A teacher at a private educational establishment in Dubai, UAE has been sacked for literally taping up a pupils mouth when he wouldn’t shut up, and making his lips bleed when she removed it roughly. Click here to read more about the incident.

And so she should. Can you imagine if this had happened in the West and not the Middle East? She’s be sued to within an inch of her life and probably charged with Actual Bodily Harm.

Interestingly, comments made by readers of this story in another paper have suggested that , had the boy have been behaving properly, the incident wouldn’t have taken place. True, in essence, but punishment a tad harsh I feel for a small child who cannot be quiet!

But what to do? As much as we wish all students to be obedient and peaceful souls, they are humans, so are, by nature, neither of these traits. How to deal with unruly behaviour in the classroom that is becoming all the more an issue?

Even harder to handle is such behaviour when imparted upon staff by secondary pupils, teenagers with as much physical strength as the teachers themselves.

Whether the answer lies in firm clear guidelines or in more behaviour support classrooms, or even British style Pupil Referral Units, it’s certainly a topic not to be overlooked in an increasingly more violent and stress fuelled society. Kids included.

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