Teen suffers memory loss

A secondary school student is now suffering from partial memory loss after he was knocked unconscious during a fight with another child in a classroom last Tuesday.
The relatives of the 14-year-old Form Two San Fernando West Secondary School student have reported the incident to the police, and are now demanding a full investigation by the Ministry of Education.
A video of the fight, which has been circulating on Facebook, shows the two boys fighting in the classroom when the victim hits his head on the wall and falls to the ground unconscious.
Speaking at their Williamsville home yesterday, the boy’s grandmother, Bina Pancham, said she was not pleased with the way the school handled the situation. Pancham said they do not know what led to the fight, because her grandson, who plays cricket for the South Zone Under-15 team, cannot remember anything.
“Right now my grandson like a vegetable. He cannot remember anything or anybody,” adding the child cannot even remember relatives and people he has known all his life. “He don’t even know who his grandfather is. He don’t even know his mother, he did not even know he had a brother.”
She said her grandson spent the night at the San Fernando General Hospital after the incident and was discharged the following day. But they had to take him back the next day because he was experiencing severe head and back pain.
“He could not walk, they had to be toting him as a baby whole of last week.”
She said the doctors at the hospital said he suffered head trauma, but no CT scan was done because the machine was not working. However, she said the parents of the other boy paid for a CT scan for her grandson at a nursing home and the results were normal.
However, she said the child’s uncle paid for another CT scan and an MRI at another nursing home. The MRI showed nothing was wrong with the child’s spine, but the CT scan showed his brain was swollen and this may be the cause of his memory loss.
Recalling the incident, she said the principal called and told her the child had fainted. Pancham said she told them to call the ambulance. When they were about ten minutes away from the school, she said the principal told her the ambulance came and a teacher was going to the hospital with him.
“He was admitted to the ward on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning when his mom went to tidy him up he had one set of bruises on his skin. This child did not remember he was in a fight. This child did not remember anything.”
She said they made a report to the police station and to the ministry and went to the school, but she claimed the school was playing down the incident.
“Suppose this child got a lash and fall down and the children panic and leave him and he died?”
She said she was in communication with the other boy’s parents, but they have now referred them to their lawyers.
“The police not doing anything, the ministry not doing anything, because the ministry supposed to get back to us, up to now we have heard nothing.”
Pancham said her grandson never complained before about being bullied in school.
“I want some justice for this child,” she said.
Pancham said she was now considering applying for a transfer because her grandson is afraid to return to school. She called on the ministry to implement measures to eradicate bullying in schools.
Contacted by telephone yesterday, the grandfather of the other child said the family was not at home. However, he said the matter was in the hands of their lawyers and the police. Last month, a nine-year-old boy had to undergo surgery to repair the bones in his right elbow after he was allegedly beaten by a bully in school. However, a subsequent report provided to the ministry said the boys may have been involved in a play fight while imitating wrestling moves.
Editor’s note: The T&T Guardian is deliberately leaving out the name of the boy in this incident to protect his identity in compliance with our policy on matters involving minors.