A citizen in Chamchamal district of Sulaymaniyah Northern province registered a complaint against a teacher on charges of torturing his son, and local authorities form a committee to investigate the incident
The incident occurred before noon on Wednesday, March 27, at Badrakhan Mixed Basic School in the Shorish sub-district of Chamchamal.
Muhammad Omar, the student’s father, told KirkukNow, “At 11 a.m., my son returned from school crying dad save me. The teacher almost killed me. The effects of beating were visible on his face and leg, and he was distressed by what happened.”
The student's father took him to school to investigate why his son was beaten.
According to Omar, the teacher told him that his son “had a fight with one of his classmates, so I hit him with a stick.”
"I told him these are not the effects of one or two blows with a stick. If my son had committed an inappropriate act, it would have been better for you to inform me, not beat him."
After this conversation, the student’s father went with his son to the General Directorate of Chamchamal Education, then registered a case at the police station.
“I want this case to be resolved by law.”
In general, the educational process in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region is not running smoothly, as attendance has been suspended in most schools in Sulaymaniyah after teachers went on strike since the beginning of the school year due to the non-payment of their salaries, as the salaries for the last quarter of 2023 were skipped, and up today, teachers have been paid for January only.
Most of schools who opened doors last February lately have announced boycott of classes again.
Abdullah Hama Kaka Rash, the director general of Chamchamal Education, told KirkukNow, “I was informed of the problem. What happened is that the teacher hit a student in the fourth grade with a stick, and there are traces of the beating on several parts of his body, but we do not yet know the circumstances of the case.”
"We formed a committee by the Legal Division in Education and today we took the statements of the student and his father,” he added. “Tomorrow, Thursday, March 28, we will take the statements of the teacher and the school principal. If it turns out that the teacher made a mistake, we will take action against him."
The director of Chamchamal Education explained, “The use of violence against students is prohibited by law, and beating does not solve any problem. The teacher can punish the student in other ways, such as reducing grades or expulsion.”
Iraq’s education infrastructure is in ruins in many parts of the country; one in every two schools is damaged and needs rehabilitation, says a report by UNICEF about education in Iraq. A number of schools operate in multiple shifts due to lack of buildings and staff in an attempt to accommodate as many students as possible, squeezing the little learning time that children have.
