Addu high school student suspended after classroom altercation with foreign teacher

A student from Addu High School has been suspended following an altercation with a foreign teacher.

RaajjeMV understands that the suspension was enforced on Thursday. A video of the incident, which took place on Wednesday afternoon, has been circulating widely on social media.

The 47-second video reportedly shows a male student falling to the ground inside a classroom, after which the foreign teacher engages in a physical confrontation with him. The student is then seen getting up and attempting to strike the teacher’s shoulder. The video further shows the teacher trying to push the student away in defense. After the student attempts to strike the teacher and in response, the teacher is seen making forceful physical contact in defense, and the student then responds with an attempted kick.

When the video first circulated on social media, some reports suggested that the teacher had initiated the physical confrontation. However, other accounts later indicated that the teacher may have been provoked over several days and responded after the student, who had reportedly been harassing him, made physical contact. The incident has also raised broader concerns about issues of racism and the perceived sense of entitlement among some student groups.

The incident has generated significant debate on Maldivian social media, with many criticizing the initial decision to take disciplinary action solely against the teacher.

Information indicates that the incident occurred in a Grade 12 classroom at Addu High School and that the teacher involved is from India.