A 17-year-old student has been detained in Brazil after allegedly stabbing her teacher shortly after the educator marked the teenager’s Mathematics exam paper.
The incident occurred on Sept 11 at Dr Gerson dos Santos State School in Cametá, a city in northern Brazil’s Pará state.
Video footage of the incident showed the student standing near her teacher, Betânia de Almeida’s desk inside an empty classroom.
The teenager was then seen pulling out a knife and suddenly attacking the teacher.
De Almeida managed to evade the attack and attempted to wrestle the weapon away from the student during the struggle.
The footage also showed the student making another attempt to attack the teacher near her face before De Almeida managed to escape from the classroom.
The student was then seen chasing her teacher out of the room before being detained at the scene.
According to the Pará Civil Police, the teenager told officers that she attacked De Almeida because she did not like the teacher.
However, a family member of the victim told Brazilian news portal G1 that the attack occurred after De Almeida had finished marking the student’s examination paper.
The teacher was taken to Cametá Regional Hospital, where she received treatment and stitches before being discharged.
A computed tomography (CT) scan showed that the stab wounds had not caused damage to her internal organs.
Cametá-based lawyer Thays Cruz said the student, who is a minor, would face proceedings under Brazil’s Child and Adolescent Statute.
She said the alleged offence could be treated as equivalent to attempted murder, while socio-educational measures, including detention, could be imposed depending on the legal proceedings.
The Pará Public Education Workers’ Union condemned the attack and called on authorities to investigate the incident.
“Violence against education is violence against society as a whole,” the union said.
