A 13-year-old pupil of Sheikh Abdulkadir Secondary School, Ilorin, Kwara State, Suliat Ganiyu, has suffered fibular dislocation after her teacher allegedly asked her to serve punishment for coming late to school.
It was learnt that Suliat went to school sometime in February 2018 when the teacher allegedly asked her to do a ‘frog jump’ for coming late to school.
The victim was on the punishment when her tibia allegedly shifted from the fibula.
The condition was reportedly worsened after the injury was infected.
Our correspondent gathered that the victim lived with her aunt, who had been taking care of her since she was a child.
Suliat’s cousin, Saheed Ganiyu, who spoke to our correspondent, said the injury was discovered after she returned home from school.
He said, “When she got home, she complained that she felt serious pains in the leg. When we asked her what happened, she said the teacher asked them to do ‘frog jump’ for coming late to school.
“She went to school the following day, but when she got back, she could not walk. We gave her a pain reliever drug. But when we saw that it did not get better, we took her to a private hospital.”
According to Saheed, the doctor asked the family to carry out an X-ray, adding that he took the result of the test to the school to inform the principal and the teacher about what happened.
He noted that the school principal only begged him.
Saheed said, “The leg refused to heal; it got worse. We were asked to do another X-ray, and the result of the new X-ray showed that the bone had cracked.
“I reported at the Kwara State Ministry of Education and the principal was invited. The ministry ordered him to pay out of the hospital bill.”
Saheed, who noted that they could not pay the N100,000 medical bill, added that the principal did not help as instructed by the education commissioner.
He explained that when the principal eventually brought N20,000 toward the end of the Ramadan, the family was asked to conduct another X-ray on the leg.
The cousin said after the test, the doctor billed them N250,000.
Ganiyu called on well-meaning Nigerians to help the family, adding that Suliat’s leg had been damaged by the incident.
The principal of the school, M.O. Kareem, who confirmed the incident to our correspondent, said she promised the family that she was going to pay the bill.
“I have given the family N20,000 and I told them that would be a part payment; I will still give them more and they signed that they collected the money from me,” Kareem said.
PUNCH
