By Jaymee T. GamilPhilippine Daily Inquirer
MANILA, Philippines—A
Tondo elementary school teacher is now in hot water after outraged parents
accused her of physically abusing their children.
On Wednesday, no less
than Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim called for an investigation on Almario Elementary
school teacher Leslie Aydalla, after the students of the Grade 2 section she
was handling complained she had been maltreating them inside the classroom.
The complaints of the 23
students ranged from Aydalla pulling the hair of the children; slapping them
using her shoes and blackboard eraser; hitting their mouths with a ruler;
striking their palms with a broomstick; and even throwing empty water bottles
at them.
Manila Social Welfare
and Development chief Jay de la Fuente, who referred the complaints to Lim,
said the students alleged that sometimes, Aydalla would even refuse to allow
them to go to the bathroom. At one point, a student ended up wetting himself in
the classroom due to the restriction.
The students also
reported that Aydalla threatened to fail them should they tell their parents of
the abuses.
For the meantime,
Aydalla has been reassigned to other sections, to give way to the investigation
and to make the students feel comfortable about staying in school, Manila
city school superintendent Ponciano Menguito told the Inquirer.
He said they have
forwarded the complaint to the National Capital Region office of the Department
of Education, and have been waiting for them to order a preliminary
investigation on Aydalla.
Teachers are said to be the second parents of the students and the school serves as their second home. But, it’s really sad that there are some teachers who tend to neglect their responsibilities to the students. Maltreatment of teachers to the students has been a common issue not only here but also in other countries and it is already alarming since it greatly affects the perception of the students toward education.
TumugonBurahin