Court fines teacher for hitting student on the hands

Seoul, Feb 18 (Yonhap) A Seoul court ordered a highschool teacher to pay damages for hitting a student on thehands, giving her bruises and inflammations, officials saidtoday.

The Seoul Northern District Court ordered the 52-year-oldfemale teacher, identified only by her surname, No, to pay herformer student 2.54 million won (USD 2,280) in compensationand medical expenses, court officials said.

The student, identified only by her surname of Jo, hadrequested 25.47 million won in damages after No repeatedlybeat her on the hands for frequent absences, tardiness and fornot doing her homework properly. She was beaten about 40 timeswith a wooden cane in November 2008.

"Corporal punishment is not allowed unless it isunavoidable for educational purposes," the court said. "It isillegal to use physical punishment for repeatedly being lateor absent or for not completing assignments properly."

However, the teacher''s responsibility was limited to 90percent, considering the disciplinary nature of the punishmentand the extent of damage caused to the student, it added.

(Yonhap)