Mum Blames Teacher For Negligence After 8-Year-Old Boy Dies From Falling Down Staircase
The boy had raised his hand repeatedly to alert his teacher that he was unwell, but was allegedly met with indifference.
By Deborah Chan — 13 Feb 2023, 04:41 PM
Last week, a mother in Fujian, China, took to social media to highlight that the death of her eight-year-old son was due to the negligence of a teacher, who allegedly ignored the boy's calls about his condition on 5 November 2020
According to a Weibo post made by the mother, her son, Guo Rui Chen, was at Fuzhou Hubin Elementary School at the time of the incident.
She wrote that her son was reportedly feeling ill and tried to notify his teacher by lifting his hand to get her attention.
In a closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage, the boy is seen lifting his hand every few minutes but was seemingly ignored by his teacher. It wasn't until the boy lifted his hand for the seventh time over the course of ten minutes, that the teacher acknowledged him.
He was then told to rest his head on the table and bear with it until the class was over.
The mother wrote that the behaviour of the teacher was unacceptable and was not in accordance with the procedures that should have been taken, especially amidst the pandemic season at the time.
After class, the boy is seen in the footage wobbling his way out of the classroom while crying.
As they approached the stairs, the child told the teacher he couldn’t walk anymore but the teacher allegedly scolded him and told him to stop crying
According to The Straits Times, the mother claims that the teacher had forcefully dragged her son down the stairs even though the school had an elevator. The child then lost his balance and fell.
He had hit the back of his head and blacked out.
The mother wrote that the boy's father had been waiting for him outside the school gate before rushing in when he heard about the fall. He was then brought to the scene by another teacher and immediately called for an ambulance.
The mother could not accept the verdict of the first trial and an ongoing second trial began last Thursday, 9 February
According to Sohu, directly after the incident, the police retrieved the CCTV footage so the school could not delete or manipulate the footage.
Details of the first trial were not made public, however, in a subsequent post, the mother wrote that she could not accept the verdict of the first case.
She wrote that her son had always been healthy and his death was not caused by any prior illnesses.
She added that her son had experienced irreversible damage to his brain during the fall. In a coma, he was hospitalised for nine months, and then nursed at home for around six months before he died.
The boy's parents said the school and its teachers must take responsibility because they failed to get him medical attention in a timely manner.
However, it was never disclosed whether or not the teacher had faced any consequences.
