CAIRO - Egypt's Prosecutor-General Abdel Meguid Mahmoud Thursday referred a schoolteacher to a criminal court on charges of child abuse. The nation was shocked upon seeing the teacher in a video clip savagely beating 25 children in a daycare centre in the Delta Governorate of Gharbiya. The first hearing session of his trial was set for May 28. The teacher, identified as Magdi el-Shaar, had been arrested and questioned by local prosecutors for beating up the children attending the centre, which has been closed down upon orders by the Minister of Social Solidarity. El-Shaar, who could not deny a child abuse charge because the incident was video tapped and shown at the Youtube, insisted that physical abuse was the best means for straightening out children and teaching them specially after the January 25 revolution. "Beating and corporal punishment are the best means for disciplining children specially after the January 25 revolt," el-Shaar told the prosecutors, who ordered his detention for four days pending further interrogation. Police said that they had arrested el-Shaar in connection with abusing the children, who were filmed by an unknown veiled female worker at the centre. The film showed el-Shaar canning the children on their head and hands because they did not complete a home assignment he had given them. El-Shaar's case was the latest in a spate of child abuse in Egypt this year. "The children do not deserve this, nobody deserves this in post-revolution Egypt," a mother said. However, working mothers have objected to the Minister's decree ordering the closing down of the facility, which accommodates up to 150 children during the day. “It was a very popular daycare centre and did very well in serving working mothers. Now, we do not know what to do with the children after it is closed down,” one mother complained. But, she said that penalties for child abusers should be tougher. Meanwhile, the Ministry has sent a fact finding team to question the centre officials about the incident and write an appraisal report about the staff members working at the facility. The Ministry will decide to re-open the centre or keep it closed depending on the team's findings and recommendations, an official said. About two years ago, a male teacher was arrested an tried for attacking preparatory pupil with a stick for being late in leaving the school after the end of classes. The teacher, who is serving a six-year prison term, faced assault charges for beating up the 13-year-old boy. He smacked the victim so hard that he inflicted cuts and bruises on his body. The victim, who sustained two broken ribs and severe bruises and cuts in his back, died in a hospital two days after the incident.
