A primary school teacher, 50, was arrested in Arta, Western Greece, for inciting pupils to beat their 8-year-old classmate. According to local media, the teacher urged the pupils of the 2. grade class to slap the boy for punishment, because he had attempted to leave the class before the school bell rang. The parents of the child filed a lawsuit against the teacher who was detained on Tuesday evening and is expected to appear before the prosecutor on Wednesday. A hospital examination confirmed that the boy has injuries on his face.
According to the child’s mother testimony, the teacher had immobilized the boy and ordered one by one his classmates to beat him, while he placed at the classroom door two pupils so that the child wouldn’t escape. The boy aghast returned home at noon and told his mother what had happened. The mother took the child to the hospital. In their findings the doctors speak of “severe injuries on the boy’s face.
The incredible and unprecedented incident has shocked the teachers’ community and triggered uproar among the parents. It seems that the teacher had shown also in the past a behavior that was not conform with the principles of modern education.
He has served 26 years in the prefecture of Arta nad his reputation is not the best. Many pupils described him as “a tough and irascible man who uses the excuse of making a joke in order to display bad behavior towards his students.”
The Director of Primary Education in Arta prefecture told newsit.gr, that depending on the prosecutor’s decision, the teacher may be dismissed from the school service.