“She said it’s a normal thing,” the director of Pertubuhan Kebajikan Kanak-Kanak Yatim dan Miskin Wawasan Port Dickson said at a press conference at Sentral Vista in Brickfields, here today.
“I went to see her at the school over the incident. At first she refused to speak to me but after her assistant had admitted that she was told to instruct the boy to eat from the garbage bin, the headmistress said that there was nothing unusual about it,” Jagatheesan said.
According to him, the Primary 5 student who stays at his foster home, Lee Lavin, had informed him that the incident occurred during recess in school.
“The boy had thrown his food into the garbage bin out of anger for being hit by a teacher while he was eating. The headmistress then ordered her senior assistant to make the boy eat the food he had thrown away.
“If this is indeed a normal thing, would you continue sending your child to the same school?” Jagatheesan said, adding that he did not take immediate action as he wanted to speak to the headmistress over the matter first.
Later, however, he filed a police report, copies of which he proceeded to send to the Port Dickson Education Office, the Tamil Schools Supervisor, the Port Dickson Welfare Department, and the Negeri Sembilan Education Director, but lamented that “after all this (notifying the authorities), the headmistress is still there.”
St Leonards’ PIBG Chairman Basantakumar Bochia Naiko said he is very upset and at a loss for words over the incident.
“How would you feel if your children have been treated in such a way.
“It is my duty as chairman to answer to the parents and to represent them. Something has to be done over this matter,” he said.
On Monday, parents of St Leonards Tamil School students, held a meeting and had unanimously resolved that the Education Ministry should remove the headmistress.
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