As far as school punishments go, we can vividly remember some of them, be it amusing or painful to us. But as we grow into adults, realization hits us like how the cane used to hit our backsides. It was a simple
positive punishment to
discard unwanted behaviour in school.
But some punishments can go too far, leaving people scarred with memories of abuse. And those memories may live on forever.
Student abuse cases can be heart-wrenching, especially with the on-going incident now. 11-year-old religious school pupil
Mohamad Thaqif Amin Mohd Gaddafi was
beaten on his legs with a water hose by the school’s assistant warden. His legs
turned black from the beating, causing blood clots around the area, and
underwent double amputation for both of his legs to prevent further infection.
Mohamad Thaqif who recently just passed away.
Source
In light of this incident, we compiled some cases of physically abused students that happened recently.
*Disclaimer* Some of these cases may be tough to stomach due to the graphic of the images, your discretion is advised.
1. The one who got his buttocks burned off to cover rotan marks
Victim: 7-year-old boy
Where & when: A tuition teacher’s house in Johor Bahru. (27th March 2017)
A tuition teacher punished her pupil with a rotan. He was hit so severely it
left marks on his buttocks. Afraid someone would discover the damage done, she came up with an
‘ingenious’ way of getting rid of the marks.
She heated up a wok with hot water, and placed it on the boy’s already scarred buttocks to cover the marks. HOMAIGAWD! What was her thought process like? What’s next? Freeze the burnt area, get frostbite, then the buttock fall off? No butt, no problem is it?
It’s much worse than pouring salt onto wounds, coz the teacher’s actions caused second-degree burns on his buttocks. Well, she’s right about one thing, the caning marks ARE gone burned off.
Moments after this took place, the boy
escaped the teacher’s home and ran to a neighbouring house, where the police were called. It’s reported that he had been abused for 2 weeks since going there for tuition. The
teacher has been remanded for
investigation under the Child Act 2001.
2. The one who kena a projectile chair by mistake
Victim: 8-year-old boy
Where & when: Primary school in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. (21st April 2017)
One day, a boy
caused a ruckus in class, giving the teacher trouble. The teacher
requested the boy to settle down and keep quiet, but his efforts were ignored and the boy ran away from the teacher. In an attempt to stop the child, the teacher
lost his temper and
threw a chair at the boy.
Only problem is, he missed, hitting another kid in the chase.
That gaping scar right there needed 8 stitches. This may seem like an accident, but we also think the teacher shouldn’t seek the help of flying furniture to discipline his students. The flying chair causes an area of effect damage you know, just saying it’s a big object which could hit more than 1 target.
The boy’s parents were contacted, and a police report was lodged after talking with the teacher. The boy’s
parents hope strict disciplinary action will be taken against the teacher. The teacher was instructed to
stop teaching and
given a desk job in school at the moment.
3. The one who got kicked, punched, and stomped on for RM2
Victim: Khairul Najwan Jamsari, 12-years-old
Where & when: Primary school in Kepala Batas, Penang. (5th March 2016)
Being late to class isn’t a foreign situation for Malaysians. We
often say we’re on the way, when really we’re not. This boy was
late for class one day, and rode
a modified bicycle to school that
broke regulations. The bicycle was only modified because the
old handle broke off.
The teacher was unhappy about the matter, and
took the punishment into his own hands. He apparently
choked and punched the boy into the ground, and then proceeded to
stomp on the boy’s legs.
The modified bicycle & Khairul showing the choke marks on his neck.
The story didn’t end there. After the teacher punished the student in a one-way underground fight. He instilled
Fight Club‘s, no.1 rule:
The first rule of Fight Club is: You do not talk about Fight Club.
And to make sure his student obeyed, he gave the boy RM2 to silence him, which of course led to the boy to telling his mother immediately.
Khairul suffered
bruises on his neck alongside a
swelled up face and right leg. His father called the school for clarification and confronted the teacher. But the
teacher stood by his actions and stated that it was
right to physically punish the boy like that.
Eh hello, if you think it’s right to punish him why give him money in the first place? All this because of a bicycle and a few minutes late to school. *sigh* Back then, we were only punished by running around the field. Reports had been made, but the boy refuses to go back to school coz he was afraid.
4. The ones that were forced to swim with the… snakes
Victim: Approximately 6 female primary school students
Where & when: Kuala Kangsar, Perak. Video uploaded 16th October 2016.
The 2:50 minute clip showed these children
screaming at the top of their lungs and
crying. While the
instructors were all standing around giggling, at the same time
constantly shouting at the children: “dive, dive” and “be strong and brave” at the girls. The snake even tried to crawl out of the pit, but was thrown back in just inches away from one of the girls.
This really
isn’t even a punishment, nor did cause serious physical harm to the girls, but they could be psychologically traumatized by it. This activity
may be reinforcing Ophidiophobia (fear of snakes) onto the children, the most commonly reported phobia in the world! But thankfully, the snake is a
blood python, hence it’s
non-venomous.
5. The ones who got fractured bones from a plastic chair
Victim: Three 13-year-old religious school students. (Siti Farhana Mohd Ayub, Irdina Safiyya Amran and Farrah Izzati Mohamad Rohaizat)
Where & when: Government religious boarding school in Baling, Alor Setar. (4th April 2016)
Three girls where about to take their seats for al-Quran and Fardhu Ain classes, when suddenly their
teacher got angry at them and
abruptly hit their back with a plastic chair several times! In an attempt to defend herself from the blows, Farrah lifted her arm, resulting in
broken bones on her hand.
Farrah Izzati (middle) showing her fractured fingers.
Source
The children
were only sent to the hospital the very next day because her hand swelled up, she claimed she had to
sleep with the pain for a night.
The two other girls (Siti Farhana) reported pain near her waist and
(Irdina Safiyya) sustained a cut on her head.
Both parents and teacher agreed to
let the school settle the matter. The teacher had
apologized to the students and the parents, and was
terminated from the school immediately. A police report was launched, he was detained but
released on bail.
6. The one who got strangled, fell into a coma, and passed away
Victim: Saiful Syazani Saiful Sopfidee, was 7-years-old.
Where & when: Sekolah Rendah Agama Al-Furqan hostel in Arau, Perlis. (31st March 2011)
This one happened awhile back. The young boy was
accused of stealing money from a classmate. Then the religious school teacher
Hanif Mohamad Ali caught him and brought him into the warden’s office to be disciplined. In the office, Hanif proceeded to
beat and choke the boy. Prosecutors even suspected that he was tied up while being beaten!
The boy later
fell into a coma for 2 days after the assault, and
passed away soon after. The cause of death was cerebral
hypoxia (deprivation of oxygen) caused by
strangling, which
cut off his brain’s oxygen supply.
The teacher was
initially charged with manslaughter, which got him
sentenced to 18 years in jail, and was gonna appeal for sentence reduction. But in a recent
turn of events, he will be
charged with murder, a difference between jail and death sentence.
Right now, he
will be sent to the gallows. The prosecution succeeded reinstating the initial murder charge because the
accused could not provide credible evidence (failing to cast reasonable doubt) on why he injured the child.
These ‘punishments’ aren’t acceptable, and not every child gets the justice they deserve
It’s really no excuse for the teachers to treat students like this. Punishments are sometimes necessary in school, but not ones that’ll get them injured. Broken bones, cuts, and bruises, are too far.
We’d rather pick the cautiously applied force of a rotan over a fist.
Source
Stats from UNICEF show that in 2011, a total of
3,428 cases of child abuse were reported by the the Royal Malaysian Police. And these are
just stats that ARE reported! We can’t even fathom
how many more children’s abuse go unreported due to some
parent’s lack of interest for justice.
Some of these perpetrators can walk free from the law, because some schools handle the cases themselves. At most they get fired or suspended, it gives them the ability to abuse another day.
Children are still young and may not totally grasped why these things happen to them. And
when they don’t understand it, a
cycle of abuse may form (they get punished as a child, they grow up punishing their future kids). Perhaps parents could also
inform their children what an abuse is. This way, children can quickly identify them and report to another adult, if unfortunate scenarios like these ever happen.
