A mother has filed a complaint regarding a serious incident of violence against a first-grade primary school pupil, describing what she claims took place inside a classroom on Thursday, January 15th.
According to the complaint, the mother was informed by telephone by the school management that her son had been injured and that she needed to go immediately to collect him. As she explains, she repeatedly asked for clarifications about his condition, but did not realise the extent of the injury until she arrived at the school. “I realised that my child was seriously injured,” she says, noting that she immediately informed her husband and that they both went to the school in separate cars.
She clarifies that this was not a simple slap, as may initially have been implied. Fully adopting her child’s account, she alleges that the teacher grabbed him by the arm, pushed him and tripped him, causing the child to first hit a classmate’s desk and then fall to the floor. As a result of the fall, he was injured under the eye, where, according to her, skin was torn, he developed a severe bruise, his lips were cut on the inside and his mouth filled with blood. “This was not a slap under any circumstances,” she stresses.
The mother also alleges that after the injury, the child was violently pulled up again by the arm, held against the board and was not allowed to go down to the headteacher’s office for help, nor to go to the toilet to rinse the blood from his mouth. As she describes it, the child managed to break free by saying he would sit quietly in his seat, took advantage of the moment, exited through another classroom door and ran to seek help.
According to her, the reaction of his classmates played a crucial role. One child reportedly left the classroom and approached the teaching staff, asking a responsible teacher for help. That teacher headed towards the classroom and, on the way, encountered the injured child, who had already left. She took him to the toilet to clean the blood and then escorted him to the staff room.
As the mother says, the child is in Year 1 of primary school, a fact which, she underlines, makes the incident even more shocking. A complaint was filed with the police on the very same day, a signed statement was taken from the child, and the case is under investigation. At the same time, the competent educational authorities and the Ministry have been informed, as well as the relevant inspector, with the mother noting that “everyone is aware”.
Despite this, she alleges that the specific teacher remains at the school. She reports that her child is staying at home, even though he wants to return to school, because he expresses intense fear that he might encounter the teacher in shared areas. “He asks me if he will see her on the stairs,” she says characteristically, describing the psychological burden on the child. She also notes that she has a second child at the same school.
The mother states that she does not know whether the teacher has been involved in similar incidents in the past; however, she relays that several parents of other children in the class contacted her to express their support. As they told her, their children returned home that day distressed, while some did not even want to go to school the following day. In fact, several parents initially found it hard to believe what they heard from their children and sought confirmation by speaking to other parents.
In conclusion, the mother insists on the removal of the specific teacher from the school premises, stressing that only in this way will her child, and the other children who witnessed the incident, be able to gradually return to normality. “When we tell children that they must trust us, speak up and ask for help, we cannot then question what they say. If we do not listen to them, who will?” she asks.
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