A blind eight-year-old pupil of a Kansas City school was left with a flimsy pool toy as an aid to move around after his cane was taken away as punishment for hitting another student, a US network reported.

The boy, identified as Dakota Nafzinger, was born without eyes due to a condition called bilateral anopthalmia. He is a student at Kansas City's Gracemor Elementary School.

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A school bus driver took the boy's cane after he supposedly hit a classmate. The student said he was told that he was going to use the pool toy for two weeks.

A North Kansas City school district representative said the pupil was given a green, bent pool toy because he was always restless and needed an aid to hold with his hand.

Donald Nafzinger, the pupil's father, said the bus driver may have thought his son was being violent when he lifts his cane at times. The father added school authorities replaced his son's cane with a pool toy to humiliate him.

The boy's mother, Rachel, found it unfair that the punishment involved a tool that he needs to move around. The report said the student attended his sister's concert with the toy and he complained that it is a lot harder to use it because he could not feel his way around.

The city school district announced on Wednesday that after evaluating the situation, authorities regret that a mistake was made and they made sure the student had his cane when he took the bus on Monday evening.

School officials said they apologized to the boy's family and they are working to fix the situation. The statement said corrections were made the moment they were made aware of the mistake.

Tagsblind boy, walking cane, punishment, Dakota Nafzinger, Kansas City