The Education Ministry has said that the punishment meted to a girl student who attends the Valletta primary school was not that which the girl’s mother had described in court.

The ministry issued a statement making reference to reports which featured in yesterday’s media with regard to a court case in which a woman was charged with assaulting the Valletta Primary school headmaster, Ray Cassar.

The ministry said certain allegations were made by the woman involved and since at this stage the headmaster had not had the opportunity to give his version, the public might get a very biased picture of what actually happened.

The ministry said the court would eventually have the time to hear both versions, however one could not allow certain accusations to remain unanswered, the first being that the headmaster had punished a child by making her spend an afternoon kneeling down.

The headmaster has assured the ministry that the girl was kneeling down for less than one minute after having been involved in a fight with another student.

The second allegation was that this was done with the knowledge that the girl involved suffered from a knee condition. The school had never been notified by word or certificate that the girl had a knee problem.

The ministry restated its zero-tolerance policy towards violence in school and in this case, whatever the circumstances were, one should never have resorted to violence and aggression.