A French kindergarten teacher was told he can no longer teach kindergarten after a massive change in his appearance.
The said schoolteacher who had his whole body covered in tattoos and his eyes surgically turned black was prevented from continuing his teaching job as a kindergarten teacher in France due to a complaint from a parent that a child got frightened.
However, the 35-year-old teacher, Sylvain Helaine, is still a teacher for children who are six years old and above. According to him, pupils were only shocked at his appearance during the first time but they are able to see past that.
Helaine told CNN that all of the parents and students were not terrified of him and was okay with his look since they knew him even before his transformation. It was also stated in the report that the teacher had spent more than 460 hours under the needle of a tattooist to completely achieve his look.
"It's only when people see me from far away that they can assume the worst," Helaine stated.
Last year, Helaine stated that a parent of a three-year-old student from Docteur Morere Elementary School in Palaiseau, where he was teaching kindergarten filed a report against him to the school authorities. According to the complaint, the parent said that their son, who was not a pupil of Helaine's has begun to have nightmares after seeing the teacher's face.
A couple of months after receiving the complaint, Helaine was told by school authorities that he will no longer be teaching kindergarten children. Helaine expressed sadness on the decision of the school board to do so.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson from the local education authority explained their decision. According to him, the school was able to reach an agreement with Helaine that he will be moved away from teaching pupils under six years old. This is because kindergarten pupils can easily be frightened by their physical appearance, Yahoo! News reported.
Despite the setbacks, Helaine decided to stick to his career and agree with the proposal of the local school authorities. According to him, he chose to stick to the career that he chose since he loves being a primary school teacher and that the job makes him happy.
The 35-year-old teacher started to get inked back when he was 27. He got his first tattoo back when he was still teaching at a London private school when he said that he was experiencing an existential crisis.
Since then, Helaine stated that his tattoos have become a passion.
In his statement, Helaine also said that he is hoping that his situation could help his pupils understand that there are people who deviate from the norm and that they should also be accepted and respected.
He also added that if they are taught to accept these at a young age, there is a huge possibility that they will grow up to be less homophobic, less racist, and more-openminded to the deviants of society.
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