Teacher whacks boy with stick

A 12-YEAR-OLD boy stopped attending classes in barangay Langtad, Argao town, south Cebu, a day after his teacher struck him with a wooden meterstick.

In a radio interview, the boy said he was hit in in his left hand, forearm and back with such force that it broke the stick.

The incident took place Thursday and was reported to the Argao police precinct.

The 40-year-old teacher, Vicente Lucero, said he had lost his patience.

“I admit I was wrong and I want to apologize,” Lucero said.

He explained that the boy was misbehaving in class and kept throwing papers and other objects around.

He said the pupil didn’t listen to his instruction for the students to study and prepare for their evaluation test next week.

“I broke the meterstick but the impact wasn’t that hard. The parents exaggerated,” Lucero said.

The boy said he didn’t want to go back to school if Lucero was still his teacher.

The mother said she brought her son to the hospital to treat his bruises.

She said the family would file criminal charges against the teacher.

The boy said this was the second time Lucero used the stick on him.

He said the teacher hit him on the nape during the first day of class in June.

“I wore a turban at the time and he told me to get rid of it. I took it off but my classmate wore it. I told the teacher about it but he got angry at me,” the boy said. Correspondent Jhunnex Napallacan