Brno - School principals and headmasters may dismiss teachers for humiliating children or using minor corporeal punishment.
The Supreme Court released the ruling on Thursday. The court also confirmed that objectionable educational methods are a serious breach of labor discipline.
Judges considered the case of a physics teacher from Benešovsko who pulled students by the hair, flipped them upside down and had them kneel on the ground.
"The Convention on the Rights of the Child guarantees that discipline in school is given in a manner that respects human dignity," said Supreme Court Chairman Mojmír Putna in announcing the ruling.
The case came to light in 2005 when the elementary school dismissed its physics teacher immediately. According to school officials, the teacher used "incommensurate methods and coarse language in front of students" in his eighth-grade class.
The teacher - in addition to hair-pulling and flipping students - made one female student kneel on her desk and on a platform. He also forced one of the girls to bring peas from home and she had to kneel on them.
As a result, school authorities were notified and the teacher was dismissed immediately.
Naughty children, headmaster to the rescue
The teacher instituted legal proceedings in which he asserted that his offense was not so serious as to deserve immediate discharge.
The Benešov District Court initially agreed with him. "Currently the education and schooling of children at these ages is problematic," read the verdict of the Benešov court.
The Prague Regional Court, however, ruled last year in favor of the school. Now the ruling, which defends the principal's decision to dismiss the teacher immediately, has been sanctioned by the Supreme Court.
In his defense, the teacher asserted that children in the elementary school behaved unacceptably and irresponsibly. In his view, his conduct was reasonable because the students were constantly disrupting class and not paying attention.
According to the Supreme Court however, that is no excuse for humiliating the children.
