HARIPUR: The education department has removed a primary schoolteacher for assaulting one of his students, official sources said here on Sunday.

A letter issued from the office of district education officer (male) Mukhtar Ahmed Khan on Saturday, Sohail Akhtar, senior primary schoolteacher, posted to government primary school No 1, Kotnajibullah, and later transferred to government primary school, Gulu Bandi, on a complaint, was suspended from service on March 18, 2023, following registration of an FIR against him for his alleged involvement in immoral activities.

A two-member departmental inquiry comprising principal government higher secondary school, Dingi, Sajjad Hussain Shah and principal government high school, Sera-i-Gadai, Dr Imtiaz Ali probed the complaint and found that “the evidence gathered during the investigation conclusively established that the teacher committed heinous crime of sexual abuse and rape against his student.”

The inquiry also found that the teacher caused severe emotional/psychological harm to the victim, tarnished the noble profession of teaching, and recommended stern action against him.

On the basis of the yearlong inquiry, the district education officer imposed a major penalty, ordering his removal from service under rule 4 (b) sub-rule III of the Khyber Pakthunkhwa Government Servants Efficiency and Disciplinary Rules, 2011.

STUDENT DIES: A schoolboy died after falling from the roof of his house in a remote Khanpur village, residents and the police said on Sunday.

Police and family sources said Mohammad Furqan Haider, a 9th grader from Bandi Muneem area, was flying kite on his house’s roof on Sunday afternoon when he slipped down to the ground. The boy was removed to hospital, but succumbed to a head injury, doctors and police said.

The deputy commissioner banned the sale, purchase and flying of kites in Haripur three days ago.

Published in Dawn, March 4th, 2024