Student assaults teacher

A young teacher was punched to the ground by a 14-year-old student in yet another incident of juvenile aggression, The Times has learnt.

The teacher needed medical treatment after he ordered the Form IV student at the Boys' Junior Lyceum in Paola out of class, according to sources.

The sources said the assault took place shortly after the school lunch break on Wednesday afternoon. The young teacher ordered the rowdy class to settle down and stay silent, and the student in question allegedly slammed his chair in protest. The teacher ordered two boys out of class, and while one student walked out without protesting, the other challenged his decision and assaulted the teacher by punching him in the face, breaking his teeth with the blow, the sources said.

Though incidents at the Paola school were reported in the past, Wednesday's attack is being considered by the authorities as one of the worst.

The president of the Malta Union of Teachers, John Bencini ,confirmed the attack, describing it as a "very serious and worrying" incident. He said the union had informed the Education Division about the assault and a police report had been filed. The MUT is holding discussions with the division to guarantee the interests, health and safety of teachers. Mr Bencini did not wish to give further comments.

This was the fifth attack on teachers in the space of 10 weeks. Last December, a school head at the Zabbar primary school was punched and kicked repeatedly by a young pupil's father who also attacked two other staff members before being reined in by a policeman. The attacker was later arraigned.

In November, a school headmaster at the Paola secondary school required medical attention after he was viciously attacked by a 13-year-old student who refused to remove a cap that was not part of the school uniform.

At the end of a seminar organised recently by the MUT on pupil behaviour and discipline in schools, Mr Bencini told a press conference the union had been pressing for the last two years for the employment of security officers in schools deemed most at risk.