Boy loses vision, family blames it on callous school authorities

MADURAI: A 10-year-old boy lost vision in his left eye allegedly due to the delay in contacting the family and carelessness in handling the situation by the authorities of a panchayat union school after brick powder fell into his eyes.

The mother of the boy, R Ramya (27) of Avaniyapuram, submitted a petition at the office of the City Commissioner of Police, on Tuesday, seeking action against the school headmistress, building contractors, workers, and officials in the education department.

R Kishore (10), is a Class V student at a panchayat union school in Tiruparankundram.According to Ramya, her relative got a call from the school on October 5, around 2 pm saying that Kishore was ill. Rushing to the school, the relative was shocked to see blood oozing from his left eye. The relative immediately rushed him to a private hospital in the city, where the doctors performed surgery. After the surgery, the doctors reportedly informed the boy’s family that his left eye was completely damaged and that it was possible his right eye may also be affected.

Ramya recalled that renovation work was going on the school. “When the boys were playing in the campus during lunch hour, brick powder or a small portion of a brick accidently fell into Kishore’s eyes. As a knee-jerk reaction, Kishore rubbed his eyes.

When headmistress Dhanalakshmi got to know about the accident, she tried some first aid and alerted the family. “The teachers and the headmistress should have prevented the boy from rubbing his eye and making things worse.They should have rushed him to a hospital immediately,” she said.

Ramya claimed that the delay in rushing the boy to a hospital cost him vision in one eye. The family members added that the school officials did not even inquire about the boy’s condition for the first few days although they later did so.

Ramya has reportedly lodged a complaint at the office of the Chief Educational Officer N Marimuthu. However, an official from the department denied this and said that, at the time of the incident no such renovation work was being carried out. The official also said that the family had been alerted on time.
Some officials said they were not sure whether the boy had lost his vision since he appeared normal and that even if it was so whether it was irreversible.