Student hospitalised after allegedly pushed from 2nd floor at school

By Kizzy Coleman

A Grade 10 student of Canje Secondary School, in Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) is now a patient at the

Georgetown Public Hospital after he was allegedly pushed from the schools premises by another student last Tuesday.
The injured child is 16-year-old Joshua Lynell of Lot 26 New Street, Cumberland, Berbice. A teacher at the school told Guyana Times that the student was involved in an argument with another student which led to a scuffle. It was at this point that the now injured teen was pushed from the second floor of the building and landed on the concrete ground.
Teachers were alerted and the child was picked up and rushed to the New Amsterdam Hospital but was subsequently transferred to the Georgetown Public Hospital. As a result of the incident, the child sustained spinal injuries, a broken arm and a broken hip.
Speaking with this publication, Lynell recounted the incident. He explained that the other student who pushed him, was involved in a scuffle with another student to which he intervened.
He added that he went outside to the school’s corridor and was holding onto the railing when the student told him “you want me push you over there?”
He divulged that he objected and the student began to push at him which resulted in the railing, which is rotten, breaking, causing the teen to fall to the ground. “When I fell over, he tried to help me up because I grabbed at his hand but he couldn’t hold me and I slipped and fall to the ground”.
He further explained that when he fell, he was unable to move and students ran to his assistance. “Some other children come to help me and they turned me over on my back,” the teen explained.
Loriette Lindy, mother of the injured teen, said she was called to the school at around 12:30h on the day of the incident. When she arrived, she was met by two teachers who told her that she has to go to the hospital as her son fell off of the school’s corridor.
“When I got to the hospital, I was able to go into the room where my son was and I overheard the doctor asking him which student pushed him. It is then that I realised that the teachers were lying to me, telling me that Joshua fell over the railing”.
Upon learning this, Lindy questioned teachers who were present at the hospital and was then told the truth of the matter.
“When I told them that they lied to me, that is when they told me that Joshua was involved in a fight with another student who pushed him off of the corridor,” she explained.
The matter was reported to the Reliance Police Station by the father of the teen on Thursday after the school’s head teacher refused to do so. Guyana Times was told that the school’s administration is trying to keep the matter “under wraps”. In an attempt to protect the other student involved in the matter, they have reported that the injured teen was running on the corridor of the school, when he accidently went over the railings.
The frustrated parents, who are currently living out of their car, parked in the vicinity of the Georgetown Public Hospital, explained that they are unhappy with the current situation and the injustice that they are facing. Lindy said they have nowhere to stay in the city, and as such, they are staying in their car outside of the hospital.
They are of the view that the other teen involved in the matter should be punished for his actions.
“Currently, he is in school carrying on as usual. He was not even suspended and the teachers have secret meetings with him in there office for him to corroborate what they have been reporting. This is so unfair to us and our son.”
The Police have since launched an investigation into the matter.