A Limassol mother reported on Wednesday that staff at a private school for children with special needs accidentally locked her 19-year-old daughter inside and went on a trip not realising until they sat down to have lunch.
Speaking to state broadcaster CyBC, the mother said that her daughter had gone to the toilet while the other children were boarding the buses.
The mother reported that the school did not even call her to inform her of the incident and that she found out about it from her daughter who told her what had happened when she returned home.
On Tuesday the school had arranged a field trip to Anogyra the mother said, and her daughter was picked up by the school bus and took her to the school.
She added that when they were boarding the buses to set out for the trip, her daughter went to the toilet.
“My daughter was in the toilet, they forgot to look if anyone was left behind, they locked the door and left,” she said.
“When she returned home at around 3pm to 3.30pm as usual, I asked her how the trip went and she said ‘I didn’t go to the trip I stayed at the school’,” the mother said.
She added that she asked her daughter if she misbehaved and was not allowed to participate and was left behind with a chaperone, the girl said that they had “left, closed the door, and left me behind by myself”.
“I cried and I slept on the floor,” was the girl’s response, her mother said. The girl was found by teachers upon their return early in the afternoon.
When she contacted the school, to enquire about the incident, the mother said, they apologised and said that they only realised the girl was missing when they sat down to have lunch.
The response to the mother’s question as to why they didn’t call her to tell her that her daughter was missing as soon as they realised it, she was told that they intended to call the next day and ask her to go to school to inform her on what happened face to face.
“No one said anything, I found out from my daughter,” she said. She added that her daughter was left alone in the school between 8am and 3pm.
She added that all the school did was to apologise and promise to keep a closer eye on her daughter.
“No one was left in the school, she was left by herself,” the mother said. “For 19 years I never left her alone.” the mother said.
Police spokesman Andreas Angelides said that that the case was being investigated.
The post Staff locked girl inside and went on school trip (Updated) appeared first on Cyprus Mail.