Dad blames school as girl fights for life
Written By : KAILASH RAO . A Form Three student was last night in critical condition in hospital after she drank weedkiller – and her father blames mistreatment at school.
Shereen Shazia Khan, a form three student of Valebasoga Secondary school told doctors she drank the paraquat at 5.30am on May 27.
Her father, Mahmood Khan, said her daughter was cruelly mistreated at school and as a result was fighting for her life in Labasa hospital.
Mr Khan said Shereen told him that principal and vice principal called her into the office and obtained statements from her without consulting her parents.
“After school she came home and acted differently,” said Mr Khan.
“She did not have her dinner. The next morning my younger daughter found her in her grandfather’s room, vomiting. The paraquat bottle was beside her and she said she had drunk it because she was embarrassed by her teachers and principal in front of her schoolmates saying she had a boyfriend.”
“We quickly took her to the Labasa hospital.”
Mr Khan said after the treatment his daughter said she went to spend her two weeks holiday with her grandmother and was returning home when she met a schoolmate.
“They were chatting in the town when one of the school teachers saw them and reported the matter to the principal,” he said.
“On Monday when she went to school she was mistreated by the principals and teachers passing messages that she had a boyfriend and they were chatting in the town.
“She said she could not take what the teachers and students were gossiping about her and she drank the chemical.”
Mr Khan said if the teachers were concerned about students they should first talk to the parents . “I have written to the Ministry for Education and I hope there will be justice done,” he said.
The Labasa hospital general manager Sameula Korovu said the chemical could be lethal and Shereen was under constant observation.
Valebasoga school manager Mukhtar Ali said this incident had shocked him and the board members had called an emergency meeting today to solve the problem.
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