Student awarded RM129,000 over burns at school bubur lambuk event

 The Teluk Intan sessions court finds a school and two teachers negligent over the 2022 incident at SK Seri Intan.

The Teluk Intan sessions court awarded RM129,040 in damages to a student with the judge ruling that the defendants were negligent for allowing a mathematics class to be conducted within the cooking area in the school. (Bernama pic)

PETALING JAYA:

The sessions court in Teluk Intan has awarded a Form Five student RM129,040 in damages after finding that a school and two teachers were negligent over an incident in which the girl was scalded by boiling bubur lambuk during a school programme in 2022.

Judge Gan Peng Kun held yesterday that the defendants were negligent for allowing a mathematics class to be conducted within the cooking area during the programme and for delaying the student’s transfer to hospital for treatment following the incident at SK Seri Intan, in Teluk Intan, Perak.

M Thanaletchumi, who sued on behalf of her daughter, named the school’s headmaster, two teachers and the government as defendants.

In the suit filed in 2024, the girl, now 17, said the incident occurred in April 2022 when she was directed to attend a bubur lambuk cooking session.

She said she fell on a slippery floor after being pushed by a student from another class, causing her left hand to fall into a pot of boiling porridge.

The girl cited the trauma caused by the permanent scar, the need to wear long-sleeved clothing to conceal the injury, as well as the embarrassment and low morale she had experienced since the incident.

Gan awarded RM100,000 in aggravated damages, RM5,000 for burns to her left hand and forearm, RM24,000 for the scar, and RM40 for the cost of obtaining a medical report.

Lawyer M Manoharan represented the plaintiff, while federal counsel Hamida Abdul Kadir appeared for the government. - FMT