Video: Egyptian Teacher Cuts Student Hair For Being Unveiled

Public school teachers abusing students continues to be problem plaguing Egypt, as news emerge of a teacher cutting a fifth grade student's hair for not wearing a veil.

The incident occurred on Thursday in the Upper Egypt governorate of Fayoum. According to the Egypt’s state news agency MENA, the teacher cut the student's hair as a “punishment for not wearing the Islamic veil.”

Talking to ONTV television host Gaber al-Karmouty, Nora, the student in question, explains that the teacher pushed her head and struck her fingers with a pen, before cutting a lock of her hair using a cutter. Nora claims that she pleaded with her teacher to show her mercy, promising that she would wear the veil from now, however her plea was ignored as the teacher insisted on taking action. Also appearing in the interview, Nora’s mother elaborates claiming that “the teacher used a wire cover with a stick inside of it. He walks around hitting my kid on her head with it, on that day he insulted my child in front of the whole class.”

Taking swift action the governor of Fayoum suspended the teacher on Sunday, however no further details of how long the suspension would last and if this teacher will face charges.

As it stands, Egypt has no laws that mandate women must wear a veil, however it did pass legislation in 1998 prohibiting any form of corporal punishment and physical assault against students. Sadly, the beating of students is a common and disturbing occurrence ingrained in Egyptian society and can easily be found on YouTube. The most recent publicised case occurred two weeks ago when a teacher beat a student who ended up dying from his injuries. This case is yet to be concluded as the education minister has suspended the teacher before remanding him to the prosecution for investigation.