Corporal punishment is prohibited in schools but a male teacher, 26, yesterday felt the wrath of his principal after he was seen sitting in the staffroom at the institution, at a time when the school head thought he should have been in the classroom.

Information reaching THE STAR is that the young man, who has been teaching at the prominent Clarendon primary school for less than two years, was sitting in the staffroom at 11:45 a.m. when the principal saw him and inquired why he was not in class. The teacher reportedly told the principal that he was waiting for his shift to begin. Things, however, took a turn for the worst after this intial conversation.

"The principal took a big brown broad strap and started hitting me. All now my foot is in pain. I am going to the police station 'cause he is very rude; my foot is in pain," the scolded teacher told THE STAR while crying.

The young educator continued that when he received the first two strikes, he initially thought it was being done jokingly. But after the third one, he realised that the principal was very serious. It was at this point the teacher said he started to rebel, verbally, against his strapping.

The teacher said he did not retaliate in a physical manner because he was trying to remain professional in addition to remaining true to his Christian beliefs.

"He (the principal) said to me that if I want to call THE STAR I can call them," the teacher noted.

He also said that another teacher witnessed the incident but he does not know if any of the students saw.

Since the incident, the flogged teacher has thought about reporting it to the police but the other teachers are discouraging him, as the school's reputation will be dragged down.

When contacted, the principal would not say much about the specifics of the incident.

"It wasn't an altercation, the teacher was to be in class and he wasn't. I said to him 'you should be in class'. He got boisterous and I reprimanded him," the principal said.

Asked whether or not he used a strap to reprimand the teacher, the senior school official responded: "I had a strap in my hand, something really happened but I don't think I want to make a report to the media."