Corpun file 15393

The Peninsula, Doha, 30 March 2005

Parents complain of corporal punishment at govt schools

Doha: Parents of children studying in government schools are increasingly complaining of physical punishment being meted out to their wards, Al Sharq said in a report yesterday.

Punishment is not restricted to primary schools but even grown up students of high schools are occasionally targets of teachers' ire.

Misbehaviour of students seems to be so much on the rise in government schools that in the academic year 2003-04, the Ministry of Education rusticated as many as 15 students from different schools.

The daily quoted many parents as saying that private schools were better as they paid individual attention to students and avoided punitive methods to correct a student's behaviour.

Hitting students is legally banned in Qatari schools, the problem nevertheless persists, the daily said.

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