A phrase that many have heard as children after a bad word – “let’s see if we are going to have to wash your mouth out with soap and water” – is now the center of a conflict in a school in Bellver de Cerdanya when a teacher is accused to put that threat into practice with two elementary school students, ages 8 and 9.
It happened a couple of weeks ago and the matter, as reported by Diari Segre, has already reached the Department of Education after a formal complaint filed by several parents with children at that school.
Roger is one of those parents. He has a 9-year-old son at that school and the other two of his have also passed through the center. He affirms that the reason for that teacher’s reaction, which she says forced those two children to wash their mouths out with soap and water in front of the rest of the classmates, “is not clear.” These minors are scared and “give few details of what happened.”
But what no one doubts is that the incident occurred. “And that teacher, with other complaints about her way of teaching, has even apologized.” The parents of these two schoolchildren have not denounced, for the moment, what happened. “We are all waiting for Educació’s response to our complaint,” reveals Roger.
The case was known by some parents when their children told them about the incident. “After confirming it with the protagonists – adds Roger – a few families decided to file a complaint with the Association of Student Families (AFA) and the management of the center”. Last Friday, taking advantage of a visit by an Education inspector to the school, a meeting was called to study the complaint.
“The inspector told those responsible for the AFA to leave the case in the hands of the Department, which was already in charge of investigating the issue,” reveals Roger. Something that, according to this resident of Bellver, has not pleased the families united in this complaint, “because the logical thing would have been that this association would have met with us before the meeting with the inspector”, considers Roger.
The methods of that teacher, who came to that school four years ago, had already been the subject of complaints from some families with students at the center. Washing the mouths of two students with soap and water “has been the straw that has spilled the camel’s back,” says Roger, “and many parents understand that measures must be taken against that teacher.” Many of her students “are afraid and don’t want to go to their classes,” says this resident of Bellver de Cerdanya. It will be necessary to wait to know the decision of Educació, when it finishes its investigation.
