Caned for not filling up a form

Two Form One boys from longhouses in Sibu are in a state of shock after a hostel warden punished them over a trivial matter.

SIBU: An angry father of a Form One boy has filed a police report against the chief warden of a hostel for caning his son, who allegedly forgot to fill an application form requesting to become a boarder.

Gumbang Tegap, the father of Nicholas Novy, claimed there were bruises on his son’s buttocks from the caning and that the boy was now too traumatised to return to school.

Gumbang, who approached activist Johnny Kieh for assistance, said he only learnt of the incident when Nicholas and his friend Sylvester Ansam Stephen, who was also caned, were ordered to return to their longhouses in Nanga Mangut and Kanowit and given a form each to complete.

The form was a “request to stay in the school hostel” (borang untuk tinggal di asrama sekolah).

Said Kieh: “I was shocked when the father told me that his son and another were caned in front of other students for failing to fill up the form.

“This should not be the case as teachers, being professionals, should have emotional intelligence. They should not be emotional or react in such a manner as their actions could affect students psychologically.”

Kieh said the boys told Gumbang that their hostel warden had caned them once on the buttock with a rattan.

Upset with the incident, Gumbang lodged a report at the Sibu central police station here on Monday.

Both Nicholas and Sylvester were later sent to Sibu General Hospital for medical examination.

Letter to Najib

According to the police report, Gumbang had claimed that the boys had already submitted the hostel application form to their homeroom teacher.

Gumbang had also claimed that Nicholas and Sylvester had suffered bruises on their backs due to the caning.

According to the report, the incident took place at aboout 9pm last Sunday during a night class at a school in Durin.

Kieh said that Gumbang has also called for an investigation into the incident and action against the cane-wielding warden.

The angry father has also sent a letter about the incident to Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak and the Education Ministry.

The letter was also copied to the Sarawak Education Department director and the district education officer.

Attached to Gumbang’s letters were copies of the Nicholas and Sylvester’s medical and police reports.

Speaking to Borneo Post, Kieh said: “We hope the government will expedite its investigation into the matter and take appropriate action if the teacher was in the wrong.

“We do not want this incident to send a wrong message to the public that teachers, entrusted with the responsibility of moulding the cream of the nation, are prone to acting rashly instead of rationally.” - FMT