Video emerges of teacher hitting vocational student in classroom

A male teacher in an Attica vocational school has been suspended from duty after a video emerged on Friday showing him hitting a female student in a classroom.

In the video, the teacher is seen hitting the girl – who is reportedly 16 years old – twice. First he slaps her and then pulls her hair before throwing her to the ground, where he hits her again. The girl’s classmates then rush to protect her and attack the teacher. One of the students hits the teacher with his hands and feet and then tries to attack him with a chair.

Following the incident, which a student in the unidentified school recorded on a mobile phone, a group of students smashed up the teacher’s car, overturning it.

After his colleagues tried to protect him from angry students by locking him in a room, the teacher reportedly fled the school. He was subsequently arrested and led before a prosecutor on Friday morning.

It is unclear when the classroom assault took place. The video of the incident was broadcast on the T-Live program on private broadcaster Alpha on Friday.

Speaking to a reporter, the girl said there was a verbal confrontation with her teacher because he had marked her absent from class. He had been recording her absent from class for no reason, she said.

When they were informed of the incident, education officials suspended the teacher.