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Cover image credit: The Rakyat Post
By Mihar Dias
(C) Copyright May 2022
This is an exercise in futility that could have resulted in a fatality because a teacher was not thinking when dispensing out punishment to school children. A lesson for all teachers to ponder and for parents to consider in monitoring their children’s daily chores.
China Press reported, that a teacher in Kulai punished her class for not completing their homework by making them run around a volleyball court 30 times with face masks on.
As a result, a student ended up in an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) after she experienced severe heart palpitations.
After running 15 rounds, the student could hardly breathe as she was wearing her face mask and was allowed to complete the remaining rounds by walking.
In a Facebook post, that has since been deleted, the student’s mother wrote that when her daughter arrived home, she complained of breathing difficulties and chest pains.
The parents had to rush her to the hospital because her heart rate had shot up to 200bpm and she had to undergo cardioversion for a few seconds to regulate her heart rate.
Luckily her condition improved after spending one night in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
I have some questions. First, why punish the class for not finishing their homework by asking them to run around a volleyball court 30 times?
Second, why the face mask when exercising?
If the family had to pay for her medical treatment to whom should they submit their claims?
Or whom should they sue for compensation had she suffered more severe repercussions?
Had the girl died as a result who would be ultimately responsible for this malpractice?
Making the students run around a volleyball court or anywhere for that matter does not solve the problem of homework not being done.
Students would be better off completing their homework than spending time running around a volleyball court. Having to complete their homework under the watchful eyes of the teacher is punishment enough.
Exercising with face masks on has been known to cause breathing difficulties. The mask blocks oxygen from going to the lungs. Even walking with masks on is not encouraged.
That’s a basic principle in physical exercise that the physical education teacher who meted out this punishment should have known. You have to be able to breathe freely when exercising.
The school denied forcing students to wear masks but according to the angry mom students had to put on their face masks because the PE teacher told the class previously that they had to wear masks during exercise unless they were unwell.
The student’s mother in question also said that it was unfair to punish her daughter when she wasn’t the one who didn’t finish her homework. That’s an important issue. When punishing be fair.
Following the incident, the school’s principal told the daily that the Physical Education teacher had realised the error and had apologised to the parents after a meeting with the school’s management.
This is hardly a #heartwarming story by any means but the fact that the student in question did not suffer much beyond having to spend one night in ICU was a blessing.
But for the parents, their daughter’s admission into ICU must have caused untold misery, anguish and a sleeplessness night worrying until she was out of danger.
But for the teacher, it has been one memorable teaching experience about an exercise in authority gone awry. It could have been fatal.
For the school management take note legal suits might hit you one day for malpractice etc. Don’t be caught without proper insurance coverage.
Mihar Dias is a content writer under Headliner by Newswav, a programme where content creators get to tell their unique stories through articles and at the same time monetize their content within the Newswav app.
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