SHARJAH // A teacher has been suspended from work after a video surfaced on social media showing him roughing up an Emirati pupil in a school hallway.
The Ministry of Education, through the Sharjah Education Zone, and the police are investigating after the boy’s father filed a complaint.
The 29-second video appears to have been shot on a mobile phone and was posted on YouTube on Saturday by the Arabic-language newspaper Emarat Al Youm.
The video, Teacher Hitting Student, shows a teacher knocking the student to the ground and briefly dragging him along a corridor as pupils follow behind, some sounding as though they are laughing or cheering on the teacher.
The confrontation erupted after a classroom exchange between the teacher and the 13-year-old pupil, said Ali Al Suwaidi, the ministry’s assistant undersecretary for private schools.
“The teacher seemed like he lost his temper and started beating the student,” Mr Al Suwaidi said. “It is an unacceptable way to treat a student in an educational institution.”
The teacher’s fate ultimately lies with the administration of Al Dhaid private school and the police, Mr Al Suwaidi said.
rpennington@thenational.ae
