Ministry denies primary school child was attacked by classmate

…says children were playing tug-of-war

The Education Ministry is refuting claims that the nine-year-old student of Eccles Primary school was attacked by another pupil of the school.
According to the Ministry’s senior Public Relations Officere, Brucel Blackman, on the day in question, the children were playing a game of tug-of-war when the incident occurred.
He said that the child’s ribbon was used in the game and had somehow come into contact with the child’s neck, after which pressure was applied by the other student, which resulted in the laceration on the girl’s neck.
He further noted that the teachers of the school later informed the Education Ministry of the incident.
Blackman stated that the matter was dealt with and the parent of the injured child is satisfied with the manner in which the matter was dealt with. It was noted that the child was referred to the Georgetown Public Hospital for a further medical checkup.
Guyana Times was told that after the incident occurred, the school was revisited by a representative of the Education Ministry and the welfare department.
On Friday last, it was reported that the student was at the time preparing for an event when she was approached by a male classmate who reportedly removed her ribbon and then went on to wrap it around her neck.
After witnessing the struggle, another child intercepted the attack and managed to release the student from the grip. The nine-year-old is now left nursing a scar across her neck, but had it not been for the intervention of her peer, the attack could have resulted in more serious injuries.
The incident went viral on Monday after an enraged family member of the injured girl took to Facebook to express her grievance over the matter and more so, the way in which it was handled by the school’s administration.
The furious young woman, who is the older cousin of the student, indicated in her Facebook post that the school failed to inform her family of the incident. However, when the mother arrived at the school at around 15:00h that afternoon, she was greeted by her injured child who was complaining of severe pain due to the injuries to her neck.