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Parents put blame on school for son's injury

DUBAI - Twelve-year-old Nader, a Grade 7 student of the International School of Choueifat, Dubai, is scarred for life and may not be able to walk normally, after suffering an accident on April 28, caused allegedly by faulty and un-maintained toilet facilities at the school.

Nader sustained a lacerated wound of about 12cms long, muscle deep, on his left knee with some flesh and skin hanging. A metal bolt was sticking out of the toilet wall with no tap head in place, which ripped deeply into his leg as he slipped on the wet floor of the school toilet, say his parents.

Parents claimed their son is a victim of the school's failure to maintain its facilities used by the students.

They said: "The school director who was informed about the accident and the two-hour surgery Nader underwent at Welcare hospital, failed to revert back to us after having promised to carry out a complete investigation with her staff.

"It is five weeks now, and I am still waiting to receive a response from the school," said Michelle Rose Al Abdulrahim, Nader's mother.

Ms Abdulrahim said she also submitted a detailed report about the accident to the Director, Foreign Private Schools Department at the Ministry of Education and Youth on May 4, but has failed to hear from the authorities as well.

The school director, contacted by Khaleej Times over phone, refused to come on line. The school's lawyer, however, informed: "It is not the school's policy to enter into any debate with the media." He said that the school, which is 25 years old in the UAE, has a reputation and name, which is intact.

"But, if there is any allegation that goes against the school's reputation, it reserves the right to deal with it accordingly."

The parents of Nader who have five children studying at the school for the last six years, expressed disgust over the alleged lack of concern on the part of the school director and the doctor. "As a parent, I have a right to know what happened to my child and why such unsafe facilities existed in the school. We feel frustrated and angry why this accident happened. A simple tap correctly installed and costing just Dh5 would have avoided this hideous injury and so much pain and suffering and a life-long scar affecting my young son," the parents said, pointing out that after paying such steep fees, parents should be able to expect a safe environment in which to leave their children on a daily basis.

Providing details on the accident and the first aid treatment meted out to her son by the school doctor, Ms Abdulrahim, said, her son who was in great pain managed to get to the doctor's clinic in school after his fall, was forced to pull up his trousers on his own without the assistance of any nurse to show the wound to the doctor.

"Later, Nader was made to go back to the accident site, a long distance away from the clinic and in severe pain to show the supervisor the accident site. And, all this time, the school's doctor never bothered to inform the parents," she said, stating, it was her eldest daughter who was luckily in school on that day who called her to notify of Nader's injury after learning of her brother's accident through another student.

However, my husband and I rushed to school and took Nader to Welcare Hospital in Dubai where he was attended to immediately and admitted. He then underwent a two-hour surgical operation under general anaesthetic to repair his leg and suture the wound together. He was later fitted with a full leg plaster cast and remained in hospital for two weeks, she said.

The mother said that during all these days, despite having informed the school about the severity of the accident, not a single courtesy call came from the school director or any other staff.

Further, Ms Abdulrahim said her child is now made to walk long distance to use the toilet situated across the playground rather than the toilet situated in the corridor of his classroom.

She pointed out that the 'indifferent' attitude of the school management has forced her to shift all her five children from this school to another school in Dubai.

The parents demand an explanation in writing from the school, or, an apology.