Teacher jailed for calling girl student ‘black’

Prosecutors in Egypt’s coastal province of Damietta has ordered a schoolteacher jailed for four days pending further questioning on charges of racial discrimination and bullying in a case that has riveted the nation’s media.

The Arabic-language teacher reportedly called a schoolgirl “black” in his class at a preparatory school in Damietta. Basmallah Ali, 14, burst into tears and stopped going to school for several days. “The teacher then mocked her by asking: ‘Did the word hurt you that much?’” the girl’s mother said. (Staff Report)