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Policy of safety for teachers facing classroom

risks

In France, teachers seek insuranceADAM SAGE

Paris, Sept. 14

They have to suffer physical violence and verbal abuse. They end upbruised, battered and often depressed.So it is little wonder that France's beleaguered teaching staff shouldwant to take out insurance against their pupils.More than half of all teachers have subscribed to a policy that guaranteesthem a lawyer if they should be sued, a doctor if they are injured and apsychologist if they suffer a nervous breakdown.The trend underlines a collapse of classroom discipline amid a move towardsthe assertion of individual rights in a society that used to swear bycollective values.An anguished debate was fuelled by reports of two new attacks in schoolsthis week.

In Poitiers, central France, a female geography teacher was slappedand kicked by the mother of a secondary school pupil on Wednesday aftershe complained that the boy had not done his homework.

A day earlier, a religious education teacher at a college in Bordeauxwas punched by an 18-year-old pupil of Moroccan origin who objected tohis lesson on the place of Islam in Morocco's political system.Education minister Vincent Peillon called the attacks unacceptable. I firmlycondemn all past and future aggressions, he said, in a tacit admission thatteachers remained in danger.

Teaching staff appear only too aware of that fact, since 55 per cent pay 40euros (nearly Rs 2,900) a year to insure themselves against the risks thatcome from pupils.The policy was launched in 2008 jointly by the Maif, a mutual insurer, andthe Autonomous Federation of Secular Solidarity, an association of teachers.Roger Crucq, the federation's director, said classroom violence was nothingnew in France.He added: What is new is the way pupils and their parents believe they caninsult teachers. If they don't like a disciplinary measure, they will scratchthe teacher's car, for instance.

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When pupils were summoned by staff with a view to suspending them,they regularly arrived with a lawyer.Olivia Millioz, the creator of a website, La Souffrance des Profs (Teachers'Suffering), where teachers recount their woes, said that staff in turn sought

legal advice when trying to discipline unruly pupils. They know they canhave pupils with a lawyer facing them, so they want to protect themselves.THE TIMES, LONDON***************----------------------------***************

NOW READ THE FOLLOWING STORY IN INDIA

| Saturday , September 15 , 2012 |

Death after 300 sit-ups in class- Teen with rod in leg pays with life for talkingOUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

Hyderabad, Sept. 14: A Hyderabad schoolboy diedafter being allegedly forced to do 300 sit-ups forchatting with classmates, with the teacher unrelentingeven after the 14-year-old pleaded that he had a rodimplanted in his leg.

Ismail Hussain died yesterday at a city hospital, nine days after the ClassX student came home from the ordeal at school and collapsed.

Hours after word about the death spread, a mob descended on the privateschool and damaged some of the furniture demanding action.

Mubin, the math teacher accused of having meted out the punishment,has been suspended, the authorities at Royal Embassy High School at

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Madannapet, located in Hyderabads old city, said.

Police said a case of rash and negligent act leading to death under the IPChas been started but the teacher is yet to be arrested.

My son was made to do 300 sit-ups for being negligent in lessons andchatting while the class was on, said realtor Mohammed SiddiqueHussain, the boys father.

Mubin initially asked Ismail not to talk in class but the warning wentunheeded, the police said, after which the teacher asked the teenager to

do the sit-ups.

The family termed the punishment inhuman and alleged that theteacher did not show mercy despite being told by the boy about thecondition of his limbs. The rod was inserted in his leg after a fracturesustained in an accident a few years ago while on a holiday in Dubai.When he came back home and fainted after the incident on September 4,Ismail was rushed to a nursing home nearby and from there to twohospitals over the past week, said K.N. Surya Prakash, inspector in charge

of Madannapet police station where the case has been registered.

We took him to Harmain Hospital at Falaknuma. When his condition didnot improve there, we shifted him to Deccan College of Medical Sciencesnear Charminar, and later to Princess Durru Shehvar Hospital where hedied yesterday, said Ismails mother Meherulnisa.

It is clear my boy died because of the inhuman punishment. Thepolice should take stern action against the teacher, father Ismail said,breaking down as he spoke to reporters at the police station yesterday.

A large crowd, including students of the school and their parents,took part in Ismails funeral procession today, as did representatives ofthe school. The police, having struggled to contain the rampage at theschool yesterday, beefed up security today to ensure the funeral wastrouble-free.***********************------------------------------------***********************