Parents: Teachers targeting Indian pupils

By WANI MUTHIAH

KLANG: More cases of teachers picking on Indian students here have emerged.

Several parents of children attending a primary school here have lodged police reports since November last year alleging that five teachers in the school had physically and verbally abused Indian students.

R. Sathasnam, 52, said he and another parent had complained to the school’s administration repeatedly but the abuses continued.

He alleged that these five teachers regularly hit the students and told them to transfer out of the school, as they (the teachers) were “fed-up of seeing their faces”.

“One of the teachers called some Indian students derogatory names ,” alleged Sathasnam.

He alleged that many Indian students were slapped, kicked, punched and caned by these teachers for misdemeanours such as talking while lining-up to enter the classroom.

“My 10-year-old son was lifted-up by the ears by a male teacher and slapped and kicked for talking before entering the classroom after recess in February,” alleged Sathasnam.

He claimed his son’s ears turned blue-black and his cheeks swelled after the beating. When he rushed his son to the Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital, the doctor there advised him to file a police report.

Another parent R. Viganaspary, 40, said her son was repeatedly hit on the head with a rolled-up newspaper and caned on the legs for not having a particular exercise book.

Meanwhile, Coalition of Malaysian Indian NGOs secretary Gunaraj George, who met Sathasnam and Viganaspary recently, said the coalition would present a memorandum on the matter to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi soon.

“These are young impressionable children and the alleged incidents will only teach them to hate,” said Gunaraj.

When contacted, Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Senator T. Murugiah said he would speak to the principal next week when school reopens.

Deputy Education Minister Dr Wee Ka Siong said he would comment only after he had seen copies of the police reports.

The alleged incident in the primary school comes on the heels of the transfer of a teacher from a secondary school in Banting. The teacher is facing an inquiry after she admitted to levelling racial slurs against Indian students.

The Star Online: 22 Ogos 2008