P’sinan teacher facing 40 counts of child abuse

TAYUG, Pangasinan -- A school teacher is facing a possible multiple case of child abuse after she was accused of whipping 40 pupils on the back of their legs on afternoon of July 1.

The police said the pupils, together with their parents, trooped to the police station on July 2 to lodge a complaint against Gloria Juanitez Callejo, 60, a sixth-grade science teacher at the Agno Elementary School.

Some of the pupils, boys and girls, first went to the Eastern Pangasinan District Hospital to have their slight injuries treated before going to the police, accompanied by their parents.

The pupils said that Callejo whipped them shortly after returning to their class following a noon break, when she allegedly found that they obtained low scores in the science quiz she gave them at 11 a.m., also that day.

A report, signed by Insp, Felimon Oliogo Jr., deputy chief of police, to police provincial director Senior Supt. Fidel Junio, said incident took place at 1p.m. on July 1.

The police are set to file a case against the teacher before the Provincial Prosecutor's Office based on the report of PO1 Jolie Tenozo, investigator of the case.

It was learned that a separate administrative case was filed by the pupils and their parents against Callejo before the office of the principal of the Agno Elementary School, which the latter is set to elevate before the schools' district supervisor's office.