A CLASS-two pupil of Asamakama Primary School at Offinso in the Ashanti Region has developed a swollen hand after he was allegedly caned severely by his teacher.
The young boy, Nuru Ibrahim, 9, allegedly suffered the severe injuries on his left hand when he was whipped by one Amoako Samuel, his class teacher.
Narrating his ordeal to Daily Guide, young Ibrahim said about three weeks ago, Mr. Amoako whipped him in front of the entire class for being absent from class the previous day.
He explained that his father was travelling to Kumasi on that fateful day and since nobody was in the house, he asked him to stay at home and take care of his younger brother.
According to Ibrahim, when he went to school the following day, his class teacher refused to take his explanation for staying home the previous day and started whipping him with a cane, resulting in injuries to his left hand.
The nine-year-old boy noted that he reported his hand injury to his father, who took him to the Maase Hospital for medical attention where he was hospitalized for 15 days. According to him, despite the treatment given to him at the hospital, he still felt pains in his hand which was getting gangrenous, and giving him sleepless nights.
Mr. Amoako has vehemently denied caning the pupil.
Speaking with Samson Nyamekye of Hello FM in Kumasi, he said he didn�t remember beating Ibrahim for absenting himself from class within the last three weeks.
Though he admitted beating Ibrahim before for bad behaviour in class, Mr. Amoako explained that even when he beat his pupils for going wrong, he usually did so by whipping them on the buttocks and not in the palm.
He said the parents of the child reported the matter to the school administration and he emphatically denied caning the boy in the presence of his parents.
However, the father of the injured boy, Seidu Ibrahim, said his son mentioned the name of Mr. Amoako as the one who beat him for being absent in class the previous day.
He said he immediately reported the matter to the headmaster of the school who helped immensely by taking the boy to the hospital for immediate attention. Mr. Seidu said all medications that had been applied to the boy�s hand had so far failed to heal the wound.
He said when the injury was not healing, he reported the matter to the hierarchy of the Ghana Education Service and the teacher was summoned to a meeting where he admitted to beating the child for being absent in class.
He said Mr. Amoako, during the said meeting, was ordered to refund the GH�300 hospital bills that he had spent on his son�s swollen hands, and take care of the remaining hospital bills. Mr. Seidu said what annoyed him the most was the fact that Mr. Amoako had so far failed to even visit them just once to personally observe the state of the child.
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