The parents of a seven-year-old boy, who suffered a deep cut injury on his toe, petitioned the Collector’s office here on Thursday, blaming the school authorities for the injury “caused due to negligent attitude and failure to provide timely medical attention.”
J. Vivekananthan, the boy’s father, who is an autorickshaw driver residing in Thanakkankulam, stated in his petition that his son was studying III standard in a primary school in Tirunagar. He sustained the injury when he was asked to lift a desk by a teacher. “The teachers asked my son and few other students to move a desk from one place to another. Since it was heavy, he found it difficult to lift it and the desk fell on my son’s leg in which the index toe on his right leg got cut,” he said.
According to him, while the incident happened in the afternoon, the school teachers just tied a piece of cloth around the wound and sent the child home in the school van in the evening as usual, without taking him to a doctor or informing the parents. “Only when he reached home, I saw the bleeding injury and enquired my son, who told me the details. The toe had almost got chopped,” Mr. Vivekananthan said, adding that he took his son to a nearby Primary Health Centre, from where he was referred to Government Rajaji Hospital.
“The doctors there said that they can only say after a week whether the injury will heal or the cut portion of the toe has to be removed,” he claimed. Alleging that corporal punishment was also prevalent in the school, he said that the district administration and School Education department must taken stringent action against the school.
Cadres of Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi and a group of auto-rickshaw drivers, who accompanied the parents, said that they would stage a protest in front of the school if no action was taken.
When contacted, a senior official from the School Education Department, said that officials from the department inspected the school on Thursday and conducted inquiries. “It is true that the school had asked the children to lift the desks. However, we could not gather any evidence on corporal punishment. Action will be taken based on the enquiry, which is not over yet,” he said.
He also said that the child was taken to a private hospital on Thursday, where the doctors assured that there will be no permanent damage to the toe.
