Eyewitnesses said the boy was singled out in assembly by his headteacher at the school in Pakistan and beaten on his head, face, and back – he died in hospital a few hours later
A 10-year-old boy has died after being beaten to death in front of the entire school by his headteacher.
Year 6 pupil Khyalmat Khan was struck repeatedly with a rod by headmaster Waqar Ahmed in a private school in northern Pakistan yesterday – and succumbed to his injuries in hospital only a few hours later. According to local police, the boy was singled out during an assembly, brought in front of his classmates and beaten on his head, face, and back. Eyewitnesses said the punishment had been given over a ‘minor’ mistake. The headteacher was later arrested, and an investigation has been launched into the boy’s death.
The incident unfolded in the Jamrud area of Pakistan’s Khyber tribal district.
Khyber District Police Officer Rai Mazhar Iqbal said: “Violence against children and women will not be tolerated under any circumstances.
“No one has the right to misuse the noble role of a teacher to commit such brutality. A teacher is a spiritual guardian, but this man has dishonoured the sanctity of the profession.”
Corporal punishment was outlawed in Pakistan in 2021, though is still understood to continue in some schools. The ban followed a series of high-profile incidents of children being beaten to death in schools, workplaces and religious settings.
Pakistan has the second largest population of children not in school in the world, estimated at around 24 million. According to campaigners, many cite being beaten by teachers as the main reason for them deciding not to attend.
Last month, former lawmaker Mehnaz Akber Aziz said the country needed a “comprehensive set of measures” to completely stamp out the practice across the country, arguing that “laws alone are not enough”.
She proposed public education campaigns, training for teacher and child helplines as a number of measures to combat corporal punishment.
Ms Aziz wrote in The News: “School should be a place of hope and opportunity, where children are safe to learn and develop the skills and experiences they need to thrive.
“Corporal punishment is incompatible with that vision. Making the physical and degrading punishment of children unlawful should be central to the efforts to tackle illiteracy and poverty.”
In 2021, an eight-year-old boy died allegedly beaten to death by his teacher for not memorising a lesson at a school in Vehari city, Punjab.
And in 2020, an eight-year-old girl working as a maid in the capital Islamabad was beaten to death by the family she served after she accidentally allowed their pet parrots to escape.