Boy attacks teacher with paper knife

A nine-year-old pupil has been suspended from school after attacking his teacher with a paper knife.

The primary school teacher was slightly injured in the incident and both the education authorities and the police have launched an investigation.

The incident took place yesterday morning at San Ġwann Primary School B, which forms part of St Clare's College.

The boy, who is said to have behavioural problems, had wanted to leave the classroom but his teacher did not give him permission to do so, sources told The Times.

At that moment he grabbed a paper knife used in art lessons and assaulted her, hitting her in the arm with the pointed instrument. The teacher had to struggle to remove the paper knife from the boy's hand.

A Learning Support Assistant assigned to the boy was also slightly injured when the boy pushed her to get to the teacher.

This was not the first time the boy had over reacted to small matters, the sources added.

The school authorities called in the boy's parents and he was immediately suspended pending investigations.

A spokesman for the Education Ministry said the boy would not return to school before an assessment was concluded and only after it was ascertained that he was no longer a danger to teachers or his classmates.

Both the teacher and the Learning Support Assistant were sent home after the police spoke to them because they were in a state of shock. They were also given permission not to report for work for a few days, the spokes-man added.

In a similar incident in October 2008, a state school teacher who was sitting at her desk was poked in the eye with a crayon by a five-year-old student.