| KAMPALA
A Senior Five student at Katikamu Seventh Day Adventist School is
admitted at Rubaga Hospital after a teacher caned her into paralysis over
a class assignment.
When Sunday Monitor visited the hospital on Friday evening, Ms Beatrice
Achieng was undergoing an orthopaedic surgery. Her doctor declined to
comment because he did not have her consent.
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| NEWS1: SUFFERING: Ms Achieng in her sick
bed at Rubaga Hospital. Photo by Walter
Wafula |
Achiengs brother Charles Okure, however, was worried for his sister.
She has not spoken to me since Tuesday [when she was first admitted at
Orthotec Clinic at Hotel Equatoria], Mr Okure said. And I have not yet
received any medical report regarding her condition.
The students troubles started when the geography teacher, Mr Frederick
Mbazira, gave a class assignment that a section of the students failed to
complete. This infuriated the teacher. He decided to administer several
strokes of the cane against the offending students.
The punishment, however, turned into a nightmare when Mbazira later
discovered that he had seriously injured Achieng in the legs. And now what
was meant to be a simple punishment threatens to condemn Achieng to life
in a wheelchair, something that has the school administration in a panic.
According to the schools deputy headmaster, Mr Joseph Nyangoma, when
Achieng reported her injuries, she was referred to the school nurse for
treatment. For five days, Nyangoma said, the nurse massaged the students
leg. But Achiengs condition only got worse. She could hardly move on her
own. That is when the school authorities sent her to Orthotec Clinic at
Hotel Equatoria. At the clinic, Achiengs condition did not improve and
was later referred to Rubaga Hospital.
In 1997, the Ministry of Education and Sports banned corporal
punishment in schools after students reported a series of injuries,
causing uproar among parents and education experts. While the practice
remains banned, some teachers still believe that sparing rods spoils
students.
This form of punishment is old and barbaric, said an indignant Okure.
Teachers should stick to using alternative forms of punishment.
Asked why a student was whipped to Achiengs state, a seemingly
perplexed Nyangoma said: I do not know.
Whereas the school authorities say they are dealing with Mbazira, they
could not reveal what punishment he would receive.
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