Teachers threaten to strike after boy blinds teacher with laser

Teachers said yesterday that they were prepared to strike over a boy who shone a laser pen in the eyes of a member of staff. All 16 members of the National Association of Schoolmasters/Union of Women Teachers at Bristnall Hall High School, in Oldbury, West Midlands, voted to take industrial action if they were required to teach him.

The boy, who has just completed his mock GCSE exams, was yesterday taught in isolation by the head. Sandwell local authority is to pay for an extra teacher to provide one-to-one tuition for him from today. The dispute began when the boy, who was expelled for temporarily blinding a male teacher with a laser pen, was re-instated by an independent appeals committee.

Nigel de Gruchy, the union's general secretary, said there had been several attacks on teachers with laser pens but this was the first case in which the pupil had been reinstated after an appeal. He said: "These pens are readily available and relatively cheap. Unless we take action to stamp out these incidents, they will spread."