Can a teacher's scolding affect a child's mental health? Views and experiences may vary, but one can not justify the act if a student slips into mental dilemma.

This was what happened to a nine-year-old girl studying in Class II at Sat-Guru Hindi Vidyalaya, as she was unable to cope with her teacher's daily dose of scolding for not remembering lessons and completing home work.

On August 29, Preeti Maurya, a resident of Shivnagar society at Talangpur village in Sachin, became mentally upset after her school teacher Pradip scolded her for not remembering and completing lessons, and rapped with a ruler three-four times on her hands.

Preeti's father Deviprasad Maurya said, "That evening, she fell unconscious for 2-3 hours and had high fever and breathlessness. This continues till today and whenever she tries to speak about that incident, she becomes dizzy."

Since then, Preeti not only slipped into mental despair but to her parent's astonishment started behaving abnormally.  

"We have consulted many doctors, but still there is no improvement in her condition. Doctors of Psychiatric department said Preeti is in shock and needs time to heal," he said.

Maurya said Preeti has not been attending school for the past one month after the incident.

Kamlesh Dave, head of Psychiatric department at New Civil Hospital, said: "Preeti is in shock and why did she respond so sharply over such an incident is a question for us too. Such cases are not abnormal and students get accustomed to teacher's scolding."

Preeti will recover, but time is not certain.