BBC Monitoring, 23 September 1998

No smacking in Saddam's schools

Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein has said that teachers should not resort to physical punishment in dealing with pupils. Following is an excerpt from a report by Iraqi television.

Leader President Saddam Hussein, may God preserve him, has said that teachers should be enlightened on two matters.

Firstly, a teacher is an educator, not only an instructor who teaches reading, writing and other subjects. The teacher should also be an example of good conduct.

Secondly, a teacher should also remember that, in today's world, physical punishment should not be on the agenda of the relationship between teachers and students to make a student follow the right path.

Teachers are forced to resort to physical punishment, although this method is painful for both teachers and students.

His excellency made these remarks while chairing the 32nd session of the Council of Ministers.

His excellency was commenting on a statement made by the minister of education to a weekly newspaper, in which the minister gave instructions on physical punishment in schools and in which he spoke about fund-raising to rehabilitate schools.

The minister underlined the importance of adhering to the relevant instructions on methods of fund-raising and using them to achieve education and practical objectives...

BBC Monitoring, based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.