KUALA LUMPUR: A man is suing a private school and its teacher for not taking the necessary action to resolve a bullying case involving his seven-year-old son.
In the suit filed yesterday, Fairul Ramzi and his son Agung Ishmael claimed that the school and teacher had been negligent when they failed to prevent an alleged assault against his son from happening.
Fairul said both parties had also failed to take the necessary action to solve the problem of his son being bullied in school.
They are seeking for general and special damages of RM6,099.70 from the school and teacher.
He said the special damages were to cover the boy’s medical treatment for the injuries sustained following an assault in June, as well as a refund on the school fees deposit.
Fairul claimed that the private school in Setapak, which his son, Agung, previously attended, had failed to take the necessary steps to ensure his son’s safety in the classroom.
“On June 1, my son was kicked on his back and bitten on his cheek by a classmate in a classroom.
“From what we saw in the CCTV footage, the teacher was only a few metres away when Agung was bullied by the classmate,” he told reporters today at a press conference in the High Court registry, here.
Fairul claimed his son suffered abrasion wounds on his left cheek and bottom after the alleged assault two months ago.
He added that it was also not the first time Agung had been bullied, with the alleged bullying having started in September last year.
“We had complained to the school about the June incident and also on the four previous incidents. We are not happy with how the school had handled the situation and our complains,” he said.
When asked if he had lodged a police report on the alleged June assault, he said he had lodged a report at the Setapak police station against the school and teacher but no action had been taken by the authorities.
Fairul, who works as a communications officer, told reporters he had removed Agung from the school a few days after the June incident and that his son is now homeschooled.
He said that in previous bullying incidents, Agung’s classmates had “poked” him using pencils, thrown books at him and also slapped him. Fairul claimed that in all these times, his son had not retaliated.
“Initially, I thought it was harmless and I told him that he could handle it with his big size. But I was wrong,” Fairul said.
Fairul also had some advice for fellow parents, saying “if your child complains that they were bullied, parents should take immediate action to resolve and not let the child’s words fall on deaf ears.”
He added that he does not wish to gain anything from the lawsuit but simply wants to prevent similar incidents from happening to other children.