Rina Khan hit the six-year-old boy so hard ruler snapped in half
A teacher in a Birmingham primary school used a ruler to hit a student on the head with such force it snapped in half, a court heard.
Rina Khan, of Milton Road, Smethwick, was teaching Maths to Year Two pupils when she lost her temper with the pupil.
The incident, which involved the 41-year-old calling the six-year-old boy a “muppet” when he answered a question incorrectly, took place on March 20 this year.
Peter Arnold, prosecuting, said that the youngster was seated at his desk when the assault occurred. He added: “To put it neutrally, and there may be an issue as to what caused all of this, she was having problems with him.”
Mr Arnold added that Khan had been standing behind the boy when he answered a question incorrectly.
“The defendant was upset about that and the long and short of it is that she had a plastic ruler in her hand and she hit the boy on the top of his head and the ruler broke,” Mr Arnold said.
“It is for that short action you are brought here to court. What she did was unlawful.”
When asked about the attack, the boy said it had hurt, and Mr Arnold added that the boy had been left feeling “sad and scared” after the incident.
An experienced classroom assistant who had been aiding Khan in the lesson said that she had heard the teacher shouting and the shouting escalated. In a statement she said: “I looked up again and a piece of ruler flew across the room.”
The teaching assistant said that, after being hit, the youngster had put his hand on his head and the defendant then told her that it hadn’t been her intention to hit him with such force. The classroom assistant said she had put a cold compress on the pupil’s head later.
Mr Arnold said that Khan’s account described her as having “tapped” the boy’s head with the ruler and that, though it had snapped, it had not done so due to the force exerted by her.
Khan has denied a charge of child cruelty and common assault. The trial is on-going
