Sick Boy Dies After Being Punished by Teacher

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PUBLISHED ON April 5, 2008 AT 11:54 AM

After the incident, the boy’s parents made a complaint before the
Barangay (village) Council of San Isidro in General Santos City. In
the Philippines, the government encourages the settlements of
conflicts under the Barangay Justice System, even in criminal cases.
The complainants and the respondents are given opportunity to settle
their differences at the village level before pursuing them in court.
For the time being, no criminal charges have been filed against the
teacher. It has already been reported that the teacher had frequently
going to the boy’s parent asking forgiveness and offering a
settlement.

Also, even though the Division Office of the Department of Education
(DepEd) in General Santos City has already commenced their
investigation into the boy’s death, their inquiry would look into the
administrative and not the criminal offense of the case. Their
investigation had also failed to come to a conclusion. The school
where the teacher belongs, LNHS, has also endorsed the inquiry to the
DepEd–which means they have turned over jurisdiction of the case to
the Division.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

Although corporal punishment in public schools is prohibited, there
are teachers who continuously imposed punishments believing that it
could be one of effective way in disciplining their pupils and
students. This often results either in death, students losing
interest in going to school out of fear and humiliation or students
transferring to other schools–like private schools.

In the Philippines, the conditions in public can be trying and
teachers have the tendency to resort to using violence and
punishments. For example, the number of students in one room can be
as high as fifty or over. The teachers have taken to using physical
punishments, which can sometimes be violent, because the students,
who are mostly from poor families, often do not make any complaints.
Unfortunately there are also some parents who tolerate or even
consent to the use of punishment when their children are naughty.

In the past in General Santos City, public school teachers commonly
uses in open physical assaults and humiliation in dealing with their
students. Incidents of teachers throwing board erasers at their
students, hitting them with sticks and hard objects, threatening that
they would be forced to eat papers if they could not answer, knocking
their heads, amongst others, are common occurrences.

However, even when the parents do make complaints they rarely get any
favourable action from the school authorities. The teacher’s
colleagues and heads often defend their teacher’s; or would not take
action at all. It is due to the parent’s lack of confidence in
the school complaint mechanism that they resort to making complaints
to local radio stations. Once the matters are aired over the radio,
at least there is the possibility that they could get action.

Meanwhile, in January 2007, it was reported that two teachers in
Tacloban City had been ordered by the Ombudsman to be charged with
criminal offenses for violating a law which protects the children
from being abused, which is an Act Providing for Stronger Deterrence
and Special Protection Against Child Abuse, Exploitation and
Discrimination (RA 7610). The two teachers were reported to have
verbally and physically abused their students.

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3 Responses to “Sick Boy Dies After Being Punished by Teacher”

Jasmin Habelito Says:
April 5th, 2008 at 1:30 pm
Goo day to you!. As a mother of three who is struggling hard to make both ends meet but fail to do so and had to send all my kids to a public school, I was deeply affected by this story. It only goes to show how some teachers of public schools threat their students. Please do not make excuses that they are being unpaid. Be aware that all of us are bing underpaid as this is the current situation we are all in right now.

I hope, no I truly wish that something would come out of this and the young boy could not have died in vain.
Nanette Wood Says:
April 27th, 2008 at 12:19 am
That teacher should be arrested for punishing those kids from not doing there homework. It is considered a felony with a big lawsuit if this incident took place in the United States. Teachers are suppose to be the role model. They are suppose to motivate the kids instead of punish them. Those kids need to know that if they applied themselves and focused on their studies, anything is possible. They should never give up on the students when their future is at hand. They need to show those kids and make them realize that they arent scumbags and losers. To tell you the truth, those teachers who punish those kids and bring their self esteem to the ground and make them feel like their nothing, but scumbags, They are the ones that are scumbags. Someone so insensitive and cold hearted, and just because they got degrees and good jobs doesnt mean that their better than the ones who are poor. I thank God for everything that I have; I got it like that and more, but I’m not a scumbag or a snob who disrespects people and puts judgement on them. Those people will be judged and Karma will hit them in the ass. Watch out! Dont think that Karma will forget you scumbags! You may not get it now, but you will get it someday.
Nelita Trahan Says:
July 24th, 2008 at 5:17 am
I agree it is completely unacceptable when a teacher punished a child without homework. When you become a classroom teacher you committed yourself to teach the children. And that becomes part of your life. You become connected to your class. You work as a group or as a team. Just like a big family. Everyone in the classroom should be happy. And the teacher knows that not all students are having high IQ’s. Some are slow learners some are not. And maybe this is one of the reason why the student cannot produce his homework because he do not know what to do. The teacher could just said “if no homework that means zero if you got zero that means no grade until you submitted your work. And if you fail just come back next year to my class.” And that’s all. My opinion is this teacher should be responsible and should be brought to court.
I have a 10 years old nephew in the Philippines and his head was whacked by his homeroom teacher with a sharp object until he bleeds and almost passed out because of the pain. The day after it occured my sister in law, the mother told me the story. As I was reading her text my heart falls apart. It breaks my heart. It hurts my feelings. I do not understand why?. My heart was crying. I know the pain that my nephew had suffered. He was just such a young boy, very tender and went through with this unforgettable memory. The teacher asked for forgiveness but we didn’t give any. Instead we brought the teacher to court and it is going on right now. Finally, the hearing was already started.

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Sick Boy Dies After Being Punished by Teacher

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