As a parent, you send your child to school with the reasonable expectation that she would be safe. You expect that the school authorities, teachers and administrators, would do whatever is necessary within the ambit of applicable rules, regulation and laws to ensure that your child is educated in a safe environment. But, lo and behold, your child suffers a grave bodily injury, allegedly, due to the apparent neglect of the said authorities. What do you do? What are your options?

A few weeks ago, a local newspaper reported that a young female student lost sight in on of her eyes after a “one sided” with a male student. This incident is alleged to have occurred in the classroom. It is said that the young lady was struck repeatedly in the right eye, resulting in a complete loss of sight. Subsequent reports revealed that the alleged perpetrator of this heinous act was arrested and charged by the police. Up to the point of writing this, he was on bail and awaiting trial.

This incident, horrible as it is, raises a number of questions in my mind. Apart from the obvious culpability of the offending student and ultimately his parents, what of the school, the teachers, the principal and the authorities? Should they not be held liable for dereliction of duties? What was the school’s role in preventing such an incident from occurring? Can the authorities and all those responsible be sued? What if it were your child, how would you have responded?

In light of the facts as reported in the press, I would like to make a few general observations. A few of our secondary schools are staffed by some delinquent teachers and weak administrators. They often combine to engender a school climate in which declining discipline and disorder become rampant. It is in such a climate that children are allowed to engage in rowdy and violent acts such as the one in question. When grave injury is the suffered by a student, should we not hold teachers and administrators culpable?