Special-needs child spat on, pinched, kicked at Port of Spain private school

THE stutter of an eight-year-old boy with special needs who attends a private school in Port of Spain has made him a target for bullies his age.

The child's mother said her son has been pinched, kicked, spat on, pushed and pulled between two classmates and had his school bag defaced with pink crayons.

She said he has been called a "dum dum," a dog and stupid, and his peers have tried to lure him to the boy's toilet and threatened to "set him up."

“'Set up' is their term,” his mother told the Newsday in an interview on October 11.

She said it seemed the school is more concerned about protecting its reputation than solving the problem.

In the absence of any solution from the school, she said she told the principal she was going to the police and the Ministry of Education, because her son told her he no longer feels safe at the school. She said the principal advised against this.

The mother explained her son was previously home-schooled. She said his councillors and teachers recommended that he be socialised in a school environment to aid with his challenges.

She enrolled him in the private school in September and he was doing fine until a situation the day before Republic Day, when students were preparing for a play.

She said her son does not speak clearly and she does not know exactly what happened that day, but he was sandwiched between two of his male classmates, who kept pushing him from side to side.

She said the drama teacher intervened because her son was in tears, and the bullying stopped temporarily.

But now, she said, “Every day my child is in tears. His classmates pinch him under the desk. When he told his teacher and she confronted the child who was doing it, he denied this was so.

“I was forced to keep my son from school for the past week, because he said he can't take it any more. Imagine an eight-year-old child saying this. He said he does not feel safe.

"So what am I, as a responsible parent to do? Leave him in school to be bullied?

“My son said he loves his school, he loves his teacher and he wants to go back – but only if I can make the bullying stop.”

The frustrated mother said she does not know other parents at the school, as her son only started school this term, but believes it is the responsibility of the administration to call in the children and their parents.

“Not because my child stutters and repeats things, he should be bullied or taken advantage of.

“Regardless if somebody is special-needs, you are supposed to go into any environment and be comfortable.”

She said the principal was ill and absent for the last week, but had promised to deal with the situation when she returned this week.

“She has returned to school, but there has been no meeting since.”

Calls to the principal's cellphone went unanswered.