Principal suspended for pushing pupil

HERE’S a lesson for teachers.

A principal of a public school in Carcar City in southern Cebu has been ordered suspended for one month for pushing a Grade 6 pupil who came in late for a school activity in 2014.

The Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas found Mary Jane Powao, principal of the Carcar Elementary School in Carcar City, guilty of simple misconduct.

The anti-graft office ordered the director of the Department of Education in Central Visayas to implement the penalty against Powao.

“Respondent ought to seriously remember that gone are the days when teachers are allowed to inflict corporal punishment to a child to instill discipline,” said graft investigation and prosecution officer Mona Chica Cabanes-Gillamac in her decision dated Nov. 2, 2015.

The order was approved by Deputy Ombudsman for the Visayas Paul Elmer Clemente on Feb. 4…..

“While the student may be guilty in not following respondent’s instructions, his undesirable conduct does not give the respondent a license to commit hostile act against him,” she added.

The issue stemmed from a complaint filed by Charles (not his real name) and his grandmother who claimed that he was hit by the teacher because he was late in the orientation for National Achievement Test (NAT) on Jan. 29, 2014.

In his complaint, Charles said he went home together with his classmate after cleaning the school ground about 4 p.m. on that day.

He said he did not know that they were required to attend an orientation for the NAT.

Charles noticed that his classmates did not go home yet so he and his other classmate went back to school.

When they arrived at the school library where the orientation was held, he said Powao  was very mad and  struck them with a wooden stick in front of their classmates.

Charles said Powao also punched him on the forehead.

After the orientation, Charles said he and his classmate were brought by Powao to her office for interrogation.

His classmate was sent home around 6 p.m. while Charles was allowed to leave an hour later.

Charles’ grandmother Rosalinda went to the school to look for him but the boy had already gone home.

When Rosalinda arrived at their residence, she saw Charles’ forehead was swelling. They then went to the police station to report the incident.

In her counter-affidavit submitted to the Ombudsman, Powao denied hitting Charles with a stick and punching him.

She said Charles’ classmate told her that the boy was late in the orientation because he was playing basketball at Barangay Awayan.

When they went back to the school, Powao said she instructed Charles and his classmate to stay at the library but the two allegedly did not listen.

While the two boys sat down on the floor, Powao said she held them on the shoulders and hurled them to the side.

Powao said she later admonished the two pupils and reminded them about NAT’s importance.

The principal said she just wanted the two pupils  to pay attention to their studies because it was  their “only passport” in getting a job.

During a barangay conciliation meeting between the parties, Powao admitted that she pushed the two students.

She was quoted as saying, “Learning na gyud ni nako nga dili magsigeg kuan sa mga bata (This served as a lesson for me not to do something like this to children).” Powao also apologized for blowing her top, saying all she wanted was for the pupils to finish their studies.

Her admission of pushing the two students was enough to hold her liable of simple misconduct, said the Ombudsman.

“Assessing the factual antecedents, it is clear that respondent was actually inflicting corporal punishment on complainant for she hurled and/or pushed complainant after the latter arrived late,” Gillamac said.

Pushing Charles, the investigator said, “debases the complainant’s personal dignity.”

“Respondent, being entrusted with complainant’s education, is legally mandated to ensure that all children under her care are protected from all forms of abuses and exploitations. Sadly, instead of acting as complainant’s protector, respondent became his perpetrator,” Gillamac said.