SRI LANKA: Victimization of an 8-year-old boy by the Principal and staff of the Halkanda School in Payagala

Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding alleged harassment and victimization of an 8-year-old boy by the Principal and teachers of his school after he complained about the severe beating he received at the hands of an older student – who is also a son of a school teacher. Subsequently the principal and teachers continued to harass and threaten the student and his mother to voluntarily leave the school. And though his mother has complained in writing to both the police and education authorities, no action has been taken so far.

CASE DETAILS:

On 14 June 2007 in the afternoon, when 8-year-old Ravindra Sampath returned home from school his mother noticed several bluish contusion marks on his body. There was a long blue mark on one of his hands and several marks on his legs. When his mother asked him what these marks were, the victim explained that his class teacher had been absent that day and the principal had sent an older boy to supervise and conduct lessons to the students of his class. But instead of supervising the class this older student had taken a stick and mercilessly assaulted the students, including the victim.

The next day the victim’s mother reported the incident to the Principal who examined the contusion marks on the victim’s body. He admitted that he assigned school prefects to ‘look after’ lower classes when teachers were absent. He said that if the prefects were caught assaulting younger students, they would be removed from their prefect ships. He also said this particular ‘older boy’ had not come to school that day. The victim’s mother then complaint to her son’s class teacher. But the teacher only trivialized the incident saying that her son’s head too had been fractured by another student, that the marks appeared pronounced on the victim because he was fair in complexion and not to take notice of the incident. She even suggested that the victim might be lying because he was unable to keep up with the school work. Thus, despite a concerned mother’s complaints, no action was taken by the school authorities regarding the assault on the victim.

Again a few days later (June 18 and 19) the victim’s mother repeatedly met with the school principal and requested that some action be taken against the assault on the victim. But as action was still not forthcoming, the victim’s mother had little other option but to lodge a complaint with the Payagala Police and the victim’s body was also examined by a Woman Police Constable (WPC) who recorded the complaint.

Subsequently the victim’s mother discovered that the older male student who had viciously beaten the victim and also other children was not a school prefect but instead the son of the grade 3C class teacher. The mother now suspects that this was the reason the principal had attempted to downplay the incident. Meanwhile the victim continued to go to school.

Then on 10 July 2007 the victim’s mother received a message from the police to visit the Halkanda School. Accordingly, both the victim and his mother went to the Principal’s office where the victim – in front of the police and the Principal – identified the older boy who assaulted him. The Principal then sprang to the defence of the older boy and accusing the victim of lying said; “the older boy is very clever and would not hit younger students”, and turning to face the mother he lashed out at her saying: “Katukurudugahalanda (where the victim lived) was a bad village, and next year no students will be admitted to school from that village”. The Principal also shouted that maybe she should come and takeover the Principal’s post and see how difficult it was to control more than a thousand students. At this moment, the policeman intervened and reminded the Principal that injustice had been caused to the victim and it was not appropriate to address the victim’s mother in such a manner. The Principal had then threatened the mother and suggested that she write a letter expressing her intent to remove her son from school.

The next day (11) when the victim went to school the Deputy Principal asked him whether he was not embarrassed to come to school after going to the police. When he went to his class, his class teacher demanded to know whether he had brought a letter from his mother. The whole of that day, the class teacher refused to teach him and had ignored him. Again the victim’s mother reported the incident to the Payagala Police as well as the Provincial Education Office. There, an education officer confided in her that when such an incident occurs usually all teachers go against the victim and will refuse to teach him. So the best was for her to find another school for her son. He referred her to the Pothuvila School and told her to go there and ask if they will admit the victim.

On 17 July 2007 the police again visited the Halkanda School Principal and urged him to change the victim from class 3C to class 3B. But little has been changed since the 3B class teacher also harassed the young victim demanding that he bring a letter from his mother. The victim’s mother says that even the police are now pressuring her to withdraw her complaint. However, as a result of this entire saga, the victim has been thoroughly mentally traumatized. He is unable to concentrate on his studies and is refusing to go to school. And still, no legal action has been taken against the alleged perpetrator.

The victim’s mother has now written to inter alia to the Chairman, Human Rights Commission, Inspector General of Police (IGP), Attorney General, OIC Children and Women’s Unit of the Police, Director of Provincial Education, and Director of District Education offices informing them of the incident.

The AHRC urges the education authorities to ensure a suitable school environment to continue his education and also to take stern disciplinary action against the principal and teachers of the Halkanda School for harassing and traumatizing such a young boy. Furthermore, we also urge the police conduct an impartial inquiry into the incident and thereafter take appropriate legal action against the alleged perpetrator.

SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write to the relevant authorities listed below and urge them to take immediate and appropriate action against the older student as well as the Principal and teachers of Halkanda School.

To support this case, please click here: SEND APPEAL LETTER