London: A school teacher in Britain has been blasted by outraged parents after he told junior school pupils that Santa Claus did not exist.
The teacher was taking a literacy lesson, which involved the children, aged eight and nine, writing a letter to Father Christmas.
During the class he told the youngsters that the man bringing them presents just wasn`t real, and the pupils were left devastated, the Daily Mail reports.
The school in Christchurch, Dorset, is now facing a stream of complaints from furious parents.
“I was fuming when I found out. I spoke to the teacher and to the head teacher. The head teacher apologized, but the teacher seemed shocked that people were complaining,” the paper quoted a parent of an eight-year-old child, as saying.
“He told the children to put their hands over their ears if they did not want Christmas spoilt, so it was not accidental,” the parent added.
According to the paper, head teacher Simon Adorian admitted that the teacher had made a mistake following what he described as an ``awkward exchange with pupils`` after one of them quizzed him over Santa`s existence.
ANI