JEDDAH: Jeddah Education Department is investigating a complaint by a first grade pupil that his teacher hit him in the face last Thursday, causing a wound requiring 12 stitches. “The expatriate teacher hit my son, Moutassem Billah, in the face while he had glasses on and caused a deep wound just under the left eye. School rules call for a pupil to be punished for wrongdoing but not physically attacked,” said the father Yasser Rowaas.“After the teacher hit my son, he took him in his car to a private clinic in Al-Raqban next to the school without a school councilor or anyone else present. There had been no first aid kit at the school,” he was quoted as saying by a local publication.

Rowaas claimed the boy needed 12 stitches and requires treatment for three weeks. He alleged that the school was now covering up the situation, and that only the education director had inquired about his son.

He claimed that this was not the first time that a teacher has hit a pupil. However, the principal has apologized. Jeddah Education spokesman Abdulmajeed Al-Ghamdi said a supervisor was sent to investigate the incident.