms Mohammad to visit the Abbaspur police station and look into the possibility of lodging a second FIR against the actual teacher and her surrogate on behalf of the department.

“We are taking this case very seriously and all those found involved in any way will be brought to justice,” he said.

Ms Begum was not a regular appointee. Instead, she had been serving in place of the regular teacher, Asma Siddique.

The illegal practice of appointing surrogates in place of serving teachers, locally referred to as ‘the thaika system’, has, once again, come into the spotlight as a blight on most of the state-run education system in AJK

This practice, carried out with the connivance of head teachers, and in some cases, even the education department officials, involves influential teachers appointing ‘surrogates’ in their place for a nominal salary.

Qazi Arsalan, a second officer at the Abbaspur police station, told Dawn that after obtaining a report from the education department confirming that Ms Begum was not an appointed teacher, the police will add another section dealing with impersonation in the FIR lodged against her. “We will also write to the relevant authorities to bring those officials to justice who had turned a blind eye towards this unlawful practice,” he said.

Published in Dawn, October 3rd, 2017