A New York City substitute teacher was fired after he ripped a hijab off the head of a second-grader from the Bronx, officials confirmed Tuesday.
According to the New York Daily News, police sources said that 8-year-old Safa Alzockary was misbehaving in class at Public School 76 May 2 when Oghenetega Edah, 31, told her to remove her hijab.
Safa refused.
And so Edah took it upon himself to pull the girl’s hijab off her head, bringing the covering down across her face and causing irritation to her right eye, according to police.
The little girl was taken to Jacobi Medical Center, where a doctor said that there was no permanent damage to her eye, according to the Daily News. But now the little girl’s family is grappling with the trauma that was caused by the attack.
“It was scary,” Safa told the Daily News.
The little girl’s father, Mohamed Alzockary, was shocked by what occurred at his daughter’s school.
“I didn’t expect a teacher to do that to a child,” Alzockary said. “She’s OK right now ... but kids, they’re nervous.”
Edah, who started working in city schools in January, reportedly had a clean disciplinary record until this incident. Police said that he has not been arrested or charged.
Read more at the New York Daily News.