A group of students attacked two of their peers at I.S. 318 in the Bronx while yelling “Ebola” at the brothers who had recently returned from Senegal, the boys’ father told CNN Newsroom Tuesday.

The New York Department of Education confirms the incident occurred, saying the boys were pushed and shoved.

Ousmane Drame, the boys’ father, said the boys felt so upset by their experience that they want to go back to Africa.

“They were made fun of by the children (who) started yelling, ‘Ebola. Ebola. Ebola. Africa. Africa,” Drame said his sons told him.

Charles Cooper of the African Advisory Council, a local advocacy group, said that during lunch, one of the boys was jumped by the students who had been calling him “Ebola.” When his older brother intervened, the brother also was assaulted.

Drame said classmates refused to play with his sons in gym.

“We’re done playing with you. You have Ebola,” he said one of the bullies told his sons. “You sit down. … They don’t want to play with them. Nobody is close to them.”

“We will not tolerate intimidation or bullying of our students,” NYC Schools Chancellor Carmen Farina said in a statement, “especially in this moment when New Yorkers need to come together.”

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