Eight-year-old primary school pupil Daniel Mohammed has been unconscious for the past week, after hitting his head on a concrete floor during the lunch break at his school last Tuesday.

His ten-year-old sister said her brother was standing in the corridor when he was pushed by another pupil.

Daniel was taken to the San Fernando General Hospital and transferred to the Seventh Day Adventist Hospital, Cocorite, where he underwent two surgeries.

Doctors told relatives that there was swelling and bleeding in the brain.

His mother, Sharda Mohammed, reported the incident at the Penal Police Station last Saturday.

The boy's father, Khamroon Mohammed, died three years ago from the dengue virus.

His grandmother, Agnes Mohammed, has fallen ill since the incident.

Mohammed said, "These children are the only links I have to my dead son.

I feel I am going through the same pain all over again. I cannot lose him," she cried.

The incident occurred at the Clarke Rochard Government Primary School, where Daniel and his sister are pupils.

Mohammed, 62, said: "His sister said Daniel was standing on the corridor and the boy was running to hit someone else. Daniel was in the boy's way and he pushed him down. Daniel fainted and the boy came back and placed him on a table. Kimberly said she put on a fan and her brother regained consciousness, but went back to sleep. The school did not contact an ambulance or his parents. My daughter went to pick up her child at 2.30 p.m. and Kimberly told her what happened."

The family took Daniel home that evening, but when he did not awake, he was carried to the San Fernando General Hospital.

The child was stabilised and transferred to the Seventh Day Adventist Hospital, Cocorite where there is a specialist neurosurgeon.

Mohammed described her grandson as loving, brilliant and playful.

"He will come through this challenge and he will have a bright future ahead of him. He was a bright child and this will be a setback," she said.

The child's mother has been at his bedside since the incident.

"She is being strong for her son. We go to visit him everyday, but there is no change," she said.

Ministry of Education officials were not aware of the incident yesterday. Penal police said investigators have visited the school.