Despite being protected in the constitution, laws and ministerial decrees, children in Egyptian schools are still subject to corporal abuse, with one of the latest cases involving the flogging of a 10-year-old child 40 times for speaking in class.
Child rights, legal expert and president of the Egyptian Association for the Assistance of Juveniles and Human Rights, Mahmoud al-Badawi told Aswat Masriya that school becomes a "heavy burden" for children who are subjected to beatings in class.
"First they hate their teacher, then they hate the school itself," Badawi said. As a result, schools fails on both fronts, the educational one and in building character. The child grows to become "abnormal" and "uneducated," Badawi said.
He added that in other instances, children grow to become hostile members of society because growing up they were in a state of "bitter hostility" in school.
Similarly, lawyer Ahmed Meselhy, the head of the lawyer’s syndicate committee for the protection of children believes the "effects of violence are horrible" and that it will create violent citizens, who are also "violent at work” and "violent with their wives."
"Its effects are destructive to the personality" and will reflect on society itself, he added.
While article 80 of Egypt's 2014 constitution says that "the State shall provide children with care and protection from all forms of violence, abuse, mistreatment and commercial and sexual exploitation," school beatings occur daily, Meselhy said.
The cases, however, are usually underreported, says Badawi who has spent 16 years working in the field. Given how poorly documented cases are, any figures provided will not reflect reality, he said, adding that based on his experience, about one in four cases are reported.
Badawi recalled an incident where a girl was sexually harrased by her teacher but her family chose not to report the case for fear of tarnishing the girl's image and pressure from the teacher's family.
