An 11-year-old boy was forced by his teacher to do squats as punishment in class, and he ended up needing to undergo knee surgery as a result.
The incident happened in Tanah Merah, Kelantan, Malaysia.
The boy’s mother, Azlina, spoke to New Straits Times and said that the incident had left her son traumatised and afraid to return to school.
The boy was punished for missing school.
Missed school due to diarrhoea
The mother said that her son was absent from school because he had diarrhoea, and that she had informed his teachers about it via WhatsApp.
However, despite already informing the school of his sickness, the boy was summoned the next day for missing school, along with several other students.
They were then ordered to do 30 “ketuk ketampi” (squats) as a form of punishment for not going to school.
The mother added that her son had a prior knee injury and complained of having pain in his knee, and he told the teacher that he was not able to finish the punishment.
She said that her son suffered a knee fracture while playing football about 3 months prior after he had fallen down.
He was advised by a doctor not to do any strenuous physical activity following a scan that showed a fracture in his knee.
Teacher didn’t believe him & punched him in the chest
But on the day of the punishment, the teacher accused the boy of lying and punched him in the chest instead.
The boy’s grandfather then went to pick him up because he was in so much pain and even had to carry him to his motorcycle because he couldn’t walk.
He then complained of more pain later that night and Azlina wanted to bring her to the hospital, but the school told them to postpone the hospital visit because he had an exam coming up.
Following that, a representative from the school came over and apologised to the family and admitted that they had been too rough with the boy, before paying them a sum of money as compensation.
Teacher not punished
The boy was eventually sent to Tanah Merah Hospital where he was then referred to the Raja Perempuan Zainab II Hospital in Kota Bharu to undergo knee surgery.
The teacher who punished her son also didn’t face any serious punishment for the incident and was only transferred to another primary school/
There were also rumours going around that the school was not to blame for the incident, and Azline said that she would be lodging a police report about the incident.