Dear Editor,
A disturbing letter on the brutal flogging of two girl students (aged 13 and 15) from the Awarewanau Primary School, appeared in your edition of July 3, 2015.The contents of the letter, written by Mr Mohamed Khan, were that night backed up with the equally disturbing video on a nightly news broadcast. The video graphically showed the barbarity meted out to these young female students, confirming that they had been flogged with long cowskin whips on their buttocks, half naked in their underwear.
This matter was reportedly brought to the attention of three Ministers: those responsible for Education, National Security and Social Protection, and an investigation was promised.
Then we learnt from Mr Khan’s letter, that although the two teachers were charged with inflicting bodily harm, the case against them was dismissed by the magistrate in the Lethem court and the teachers have continued to teach at the school (compliments of the Regional Education Department #9) despite the recommendation for dismissal or transferral by the two investigating school welfare officers.
I join with the elders and villagers of Awarewanau to ask: Where is the justice?
Will the Ministry of Education make a clear statement on the retention of the offending teachers in the school system and particularly in this school, since the investigation was concluded?
And will those responsible in the Ministries of National Security and Social Protection explain to the citizens and particularly, the villagers of Awarewanau, why in the face of evidence of a medical report and visible signs of bodily harm, the teachers were not found guilty in the Lethem court?
How can our children, whether from the Deep South, the interior regions, or coastland, be protected from future violence, humiliation and trauma by those who hold power over them?
Yours faithfully,
Leila Jagdeo
