Egypt Teacher Detained for Beating Student over Hijab

An Egyptian elementary school teacher has been arrested for allegedly beating a girl and cutting off a lock of her hair because she was not wearing a hijab, an official said Tuesday.

The staff member, who teaches religion in the Fayum province west of Cairo, was detained on Monday for a period of four days pending an investigation, the prosecution official added.

The teacher allegedly beat the fifth grade student before using scissors to cut off some hair because she turned up to class without the Muslim headscarf, which is not part of the uniform in state schools.

A teacher in Cairo beat a schoolboy to death earlier in March.

Corporal punishment is common in Egyptian schools, where official negligence was blamed for the deaths in late 2014 of two children in accidents involving badly maintained equipment.