She also said that she had used other ways to try to coerce the child into wearing the veil, including threatening to fail her in some religious education tests. Yet, nothing persuaded the girl.
This is not the first case that received large media coverage. Previously, the media found out that the high school principal of a school in the Iraqi city of Kut hit and hurt children. The minister of education visited the school at the time and condemned the act. He also said that the teacher's actions would not go unpunished and that no teacher or employee in the education field has the right to use violence against children.
After several interviews with students in Iraqi schools, Al-Monitor discovered that using violence has become a widely popular phenomenon in schools. Moreover, this phenomenon has not received enough attention, except in extreme cases such as the ones mentioned here. The violent methods that are used vary. The children are sometimes verbally harassed or mocked, and beaten with a hand or object at other times. Usually, the students do not report the teacher out of fear of additional punishment such as being failing in their studies or being ignored.
In the latest development, the media was informed that the teacher had been fired by the Ministry of Education, but no official announcement was issued by the ministry. Dealing with this problem on a case-by-case basis cannot stop this phenomenon. What is needed is a planned and comprehensive solution that can overcome the issue.
The Ministries of Education and Justice must take more serious measures that ensure violence will not be used in schools. They must impose serious punishments — such as firing the teacher, allocating special courts to handle cases of violence against children, appointing ministerial committees to monitor schools on an ongoing and unanticipated basis or receiving reports from the students who are victims of violence, in addition to resorting to other measures that are applicable in civilized countries.
(School image via Shutterstock)
Teacher Violence Against Students Increases | Iraq Business News http://t.co/r6nkdimKd5
Here in the US it once was a practice in Parochial (Catholic) schools for the teachers (nuns) to beat children with a measuring ruler. Said one student after being beaten, the nun asked, "Have you learned your lesson?" and the student replied, "Yes! I have learned how mean you are."