JEDDAH, 31 October 2005 — The Ministry of Education has said that the teacher who beat a young student in a widely-circulated Bluetooth clip has been identified.
According to Al-Madinah Arabic daily, the teacher was shocked to see the clip and took the first step himself by calling the regional educational director in Al-Leeth. (Al-Leeth is on the coast some 250 km south of Jeddah.)
After hearing the teacher’s confession, Murea Al-Barakaati, the educational director, informed Dr. Saeed Al-Mulais, deputy minister for boys’ schools.
The deputy minister instructed the Al-Leeth regional education office to conduct an investigation after Eid and submit the results to the ministry which will then make a decision.
The incident apparently took place about a year ago and the boy who was beaten was Faraj A., at the time a nine-year-old 4th Grade student.
Some local newspapers have said — though there is no proof — that the boy’s father is employed by the school, possibly as a watchman or a cleaner.
The teacher said that he had beaten the boy out of a fatherly feeling of responsibility to discipline him as he had repeated an earlier mistake. The teacher also said that the father raised no objection after he explained the situation to him.
Revelations of the teacher’s behavior produced a massive outpouring of shock and outrage among educators in the Kingdom.
“It is shameful,” said Saleh Al-Rashed, a teacher. “The thing here is that unfortunately people automatically started to believe all Saudi teachers behave in this way.”
An educational inspector at the Education Ministry in Jeddah, said that ministry regulations forbid any kind of physical or mental abuse of students.
Even with strong evidence, however, the inspector said that teachers who mistreat students are never suspended.
“The only thing that the ministry does is to set up a disciplinary committee and investigate the incident and the teacher involved in it,” the inspector pointed out. “The only case resulting in dismissal of a teacher is if he or she is absent from work without reason for two consecutive weeks.”
The mother of a two-year-old child spoke for many when she said: “That teacher should not only be investigated but he should also be in jail now. Beating a child! What kind of teacher is this?”
