My principal made another student slap me in front of all the teachers when I was in 2nd standard

I'm 22 years old now, and this memory occasionally resurfaces in my mind, so I thought I'd share it here.

Growing up, I was a very extroverted, talkative, and loud kid. This incident happened when I was in 2nd standard.

There was a boy in my class who used to sit behind me and constantly poke and disturb me. We used to fight a lot. Sometimes, out of frustration, I'd turn around while sitting on my bench and hit him just to make him stop.

One day, my elder brother's class teacher saw me hitting him. Her son and my brother were classmates, and my brother used to come first in class. She didn't like my brother, and because I was his sister, she didn't like me either. Without asking what had happened or why I hit him, she slapped me and warned me never to lay my hands on anyone again.

A few days later, our principal (we all called her "Mother") was having a meeting with all the teachers in her office. She was known for humiliating students and even insulting their parents, so everyone was terrified of her. Her office had a clear view of my classroom.

We were all sitting quietly when the same boy started poking me from behind again. I turned around, pointed my finger at him, and asked him to stop.

That teacher saw me, called out my name, and started complaining about me in front of Mother, saying things like, "She always does this," and other similar things.

Mother got angry and called both me and the boy into her office. My classmates looked terrified as I walked in.

She started scolding me, slapped me hard four times, and forcefully pushed me around. Then she told that boy to slap me four times as hard as he could.

After that, she turned to me again and started saying things like, "You think you're fair-skinned, so you can show attitude? You think you're beautiful? No, you're ugly. Being fair means nothing," along with other hurtful things.

Every single teacher was present in that room while I was being humiliated.

She eventually sent me back to class. I sat there quietly, crying.

After the meeting ended, one of the teachers came to the classroom door, pointed at me, and laughed.

A little while later, Mother came into my classroom, saw me sitting on the first bench, and said, "Girls like this don't deserve to sit in the front or interact with anyone."

She made me move to the last bench and warned my classmates that if anyone talked to me, they would also be punished and isolated.

For months after that, no one interacted with me.

I was so stunned by everything that had happened that I never told anyone about this incident for more than a decade.