Mangaluru: Unable to shake off an old classroom punishment, a former student allegedly returned to his old govt school in Kolnadu village and vented his anger on its kitchen garden, destroying vegetable plants meant for midday meals.The incident occurred at the Govt Higher Primary School, Mankude, in Bantwal taluk, between Feb 7 and 8. About 25 chilli plants and 25 brinjal plants were uprooted, damaging the garden that supplements meals for the school’s 83 students.“We filed a police complaint soon after the incident, but the case remained unsolved,” headmaster B Thimappa Naik said.“Only later did we learn that a former student, now studying in class 7 at a private school, was responsible. He eventually admitted to the act,” he said.Naik said the boy had studied at the govt school from classes 1 to 3 before shifting to an unaided institution. The teacher who had punished him then is no longer with the school.“The student confessed that seeing the vegetable plants reminded him of being punished years ago. Unable to forget the incident, he acted out his anger by destroying the garden,” Naik said.The school called the boy’s mother, and the matter was settled amicably without any legal action.While most plants were destroyed, the Malabar spinach on a trellis was left untouched. The current students, who had planted and tended the garden, were deeply upset, said Naik.The school has now installed CCTV cameras to prevent such incidents, he added.
