Basic Education Officer Shubham Shukla said Sunday (27 August) that the private school in Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh, where a teacher instructed students to hit a fellow student, referred to his Muslim faith, and made derogatory comments about “Mohammedan children,” has been temporarily closed.

Shukla said Neha Public School did not meet the department’s criteria, and notices were sent to higher authorities to revoke the school’s recognition from the UP education board.

Within a week, all 50 students will be transferred to government schools or other schools in the district.

The incident occurred in Khubbapur village, which has only one private school, Neha Public School.

The school is owned by Tripta Tyagi, the accused teacher who made communal remarks and instructed the children to hit their classmate as a punishment for incorrect multiplication tables.

A video of the incident went viral, showing Tyagi ordering the children to slap the crying boy.

In the video, she can be heard saying in Hindi, “I have declared — all these Muslim children, go to anyone’s area…” Her sentence is left incomplete as a man appears to agree with her.

Tyagi has been charged with causing hurt and intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace (IPC sections 323 and 504) based on an FIR filed against her. The complaint was made by the boy’s father.

The school, which is registered with the UP state board and received affiliation in 2019, is currently undergoing construction. Therefore, Tyagi had been teaching the students at her home, where the incident occurred.