A teacher at a well known high school in Clarendon may be facing charges after a 12-year-old first form student was allegedly beaten recently with a car fan belt and severe wounds inflicted to her left hand.

The child's mother told THE STAR that her daughter was beaten to the point where her fingers could not move.

The Constabulary Communication Network (CCN) liaison officer for the parish, Constable Beverly Howell, said that the beating occurred after the teacher gave her class a group work assignment. The child was a member of a group that failed to turn in their assignment. The entire group was allegedly beaten with a fan belt and two students sustained injuries, one of which was major.

X-ray result

The Mocho police have confirmed receiving a report about the beating, but are waiting on the child's mother to take her to the police station so they can take a statement from her. When this is done, the police say, depending on their investigations the teacher may be taken into custody and charged.

"When my daughter went back to school the teacher asked her for the medical bill and the X-ray result but she told the teacher that she did not have it with her. The teacher further went on to ask her if her hands was broken before and she did not respond," the mother said. "The teacher's remarks was 'a fool unnuh tek teacha fa'. I felt disrespected so I made a report to the police."

The school's principal confirmed that the child was among a group of students beaten by a teacher for failing to produce an assignment given to the group and that two of the students sustained injuries.

"After I learnt of what had taken place I immediately call the parents in and they came the following morning," the principal revealed. "We decided that both students needed to see the doctor based on recommendations from the school nurse. We also met with the education officer..."

The principal said the child had sustained injuries to the same hand in an unrelated incident, outside of school sometime ago.

"All parties however came to an agreement and the teacher also decided to deal with the medical expenses as she was in breach of the law. Parents agreed and all parties left satisfied.The education officer recorded what transpired from the meeting in the log book," he added. "I was very surprised when I learnt that it was now a police matter."