A school in Victoria, Australia is in a bit of a scrape after a teacher shaved the armpit of a 14-year-old special education student in class.
The girl's underarm hair was removed against her will by an unidentified teacher during a class on personal care at the Wangaretta District Specialist School, a faciliity children with intellectual and physical disabilities, according to 3AW.
"I spoke to the teacher the very next day and she told me she has the right to do it, it's part of the curriculum," Melissa Woods, the student's mother, told the station on Thursday.
Woods told the Herald Sun that she knew shaving was going to be covered in the class, but she had no idea the teacher was going to make an example out of her daughter.
The girl, who has ADHD and a neurodevelopmental disorder known as microcephaly, was distraught after the incident.
“She came home in tears and said, ‘They shaved my arms’, and that she hadn’t wanted it done,’’ she told the Herald Sun.
Woods says the teacher told her that her daughter would get made fun of if she didn't shave her armpits.
School principal Libby Hosking said that in the future teachers would "definitely seek specific permission" for that kind of thing, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.
Hosking also noted, "It’s not to say that shaving armpits needs to occur, it’s just an option."
Our 2024 Coverage Needs You
Already contributed? Log in to hide these messages.