The beating of a student at the Tucville Secondary School is under investigation after the parent lodged a complaint against the Deputy-Head Teacher, whom she said aggravated a chronic injury.
Kim Armstrong wants justice for her daughter, who she said was beaten on her leg by the Deputy-Head Teacher.
She told Stabroek News that she received a call from her daughter, Tecoma Armstrong, a third form student of the school, on Wednesday. The child told her mother that she had been beaten on her leg by a teacher and she was in pain. “Imagine this child is not well and they know that too. I am crying out for justice for my daughter. These sorts of things need to stop in our schools. My daughter’s leg is broken badly and she is constantly in a lot of pain and this is what they do to her,” a tearful Armstrong said.
When Stabroek News visited the school, the headmistress said that she had nothing to say on the matter. However, when contacted by this newspaper, the Ministry of Education’s Welfare Department said that the matter is currently under investigation.
The child told this newspaper that she was heading to the washroom when the Deputy-Head saw her and dealt her a lash on her leg with a piece of wood. The child said the teachers were furious that she had called her mother rather than report it. She also said that the teachers had gathered around and were laughing at her.
Armstrong explained that her daughter had been in a car accident five years ago and sustained a broken leg. About a year ago, she began to have trouble with her leg and she has been in and out of hospital for eight months. She returned to school in October, when she transferred to Tucville Secondary.
According to Armstrong, her daughter called her soon after she was hit “and I left work about 15 minutes after and went to the school because she was crying out for pain.
I stopped at the guard hut because I had a rolling pin in my bag that I was using for a project and I know that if I didn’t take it out I would have probably used it. I told the female guard, ‘keep this for me before I do something wrong,’” the mother said.
Armstrong said she went to the headmistress’s office and asked to take her daughter to the doctor and this was refused.
She then left the school and went to the Ministry of Education, where she spoke with a welfare officer. She said the officer immediately called the school and told the headmistress to release her daughter and she went back and collected her.
Armstrong said she collected her daughter and subsequently made a report at the East La Penitence Police Station.
She added that she also took her daughter to the hospital and the doctor said that the leg was ruptured. She said that her daughter is currently at home until she gets better.
“Only the other day my daughter was hospitalized at Balwant Singh. She was in something like a seizure. She couldn’t talk. I almost lose my child. Now my child is attending school and this is what they doing to her. This child is sick. This child has a brain problem,” she added.
“This child didn’t do anything. She just went to use the washroom. Why they lash out on her? For what reason?” She questioned.
