CORPORAL PUNISHMENT was a practice used in schools as a deterrent for others to avoid bad behaviour and maintain discipline however such practices nowadays are frowned upon by many as it is seen as pointless and only instills unnecessary fear and trauma within children.
A primary school student had allegedly suffered from a knee fracture after receiving a ‘ketuk ketampi’ (squatting) punishment by the disciplinary board of his school, NST reported
The student was traumatised after the incident and scared of returning to school despite the school authorities’ apology.
The student, who is currently in standard five, had initially sustained a fracture at his left knee after falling down at football practice, according to his mother, Azlina, 36.
She added that the doctor had advised her son to not do many strenuous activities, after getting his knee checked at a private clinic, with the scan results clearly displaying the fracture.
“He also missed many classes due to his injury. I had also updated his teachers on his condition,“ she said.
Azlina clarified that this incident took place on Jan 8, where her son missed school due to diarrhoea and she said that she had notified the teachers of his condition in a WhatsApp group but her son was still summoned by the disciplinary board due to his absence.
“However, my son and several other students were summoned the next day for missing school. They were ordered to ‘ketuk ketampi’ for 30 times as a form of punishment,“ she added.
During the punishment, her son had complained of experiencing pain in his knee and could not manage to complete the 30 squats due to his fractured knee in recovery however the discipline teacher accused him of lying and ignored his protests of pain then punched him in the chest.
Later on, the school contacted the student’s family at 10.30 am requesting them to pick him up due to his knee still in pain and his grandfather came to fetch him and was shocked to see him in such a weak state to the point that he had to carry the boy to his motorcycle.
“Later that night, he complained of more pain and I wanted to bring him to the hospital. However, the school authorities asked me to postpone the visit as he had an exam coming up.
“Soon after, a representative from the school came to apologise and admit that they had been too rough with him. They also handed over a sum of money as a contribution,“ Azlina said.
She then took her son to Tanah Merah Hospital on Jan 22 where the doctors referred him to the Raja Perempuan Zainab II Hospital in Kota Bharu, where he had his surgery on his fractured left knee.
The student’s family did not want to amplify the issue, making it bigger than it is but Azlina had admitted to feeling disappointed after hearing rumours where the school did not have to be held accountable for the incident.
The mother also mentioned that she would be lodging a police report on the incident just to prepare for other possible circumstances surrounding the disciplinary incident.
“It’s just a way of safeguarding our interests and not to land anyone in trouble. We were made to understand that the teacher in question has been transferred to another primary school in the district,“ she said.
