The school principal who ordered his students to clean the school garden and then beat up twelve of them for quitting the task early has been suspended until the investigation is completed.  The incident happened in Silifke, a district of Mersin in the eastern section of the Mediterranean region of Turkey. The principal hit the hands of the students with a big pair of compasses until they were injured and needed medical attention.

“The public prosecutor should act every time there is a situation that involves every kind of exploitation and negligence against children and puts in jeopardy their mental, physical, moral and spiritual development.”

Topuzoğlu: The sentence increases by half when a person obligated to give protection commits a crime

Dinçer: Students cannot be forced to do “Arms zone cleaning”

Alaaddin Dinçer, the head of the Education and Science Workers’ Trade Union, said that the teachers do not have the authorization to force students to do “Arms zone cleaning.

“The goal must be the utmost benefit of the student”

Topuzoğlu also said “these activities can be organized in order to have the students embrace the principle of ‘let us make our environment livable’, but the criteria should be the utmost benefit of the children.”  

Different approach between the newspapers Mersin Yaşam and Radikal

While daily Radikal printed the names and the pictures of the students, the local newspaper Mersin Yaşam chose to hide the identities of the students, only publishing the picture of their injured hands. (TK/GG/TB)