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Mum's distress call about child's? mistreatment gains attention

Dubai - According to the mother, her 9-year-old child was terminated from the school "following repeated beatings and abuse"

The Dubai Police's human rights department has taken up the case of a woman who broadcast and circulated a 'voice complaint' against a Dubai public school through the social media. In her voice message, she had sought the intervention of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai; Ministry of Education; and the Dubai Police's child protection cell.
According to the mother, her 9-year-old child was terminated from the school "following repeated beatings and abuse at the hands of the school principal and other staff". She also alleged that he was made to do things like sweeping the classroom floors in front of his classmates.
The mother also claimed she was verbally assaulted when she went to the school and objected to their behaviour towards the child. She was threatened and "asked to leave the premises", and "to lower her voice while speaking to the school officials". She then stated that she approached the Ministry of Education but was refused any access to the officials concerned, and was asked to submit a formal complaint via the ministry's website.
She also alleged that one of the police stations in Dubai refused to register her complaint on April 26 about her child being beaten, taunted and threatened when she went to file it, saying that the matter should be mutually solved between her and the school director and other officials.
The woman said she was surprised by the decision to expel her child from school in spite of the humiliations he faced there. Brigadier Dr Mohammed Al Murr, director of the human rights department, however, said that the mother had never contacted the department and that she was called in recently for a "deeper investigation" into in the issue.
Brig Al Murr said the matter will be verified, and the school and the Ministry of Education will be asked to issue clarification on the matter.
In her recording, the mother addressed the undersecretary of the ministry, saying that she will not abandon her child's case and would not accept his termination from the school. She noted that her other children are studying in the same school and do not exhibit any behavioural problems. She accused the school and the ministry of adamant stand towards her child's issue.
The problem started two and a half months ago, she said. "Is it reasonable that something like this happens in 2017? Is it reasonable for the undersecretary of the ministry to say a 9-year-old child has bad morals?" she said in the recording.
amira@khaleejtimes.com