Ten-year-old Sultan Muhammad Sarhan received a one-and-a-half centimeter gash to his head when his teacher struck him at the King Khaled Air Base Elementary School in Khamis Mushayt. (Photo courtesy: Al-Watan)

JEDDAH, 2 October 2003 — A fifth grade student at the King Khaled Air Base Elementary School in Khamis Mushayt required stitches to his head after being struck by a female teacher for not doing his homework.

The student, Sultan Muhammad Sarhan, 10, received a one-and-a-half centimeter gash to his head when the teacher struck him.

A report in Al-Watan newspaper said the subsequent investigation showed that Sarhan was hit with a blunt wooden instrument. Because of the bleeding, the injury required urgent medical attention at a nearby air force base hospital. However, after the assault the boy was coherent and tests at the hospital revealed no sign of internal injury.

The principal of the school, Muhammad Said Al-Qahtani, has said that a hearing into the events leading to the incident was held at the school comprising the student guidance counselor and other members of staff. The results of the hearing have been forwarded to the education section of the armed forces.

Arab News last night spoke with students who personally experienced corporal punishment at the hands of their educators. Seif Miteb Al-Mutairi, 20, was educated in Saudi Arabia’s government school system, where beatings are everyday occurrences.

“We would all get beaten. We were beaten with canes, wooden paddles, hands, even plastic tubing. Sometimes we were hit hard enough to leave bruises. And because it was done in front of everyone, it was humiliating. We got hit for not doing our homework, talking in class, just normal kid’s stuff,” he said.

Muhammad Sagr, 24, who was educated in both government and private schools, told Arab News: “Not everybody gets hit. It depends on who your father is. The more influential your father was, the safer you were.”

Although the practice is widespread, it is illegal to strike a child in schools in Saudi Arabia.

Tariq Al-Othmani, 31, has a 10-year-old daughter attending an international private school in Jeddah. “I am shocked at this incident. I would be furious if my child were subjected to such cruelty at anyone’s hands. School is a place where children are supposed to feel safe and to learn. It should not be a place where children are afraid,” he said.

A teacher in charge of discipline at a large private school said: “You cannot beat children unless you want to substitute the school for a stable, and the children for animals. We shouldn’t even hit animals. You must talk to a child and find out why he or she is the way they are and why they do the things they do. There could be a hundred different causes behind a child’s behavior. Besides, there are other disciplinary tools available such as detention or parental notification.”