DepEd: School must answer for boy’s fall from 3rd floor

“Why did they repair this only now?”

That was the question asked yesterday by an education official who visited the Lyceum de Cebu, where a 7-year-old pupil fell from the third floor after slipping through a gap in broken railings near a ledge.

Wilfredo Tano, division supervisor for private schools of DepEd, said he noted that missing bars of the fence where Clifford Booc fell from on Tuesday noon have already been replaced.

Clifford, who fell headfirst to the concrete pavement below, was still in guarded condition in the the intensive care unit of Cebu Doctors’ Hospital yesterday.

“I haven’t stopped praying for his safety since the accident. I just want him to be fine,” said his mother Lucy Booc, 34.

She said the boy cracked his skull in the fall and dislocated his shoulder bone. Doctors are observing blood clots in his brain, which have reduced in size.

Clifford is conscious but can’t move his mouth or close his eyes, she said. But he can already respond to sounds and he can move his hands and feet, according to his mother, a homemaker. The boy’s father, Felipe, is a seaman posted abroad.

DepEd is looking into the accident, which took place during lunch break when the boy was playing and reached out through the grill fence that overlooks the campus courtyard, according to witnesses.

Parents of other Lyceum students reported that the missing bars in the fence had stayed unrepaired for months.

Lyceum is a private school located in Capitol Hills in barangay Kalunasan, Cebu City.

It was established seven years ago as the Cebu CFI Coop Learning Center, and was renamed Lyceum de Cebu in 2005.

The nonstock, nonprofit school has more than 600 students and 40 faculty members, offering classes from preschool to college courses in education and accountancy.

“School operators are the second parents of the children,” said the DepEd official in an interview.

Safety on campus is a responsibility of the school, he said.

He emphasized that teachers and school staff are the primary caretakers of young students, and are supposed to look after their welfare even outside the classroom.

Tano said those who have to answer for the accident include the building administrator Lito Oracoy, whom the principal said was told several times to repair the broken grills, as well as the school president, lawyer Lito Astillero.

But he said it’s up to the Booc family to file a complaint in court and that DepEd’s role is to strengthen the inspection of school facilities in Cebu.

“This must serve as a lesson to all,” he said.

When Tano visited the school yesterday, he was only able to speak with the principal, Merto Cabatingan, who told him students gather for group prayers for Clifford’s recovery. The principal said that before the accident, he repeatedly told their building administrator about the broken fence.

Astillero, the school president and a consultant of the Provincial Capitol, said he has ordered the school principal to conduct a formal investigation of the accident.

He declined to comment further until the inquiry is made.

Astillero told CDN earlier that he found out about the gap in the third floor’s metal fence when he visited the area Tuesday afternoon, and ordered the maintenance crew to immediately repair it.

“As of now, our priority is the quick recovery of the child,” he said.

For now, all medical expenses are being shouldered by the school.

Yesterday afternoon, Lyceum teachers visited Clifford in the ICU, bringing pancit noodles and cash assistance for the family.

Rachel Asignar, Clifford’s grade 1 teacher, said she fainted at the sight of Clifford crumpled on the pavement and bloodied. She was inside their classroom when he fell. She said the whole school has included Clifford’s quick recovery in their regular prayers.

The private school was used to be known as the 4C’s Child Development Center.

It is a separate operation and independent from the Cebu CFI Cooperative, said Astillero.

The school’s affordable tuition of P5,000 per semester for college and P5,000 per year for preschool, elementary and high school levels is one of its attractive features.

It also offers scholarship programs and incentives for working students.