A 9-year-old pupil was exposed to a cruel form of punishment in an elementary school in Alimos, suburb of south Athens. The music teacher had his classmates slap and beat him all though the duration of the lesson because he had committed a “horrible” mischief: he pretended to drive a car!
The pupil was released from the unprecedented torture when the bell rang.
The director of the 6th elementary school in Alimos confirmed the incident.
The pupils’ parents took immediate action: they filed a law suit again the teacher and are collecting signature in a petition of have her removed from the school.
The mischief
During the music class, the 9-year-old pretended his was driving a car.
The punishment
Obviously angered by the sound, the teacher asked his classmates to beat him.
“Let’s give him a couple of smacks to make him stop,” she reportedly told the children.
Some of the 4-grade pupils ‘froze’ and remained seated. However, the majority of them obeyed the teacher’s order and began to slap and beat the ‘troublemaker” on the head and other parts of his body.
The child tried to escape through the classroom door, but he didn’t make it. Some children pushed him into a corner and continued beating him on the head.
“Well done, children, sit down now,” the teacher said to those involved in the torture.
“Mom, the bell saved me,” the victim told his mother in tears.
The director
The mother sought the school director on the matter. He urged her to seek the teacher and directly solve the issue with her.
The teacher reportedly told the director that the incident took place because she got angry.
The mother – obviously fed up with the director’s indifference – filed a law suit against the teacher, wrote a complaint to the director and she is collecting signatures in a petition to the Ministry of Education to have the teacher removed from the school “immediately. “
She has reportedly collected 121 signatures so far.
The school director told protothema.gr that the Primary Education Directorate was aware of the incident and has taken the necessary measures.
“I did what I had to do,” the director said adding “the pupil’s parents did what they had to do on their part and the case is under investigation.”
They say “Music has charms to soothe a savage, music has the power to enchant even the roughest of people.” But apparently not the anger of a woman who claims to be a teacher.
PS are they totally nuts over there in Alimos? A psycho teacher, a clueless director and parents who have not taught their children that beating is not the solution to any problem?
If this happened in Toronto, the teacher would go up before the college of teachers, have a hearing and depending on what came of it either be told to pay for and attend anger management and classroom management classes, have another in the room with her for supervision (of her) and to mentor her teaching or have her license revoked (especially if this were a recurring event).
Teachers never stop learning. I am required to do PD every single year, to explain why I took it, and to try and project what I will take next year. Beginning teachers are observed 4 times in the first 2 years of teaching. And every 5 years after that – formally. Informally, the principal, vice principal, another teacher can walk into your classroom almost at any time. We are encouraged to teach with our doors open. Classroom management and classroom management difficulties are a myth. If your lesson is interesting and engaging, you have no issues except “excited noise”. If you respect your students, they will respect you back. If you treat them like they have half a brain, they will give you that AND the other half. The days of sit down, shut up and listen are gone. And my work day is 8:15 to 3:15. And I should be available to help students – for free!!!- at a mutually convenient time. And I am expected to run some kind of extra-curricular activity.
And I hear from teacher friends in greece that they work hard. Yeah, at their frontistiria. Where they teach the same students they had in the morning the stuff they should have taught them then. Don’t get me started.