While teachers are trusted to be the second parents of children in school, some take it too far and violate this trust. Such appears to be the case of one Saudi elementary teacher who was fired from his teaching post by the Ministry of Education, according to a report by Arab News in Jan. 27.
This termination comes after a video of him slapping his student three times across the face went viral on social media. His student’s only crime? Laughing in class.
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In the video, the teacher from Al-Ahsa province can be seen holding a wooden stick in one hand, and using the other to push his student against the wall.“Why are you laughing?” he yelled.
The boy, even after saying he was not laughing, was continuously threatened by his teacher until he was near tears. That was not the first time the same teacher had abused his students, said the report.
Mubarak Al-Osaimi, spokesman of the Ministry of Education, released a statement on Twitter saying the teacher has been fired. “The teacher was relieved from his post by the ministry,” wrote Al-Osaimi. “It is not the first time he had mistreated students, despite previous warnings given to him.”
The Department of Education in Al-Aha has also formed a team to investigate such incidents of child abuse, to see to it that no students are further beaten. Instead, they should be referred to student counseling and guidance.
Dr. Manal Kayal, an assistant professor in King Abdul Aziz University, gave her own take regarding the incident. “A lack of understanding of a child or young person’s developmental stages and behavior, or negative attitudes toward child behavior and lack of knowledge about child development can contribute to physical abuse of children,” Dr. Kayal told Arab News. “These teachers have unrealistic expectations of the child’s development.”
Although the teacher had been fired, formal complaints have yet to be filed by his student which would be needed to press charges in accordance with child protection laws.
The video, uploaded in YouTube through the channel Droopy, may be watched in full below. Cody Cepeda/JB
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