Female student assaults teacher

A newly appointed teacher at the Erin Serracino Inglott Secondary School in Cospicua was assaulted by a Form III girl yesterday morning, the Malta Union of Teachers said.

The student has been excluded from the school indefinitely.

According to sources, the female teacher was supervising the class when the girl refused to follow orders, punched the teacher, swore and used foul language.

The teacher suffered bruises in her left arm and back and was taken to the health centre for treatment.

The head of school contacted the Cospicua College head who immediately went to the school. The two heads contacted the director general of education and the decision to exclude the girl indefinitely was then taken.

Condemning the incident, the union said it hoped this case will be dealt with in the toughest of manners by the education authorities.

Teachers, it said, expected the authorities to apply the promised zero tolerance approach to such incidents.

A union spokesman also called for the identification of a place where problematic girls could be sent so that their problems could be dealt with. Such a place was available for boys but not for girls, he said.

Relations between the union and the government became strained earlier this year after a young male geography teacher was attacked by a 14-year-old student at a Paola school and teachers took limited industrial action in solidarity with him.

The issue of unruly students is a sore point for the union, which has often claimed that it is getting out of hand.