Teacher detained for beating Port Said student to death

The prosecution ordered the detention of a teacher accused of beating a student in Port Said to death, local media sources report, citing judicial sources.

The Ministry of Education issued a statement Sunday saying the teacher responsible for the death of a student in primary education in Port Said was suspended and that the incident would be further investigated.

Eleven-year-old Islam Sherif died on Sunday after being admitted to the hospital with severe bleeding in his brain. Sources at the ministry said a teacher had assaulted him during class on Saturday, causing him to fall and sustain severe injuries.

The Egyptian Coalition for Children Rights released a report in November last year documenting six cases of abuse against children in schools resulting in death since the start of the school year, in addition to 41 other cases of assault and 10 cases of sexual abuse.

In 2008, another student Islam Amr died of brain and heart failure due to injuries sustained after his teacher in Alexandria beat him for failing to submit his homework.

There are several documented accounts of severe injuries sustained by students following assaults by teachers, including a five-year-old kindergarten student in Badrasheen, who lost his eye after his teacher beat him with a stick last November.