Teacher wins appeal for higher compensation over fall in school

SINGAPORE : A primary school teacher has won her appeal for higher claims in damages from the Education Ministry over a fall in school in 2006.

In a closed—door hearing on Wednesday, the High Court awarded Madam Sivakami Sivanantham S$250,000 in damages.

The amount is about S$150,000 more than what the court awarded her in June this year.

However, she will collect S$175,000, which is 70 per cent of the amount, as she had admitted that she was partly responsible for her fall.

Her lawyers had appealed three months ago for a higher amount on the basis that she had undergone several operations for her injury and for the loss of promotion prospects.

Madam Sivakami, 41, fractured her right ankle after she fell four metres from a ventilation opening, while trying to escape from a locked building at Zhangde Primary School in 2006.

She had panicked when she found herself locked in and tried to get out by climbing through the ventilation opening.

She was then left hanging by her hands close to four metres above the ground.

When she eventually let go, she fell and fractured her ankle.

Following the incident, she was hospitalised for a week at Singapore General Hospital and was on medical leave for more than a year.

During a five—day hearing in October 2010, the High Court heard that Madam Sivakami still suffers from psychological distress and could remain vulnerable to a relapse if faced with another crisis.

She claimed in her testimony that as a result of the fall, she has not been able to walk normally, play games with her two children or carry them.

— CNA/ms