How is Rexona?
A long-delayed letter from a dear old friend in Barisal has just arrived. She was very disturbed by your story, published on April 6th, of a 7-year old schoolgirl, Rexona, who was reported as having been beaten by a teacher so badly that she needed medical treatment that she could not afford as her family were too poor.
Neither the teacher nor the school - Tiakhali Government Primary School - were offering to pay for it either.
My friend wants to know how the child is, whether anyone paid for the medical treatment she needed and whether you could publish her address so that kind people could send her money. (I am not sure about that bit, actually!)
Has the teacher been dismissed or the school prosecuted?
I share with my friend the regret that you publish lots of excruciating stories and then do not follow them up leaving your readers dangling and in despair at Bangladesh, when, in fact, people of goodwill, including authorities who are not heartless or corrupt, might have acted honourably and produced consequences that would rejoice our hearts and re-kindle hope …
My friend wrote, “We send our children to school to learn the difference between right and wrong and if those who teach them choose to be outlaws, it is time they packed their bags and left the profession before they cause our children more harm.” Well said!
How to get rid of bad teachers - especially those who have 'bought' their positions or have other reasons to think they are untouchable until retirement - is another minefield, of course, but, meanwhile, could your correspondent let us know how Rexona is - and the teacher who was her (reported) persecutor? Or has the whole thing been swept under the carpet?
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