The headmistress of a school where students reportedly forced a pencil eraser into a 7-year-old boy’s ear says an investigation found no evidence that the incident had taken place.
Chau Yam-ling made the comments during a meeting at the school that was attended by more than 50 parents this morning to reveal the findings from an internal probe into the claims.
Also in attendance were the boy’s father and mother, surnamed Yu. The latter last week reported to local media that her son had been bullied by classmates since joining the Church of Christ in China Hoh Fuk Tong Primary School in September. She said his classmates would throw pieces of chalk at him, steal his stationery, and on one occasion jabbed their fingers into his eyes.
The most distressing incident took place earlier this month when two classmates were said to have forced an eraser into his ear. Last week, he told his parents what had happened, and had to have the eraser surgically removed. He was discharged from the hospital on Sunday, and his hearing has been impaired ever since.
However, Chau, the principal, said the school found no evidence that these incidents took place, none of the students saw the boy being beaten, and that CCTV footage from the day of the incident showed the boy looking happy and smiling, hk01 reported.
When one student was asked during the investigation if they remember hitting the victim, their response was: “There probably was one time, but I can’t remember.”
The school apparently offered no other explanation or theories as to how the eraser might have become lodged in the boy’s ear.
The victim’s family told reporters that they were not satisfied with the outcome of the report, and have questioned the methods used by the school to investigate the incident.
This comes after, Yu told an RTHK radio show yesterday that she will be transferring her son to a new school. She said: “When I found out what happened I felt really distressed, but I couldn’t let that show in front of my son.”
She added that her son enjoys school, and that before he started in September, he would draw pictures of the school and post them on his wall. She said: “Now I don’t know when he will recover from the emotional trauma.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9JHddfiMIg
On Monday morning, the school held a meeting with parents to address the issue and appease concerned parents.
There have also been concerns from parents about what the school has been telling students about the incident. One parent surnamed Chan, whose daughter is friends with the victim, said her teacher tried to convince the class that the bullying story was not true.
Chan said: “The teacher told the class ‘think about it, if someone has something stuck in their ear for a long time, you think they can endure that? That it won’t hurt? That they would not immediately report it?’”
Chau said the school first heard of the eraser incident on Friday. Although police arrived at the school on noon that day to look into the incident, they have indicated they would not intervene in the case as the children involved are under the age of 10, which is the age of criminal liability in Hong Kong.
According to Chau, eight teachers took part in the investigation, 24 students from the victim’s class responded to a questionnaire, and the answers were evaluated by an educational psychologist. She added that the report will be sent to the Education Bureau.
