Shyamal Kanti Bhakta no longer enjoys teaching

Shyamal Kanti Bhakta gestured with his hands at the time, indicating that he did not want to speak. He has suffered brain haemorrhage twice and often falls ill, but he could not forget the assault that he encountered six years ago.

A week later on 14 July, Shyamal Kanti Bhakta expressed his interest to speak to Prothom Alo, though he spoke very little. Relatives said that the incident of 2016 has affected his entire family and they still live in fear.

Shyamal Kanti Bhakta was the headmaster of Piyar Sattar Latif High School in Narayangan’s Bandar. He was tortured on 13 May 2016 on allegations of demeaning the religion. At that time, a video had gone viral showing the headmaster holding his ears and squatting up and down while the Jatiya Party lawmaker Salim Osman looked on, counting. The school managing committee, too, forced Shyamal Kanti Bhakta to resign following the incident. The education ministry formed a committee and it found the allegations brought against him to be false and he was reinstated as headmaster.

Teachers have been facing assaults in various ways since the incident of Shyamal Kanti Bhakta. This year, Hriday Mandal of Munshiganj, assistant headmaster Amodini Paul of Mahadevpur in Naogaon, principal Swapan Kumar Biswas of Mirzapur United Degree College in Narail and professor Md Salim Reza of Rajabari Degree College in Godagari upazila of Rajshahi were reportedly assaulted. Teacher Utpal Kumar Sarkar of Haji Yunus Ali School and College in Ashulia of Dhaka was killed after a student beat him with cricket stump.

Members of civil society have condemned these incidents. UNICEF in a statement on 6 July said, "Attacks on teachers are attacks on education. If we fail to protect teachers from violence, it will be children who ultimately suffer."

The elder daughter of Shyamal Kanti Bhakta spoke to Prothom Alo on 13 July. She wished not to be named for safety reasons. She told Prothom Alo she and her sister were in Dhaka on the day of incident. She was at her job and her younger sister was at college. Her mother and her sister lived with her father at their residence in Khanpur of Naeayanganj and that sister had been ill for some time.

On that day, a friend of Shyamal Kanti’s elder daughter sent her an SMS to say sorry. She could not understand why she sent the SMS. Then, another person sent her a news link of a local newspaper in Narayanganj. She then learned her father was in danger. She had been desperately calling her mother and father over phone but could not reach them. Sebika Haldar, wife of Shyamal Kanti, brought her ailing husband to Dhaka Medical College Hospital at night where the daughter met the father. At that time, Shyamal Kanti and her wife had to keep their ailing daughter locked at house.

The elder daughter said they had seen their father going to the school for a meeting every Friday since their childhood. He went to the school that day too. An announcement was made in the loudspeaker during the meeting suddenly that school headmaster Shyamal Kanti Bhakta demeaned the religion. A large number of people gathered at the meeting room shortly afterwards. The president of the school managing committee tried to prevent them but the situation went out of control. Her father's ears were affected after he was slapped hard. Now he uses a hearing aid and cannot hear properly.

After that, Shyamal Kanti Bhakta returned and retired from Piyar Sattar Latif High School. His daughter said, “My father was a math teacher and taught science. He was also a board examiner in English. He tried hard to help the students pass.”

“My father’s mobile phone often remained switched off. He returned home at night after tutoring his students. He was no longer himself after that incident. He was given police protection but he did not enjoy teaching any more. He went to school out of duty. He did not speak often,” the daughter said.

The torture on their father affected their lives too. After that incident, mother Sebika Haldar asked their daughters not to visit their Narayanganj residence as miscreants were also looking for their whereabouts. The attackers and instigators tried to negotiate with them since the matter reached the court. A proposal was also offered to send Shyamal Kanti Bhakta to India along with money but he refused it and decided to return to his old institution.

Shyamal Kanti Bhakta talked to Prothom Alo on 14 July. He said he took up teaching in 1976. He never thought he would be assaulted in front of his students and it was beyond his imagination that he would be behind bars. He had returned to school, but what Shyamal Kanti Bhakta said he had become nervous. The student who brought allegation against him went to him and begged for forgiveness. He has forgiven that student but he could not forget the memory of being assaulted.

Several more teachers have been assaulted after Shyamal Kanti Bhakta and where will it end? In reply, he said he is a victim of politics over Piyar Sattar Latif High School and such politics exists in non-government educational institutions across the country.

He said those who are in the school managing committee think educational institution is a place to show their power and if educational institutions are used as a means of showing power, oppression on teachers of non-government school and college will continue.

Educational institutions are a place of respect, affection and love and if that is not practised, no teacher, student and institution will be saved, Shyamal Kanti Bhakta observed.

This report appeared in the print and online edition of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten in English by Hasanul Banna