The Peninsula, Doha, 30 March 2005

Parents complain of corporal punishment at govt schools

Doha: Parents of childrenstudying in government schools are increasingly complaining ofphysical punishment being meted out to their wards, Al Sharq saidin a report yesterday.

Punishment is notrestricted to primary schools but even grown up students of highschools are occasionally targets of teachers' ire.

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

The daily quoted manyparents as saying that private schools were better as they paidindividual attention to students and avoided punitive methods tocorrect a student's behaviour.

Hitting students is legallybanned in Qatari schools, the problem nevertheless persists, thedaily said.