Gorakhpur (UP), May 27 (IANS): A teacher in a private school in Gorakhpur has been suspended for putting up questions related to Pakistan during an online class.

The school authorities have issued a show cause notice to the teacher, Shadab Khanam, asking her to respond within a week.

Shadab Khanam said, "I was trying to explain nouns to students of class four on Friday and since the questions had a Pakistan reference, I have been served notice."

She said that she copied those sentences from the Internet and pasted on the group without going through them thoroughly.

The questions in which the children were required to identify the tense and noun included, "I will join Pak army", "Pakistan is our dear homeland" and "Rashid Minhas was a brave soldier".

"It was an error. Immediately after realising her mistake, she posted an apology on the WhatsApp group," said her husband Mohammad Hashim, who works in a private firm in Gorakhpur. He also claimed that Shadab Khanam was "unwell."

"Friday was the first day of online class and Shadab is not much familiar with the Internet. To explain better about the noun, she picked some sentences from the Internet as an example," claimed Hashim.

He further said that some of the sentences had positive references to Pakistan.

"When guardians of two students called up, she immediately realized her mistake and posted another message on the WhatsApp group asking students to use India in place of Pakistan. Later, she also posted an apology letter on the WhatsApp group," he added.

However, the school manager, G.P. Singh, said, "Shadab has been suspended and a show-cause notice has been issued to her asking to file reply within seven days.

"An inquiry has also been ordered against her. I have informed the District Inspector of Schools (DIOS), Basic Shiksha Adhikari and also Joint Director (Education) in Gorakhpur with action taken so far," said Singh.

DIOS, Gorakhpur, Gyanendra Singh Bhadoria said that the district magistrate had also been apprised of the matter.