India: Video of UP teacher smoking inside classroom goes viral; suspended

Sitapur (Uttar Pradesh): A teacher of a primary school in Mahmudabad here was suspended after a purported video of him smoking inside the classroom went viral on social media.

“Video of a teacher smoking inside the classroom had gone viral on social media. I had sent the division education officer to the school to confirm the identity of the teacher. After his face matched with the person in the video, I suspended him,” District Basic Education Officer Ajay Kumar told ANI on Saturday.

Kumar said that teachers shouldn’t smoke at all let alone inside classrooms. “Teachers have a huge impact on students. They shouldn’t smoke at all,” he added.

In the video that went viral, the teacher was seen lighting and smoking a beedi (hand-rolled cigarette) inside a classroom full of primary students.