Tunisia – Teacher attacked with knife by student… details

The regional delegate for education of Kairouan, Mehrez Najib Ben Hamida, denied what is circulating regarding the professor who, yesterday Thursday, was the subject of an attempted attack by his student with a sharp object, inside a classroom of one of the institutes the region, with physical damage, confirming that the student is currently under suspension.

He clarified, in a statement to TAP, that the student is 15 years old and that he failed in the ninth year of basic education, but that his behaviour throughout his years of study at the institute was normal and no tendency to violence was observed in him, and his relationship with his teacher was good.

The picture of the incident is that the aforementioned student took out a sharp instrument inside the classroom and walked towards the teacher who was about to write the lesson on the board. Before he was wounded, the screams of one of the students helped save him from the assault, and he was able to quickly leave the classroom, pointing out that the incident sparked a state of terror among the rest students.

Ben Hamida pointed out that the initial grounds why the student brought a sharp object into the establishment and tried to stab the professor were reasons that did not fall within the scope of the establishment and were mainly related to family problems.

He added: “The teacher is currently in a hard psychological state, particularly since the attacker is his student and whom he considers his son,” emphasising that “the student voiced, before his suspension, his deep remorse for what he did, asking forgiveness from his teacher and colleagues.

In this context, the delegate stressed the complete rejection of such attacks, which have become frequent against the educational framework, and also condemned the spread of the phenomenon of violence in schools, which has become a growing societal phenomenon, requiring the establishment of a societal dialogue to find out the causes and take solutions to eliminate it.

He also called on parents to pay more attention to their children after school hours, engage in dialogue and communication with them, listen to them, and assist them resolve the difficulties they encounter in cooperation with the educational framework.

Ben Hamida revealed that a session will be allocated this evening at the headquarters of the governorate of Kairouan, with all the stakeholders, to further intensify security patrols at the entrances to this educational institution, and to work to decrease the phenomenon of violence in the school community in the region, noting that since yesterday, a psychology specialist has been directed to the students affected by this incident to supervise them and help them overcome its repercussions.