Teacher banned from the classroom after hitting pupil with a ruler

A teacher who hit his student with a ruler was banned from teaching for life.

Farooq Ahmed, 58, was issued a police caution and banned from teaching indefinitely after attacking an unidentified student at Oasis Academy Lister Park in Bradford on November 24, 2023.

He was also found guilty of pushing and kicking the chair in which a second student was sitting.

The incident was recorded on CCTV from inside the classroom and was investigated after two female students approached the school’s deputy principal about the attack. Less than three months had passed since Mr Ahmed started teaching at Oasis Academy on September 1 that year.

He was suspended from his duty on 27 November.

West Yorkshire Police subsequently gave the senior teacher a conditional warning for assault by beating, contrary to section 39 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988. On the same day, January 15, 2024, he resigned from his teaching position at the school.

An investigation by the Teaching Regulatory Authority, completed last month, found Mr Ahmed had “fallen significantly short of the standards expected of the profession”.

The report concluded: “The panel is satisfied that Mr Ahmed’s conduct involved a breach of the responsibilities and duties set out in the legal guidance ‘Keeping children safe in education’.”

“The panel found that Mr Ahmed’s conduct fell significantly short of the standards expected from the profession.”

Mr Ahmed denied hitting the student during the investigation and said the ruler he was holding at the time “may have brushed” the student’s hand.

However, the panel found that CCTV contradicted Mr Ahmed’s claims and clearly showed the teacher making a “deliberate movement of the ruler” towards the student.

The panel’s findings stated: “The panel carefully observed the CCTV footage and noted that towards the end of the footage Mr Ahmed tapped a ruler which appeared to be making contact with Student B’s arm.

“Recently, the ruler had been taken by Mr Ahmed from a student sitting nearby. Prior to this incident, the panel noted that Mr Ahmed appeared to be in an agitated state, wandering around the classroom, standing unnecessarily close to students, and demanding school equipment from them in a confrontational manner.”

Although he later apologized, the board found that Mr Ahmed posed a significant risk to the teaching profession and banned him from teaching indefinitely. He has the right to request a review of the restraining order after two years.