Watch|'Not funny': Muslim student lashes out at teacher for calling him 'terrorist' at Karnataka university
A teacher at Karnataka's Manipal University is facing a probe after a video showed him purportedly using the term 'terrorist' to describe the people of Muslim community. The teacher was confronted by a student in the same class.
The student is heard telling the teacher that he cannot joke about my religion and said that being a Muslim in this country and facing all this is not funny.
"How can you dare to talk in such manner," the student fumed. "You are just like my kid," the teacher replied. "No, this is not funny. Being a Muslim in this country and facing this is not funny," the student asserted.
Professor Ashok Swain who is also a chairperson of UNESCO (The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) shared the video and wrote, “A Professor in a class room in India calling a Muslim student ‘terrorist’ - This is what it has been to be a minority in India!”
Though the teacher apologised and said that he was like his son, the student continued to lash out at him and asked, "will you call your son by the name of a terrorist? Khallas? How can you talk to me like that in front of so many people, in a class?"
The boy said that a teacher should be a professional and added that an apology can not change the way the teacher thinks and how he portrays himself, implying that the damage has been done.
The student has been counselled and the teacher has been barred from taking any further classes pending enquiry. A team has been formed to probe the matter.
The video, now viral on social media, invited widespread outrage from netizens who applauded the student’s courage and slammed the teacher for making such remarks at an educational institute.
"So happy to see him stand up for himself!! For too long people have been taught to tolerate. But no one should tolerate discrimination, prejudice especially from a teacher; a figure who is supposed to set the right example for his students & above all be unbiased," a user wrote.
"Bravo to that kid for standing up to a bigot and bully," said another netizen. Another Twitter user wrote, "Remarkable how none of the classmates appear to be speaking up. Lying low, heads down. This is what a society desensitized to hatred against minorities looks like. Pity."
