'One pupil pulled out a knife'

Principal at Ras al Khaimah school says that while violence is rare, a recent incident made him install security cameras.

Yousef al Shehi has been a teacher for 28 years and is the principal of Al Rams School in Ras al Khaimah.

He said that violence between the 350 boys in his government school for boys in grades 10 to 12 is "not much of a problem". However, last year he saw two pupils fighting in the school car park. One pulled out a knife. "I was really shocked. It was the first time in my life that I saw such a thing," said Mr al Shehi. "I asked the boys why they did this. They said they wanted to feel like a man in front of the others."

The matter was handed to the police and a 17-year-old was later transferred to another school. Now Mr al Shehi is installing 20 CCTV cameras on campus. "I am installing the cameras because sometimes I don't like some of the behaviour, such as smoking. We are trying to help them and instil good morality in them. We want them to teach them to respect the school like they would respect their own house."