Girl's eye damaged by throwing ball, school must pay compensation of over 100 million VND

Believing that the school must be responsible for allowing a girl to be injured and lose an eye while going to school, the Court of Tinh Gia District (Thanh Hoa) ordered the educational institution to pay nearly 110 million VND in compensation.

On the afternoon of May 16, at the first instance trial, the People's Court of Tinh Gia District (Thanh Hoa) ruled that Hai An Primary School must compensate more than 100 million VND to the family of female student Vu Phuong Anh (class 1A, Hai An Primary School, Tinh Gia District) - a girl whose left eye was damaged when a classmate threw a ruler at her while playing.

Baby Phuong Anh attended the trial with her relatives. Photo: Lam Son.

The verdict determined that at around 3:20 p.m. on January 15, 2016, during recess, Le Ngoc Tuan (grade 1A) was playing with a boy in grade 1B and threw a broken wooden ruler at each other, unfortunately hitting Phuong Anh's left eye.

The head teacher took Phuong Anh to the commune health station for first aid and informed relatives to take the girl to a higher level for treatment. At the Central Eye Hospital, doctors diagnosed the girl with a ruptured eyeball, loss of internal eye tissue, retinal detachment, and intraocular hemorrhage, with a prognosis of permanent blindness and a disability of 41%.

During her hospital stay, her family received 10 million VND in donations from the Parents Association. On the occasion of the recent Lunar New Year, when Phuong Anh returned to her hometown, the school sent representatives to visit her and give her more than 15 million VND in donations (the second time). However, her family refused to accept this money.

Tuan's family promised to support Phuong Anh's family with 10 million, however, due to difficult circumstances, they were only able to temporarily transfer 4 million. Recently, Tuan's family brought another 3 million to support Phuong Anh's family, but Phuong Anh's family did not accept it.

Presenting in court, Ms. Nguyen Thi Ha (Phuong Anh's mother) said that the school was irresponsible when her daughter had an accident. "The school board did not visit and encourage her at the hospital, and was slow in making a confirmation paper (replacing her student card), which meant that my daughter was not entitled to health insurance during her treatment at the hospital," the mother said.

According to Ms. Ha, in the past, the family has met many times with the Board of Directors of Hai An Primary School to ask the school to take responsibility, and sent a petition to the Department of Education and Training of Tinh Gia district, "but all fell into silence". Meanwhile, after the accident, Phuong Anh had to repeat first grade and her studies encountered many difficulties, and her health declined.

Frustrated by the educational institution's evasive response, Phuong Anh's family filed a lawsuit demanding compensation from Hai An Primary School on the grounds that the child's health was harmed.

At the trial, Ms. Dinh Thi Huong, Principal of Hai An Primary School, affirmed that at the beginning of the school year, the school had disseminated the school's rules and regulations to each student and parent. The school regularly reminded students and posted the rules in classrooms. "One of the rules for students is not to use hard or dangerous objects to play... therefore, the school is not at fault in management and therefore does not accept compensation according to the lawsuit filed by Phuong Anh's family," the female Principal stated./.

According to VNE