Times Of Swaziland: PUPIL STRUCK BY TEACHER’S STICK, LOSES EYE PUPIL STRUCK BY TEACHER’S STICK, LOSES EYE ================================================================================ BY ANDILE NSIBANDE AND SITHEMBILE HLATSHWAYO on 26/09/2017 04:25:00 HLATIKHULU – A schoolboy suffered permanent damage to his eye after he was allegedly struck by a stick in class. Following the incident, the Grade VII pupil had to be rushed to hospital, where he underwent surgery and the eye was removed. The boy’s eye apparently got injured while a male temporary teacher was meting out corporal punishment to his classmates at Ekuphakameni Community Primary School in the outskirts of Hlatikhulu on Thursday. Information gathered was that the teacher was only a relief teacher, who is standing in for a female teacher who is on maternity leave. The 11-year-old boy reportedly told his parents he was sitting behind his desk when he was struck in the eye by a splinter from a stick which broke while his teacher was beating some pupils in his class. The youngster said he was not among the pupils who were being punished for urinating outside the school toilets. Instead, he said he got injured in the eye when the stick the teacher was using broke, with the broken piece flying straight into his eyeball. He said it just hit him straight in his right eye, and blood oozed immediately. Reports were that the boy instantaneously rolled on the floor in agony. Other teachers who heard the commotion are said to have rushed to the scene and the injured boy was rushed to hospital. The schoolboy’s father said his son was first taken to Hlatikhulu Government Hospital, where it was unfortunately discovered that most of the vital parts of the eye were seriously damaged. He said at the hospital they learnt that nothing could be done to save the eye and he was transferred to the Mbabane Government Hospital where he was eventually operated on.