Metro

Sunday May 11, 2008

Boy suffers broken collarbone after push by PE teacher


SUNGAI SIPUT: A 12-year-old pupil broke his left collarbone after his physical education (PE) teacher allegedly pushed him during class, causing him to fall.

Relating the April 23 incident, R. Kaviarasan claimed that he was arranging plastic cones for football practice in the school field when the teacher summoned him.

“For no apparent reason, the teacher then twisted my right ear and pushed me until I fell.

”Then he told me to stand in one corner for a few minutes. I was crying because my arm hurt,” said Kaviarasan, whose left arm was in a sling, at his Ladang Dovenby home here yesterday.

His grandfather G. Krishnan, a former Kuala Kangsar municipal councillor, said he felt uneasy when Kaviarasan told him that he was in pain and could not move the fingers of his left arm.

An X-ray at the Sungai Siput Hospital that afternoon confirmed that Kaviarasan was suffering from a fracture of the collarbone.

The family, which has lodged a police report, held a dialogue with the school administration on April 26 when the PE teacher allegedly offered to pay RM200 for Kaviarasan’s medical expenses.

“I refused. This is not right,” Krishnan said.

Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Senator T. Murugiah, who visited the family yesterday, said he would meet Education Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein over the matter.

“I agree that the teacher has the right to punish a pupil but not to this extent. A teacher should be humble and guide the pupil,” said Murugiah.

When contacted, the school headmistress claimed that she had been told that it was “only an accident” and that nobody had pushed the boy.

“Even the pupils during class have said it was an accident. I don’t know what happened that day because I was on leave. The Education Department is investigating,” she added.

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