By CYRUS M. GARDE
BACOLOD City — Two teachers in Negros Occidental were facing complaints for alleged child abuse. Their cases have been forwarded to their respective division superiors.
Parents of an 11-year-old Grade 6 pupil in Araneta Elementary School in Bago City complained against Principal Ronilo Orense.
The parents accused Orense of banging the head of their child on the wall for failing to attend the flag ceremony. The child sustained a hematoma in the head but kept it from his parents for a week.
In Pulupandan town, Jennifer Quiachon, Grade 1 teacher at Pulupandan Elementary School, was accused of hitting a pupil with a notebook and grabbing his hair.
Principal Orense and the pupil’s parents already met for a “prehearing” at the office of Lorlanie Orcillo, Bago City schools division superintendent.
If the case cannot be settled at her office’s level, Orcillo said, she will elevate the case to the Department of Education (DepEd) regional office.
On the other hand, the 6-year-old boy that teacher Quiachon allegedly hit on July 22 wept and ran to his mother, who was at the school’s waiting shed.
The incident was recorded in the blotter of the Pulupandan police station the following day.
The boy’s parents also submitted a complaint to Negros Occidental Schools Division Superintendent Juliet Jeruta.
A prehearing on the complaint has been set Aug. 18.
Bago City’s Orcillo reminded the DepEd teaching personnel and the parents that a Child Protection Committee is looking into reports of abuses committed against pupils and students.
Panay News was still trying to reach the concerned DepEd personnel for comment as of press time./PN
