A student who lost hearing after being assaulted by a teacher at the school will be paid Rs.650,000 in compensation following a court order last week.
The Supreme Court on Friday ordered the teacher in charge of discipline at Puhulwella Central College, Matara to pay Rs. 150,000 to the 15-year-old child victim.
The Government will pay an additional Rs.500,000.
The court ruled that the incident which occurred in 2017 where the teacher assaulted the child on his ear causing loss of hearing, was a violation of his fundamental rights.
The compensation will be paid within six months as per the court order.
The Supreme Court has said that the medical reports confirm that a blow to the student’s ear caused him to suffer permanent hearing loss for the rest of his life, the Colombo Page reported.
The verdict was handed down by Justice S. Thurairajah and agreed by Justice Sisira de Abrew and Justice Murdu Fernando.
Supreme Court Judge Thurairajah said that the attack was a cruel act of child abuse targeting a child and that Sri Lanka has signed international conventions on the rights of the child to prevent such abuse.
The Supreme Court has found that the student was assaulted for sitting on a culvert near the wall of the school while the school was engaged in a cultivation program.
It was further revealed that the school authorities did not pay attention to his physical condition.
The Supreme Court has ruled that a child should not be subjected to disciplinary or any other form of abuse and that the attack violates Article 11 of the Constitution, a fundamental right not to be subjected to cruel torture.
Hewa Maddumage Karunapala and Palle Kamkanamlage Dona Kumuduni filed the petition on behalf of their child.
Attorney-at-Law Theesaya Weragoda appeared for the petitioner.