Teacher fined for hitting boy

Teacher who hit a seven-year-old boy with a stick because he could not spell the word 'rock' in Arabic is fined Dh1,000.

DUBAI // A teacher who hit a seven-year-old boy with a stick because he could not spell the word "rock" in Arabic has been fined Dh1,000, with the sentence suspended unless she commits another offence.

AM, 43, an Egyptian who works for the National Charity School in Garhoud, was convicted at Dubai Misdemeanours Court of hitting the Pakistani boy during an evening lesson on May 10.

The teacher had admitted hitting the boy but claimed the stroke was too light to have caused an injury.

"I told him to write the word 'rock' on the board but he misspelt it," she told police.

"I told him to correct it but he misspelt it again and I hit him very lightly on his back with a stick that had been lying on the desk."

She said she did not know where the stick had come from.

"I hit him to attract his attention," the teacher said. "It was not my intention to harm him or assault him. He then went back to his desk and did not tell me that he was in pain or was affected by the stroke."

The boy told his father the teacher had hit him, and the father reported the incident to police.

Medical reports presented to court said the stick had caused a serious bruise and a cut on the boy's back.