American teacher suspended for calling Muslim student 'raghead Taliban'

Karachi: A teacher has been suspended in the U.S. after she called her Muslim student a "raghead Taliban," a report said.

Maria Valdes, a French teacher, called 14-year-old Deyab Houssein Wardani a 'raghead Taliban' when he entered the class wearing a hoodie, The Express Tribune reported.

While asserting that this was not the first time when he had been referred to as a "terrorist" or "Taliban," Deyab said that he had not expected this from a teacher who was supposed to set examples for her students.

Valdes has been suspended without pay for five days and will have to undergo a diversity training programme.

Youssef Wardani, Deyab's father, also expressed his anger by saying that five days' suspension was a "vacation" and that the teacher should have been suspended for at least a year without pay, if not fired.

Superintendent Robert W. Runcie, who filed the administrative complaint after he was notified of Valdes' alleged comments, said that the matter has been addressed with "appropriate sense of urgency."

The district administrators said that the degree of the punishment had been limited due to an agreement with the Teachers Union.

Wardani said that he will fight racism till his last breath, to make sure that no other child goes through this.