Teachers call for protection during exams

RIYADH: With the start of the examination season, teachers across the Kingdom fear retaliation from students who perform poorly, get caught cheating or even those who fail.

Many students who perform badly and know that they will fail the exams take their frustration out by vandalizing their teachers’ cars. These students feel their teachers have victimized them and so vent their anger by smashing their cars. In order to avoid this, some teachers come to school in taxis or arrange for their friends to drop them.

Though schools enforce strict rules against cheating, many often get caught and are spurred to retaliate, Al-Eqtisadiah daily reported.

Tariq Faris, a teacher in a high school in Tabarjal, said that students vandalized his car. He added that he had caught several students cheating during the midterm exams this year. “I was shocked when I left the school after correcting some answer sheets to find my tires had been slashed. I am sure this was done by one of the students I had caught cheating. That is the only explanation I can give,” he said.

Saleh Al-Shamari, a math teacher who stressed that many students turn violent if exam papers are difficult, supported this view. “Students who get caught vandalizing cars often blame the teachers for setting difficult papers,” he said.

“We’re asked to be strict when monitoring students to prevent cheating. Students that ask us to be lenient are the ones that cheat,” he said.

Saleh Al-Hadlag, head of the student activities department at the Ministry of Education in Riyadh, said there are strict punishments in place for students caught vandalizing their teacher’s cars. He added that the punishment includes suspension from school for an entire year.