A MOSQUE teacher has admitted hitting pupils with a plastic overflow pipe to stop them misbehaving in class.

Married father-of-eight Ibrahim Yusuf, 52, of Preston New Road, pleaded guilty to four charges of assault while he was taking a lesson at the Grimshaw Street mosque.

Yusuf, a mosque teacher of 36 years, responded to some unruly behaviour in his class by striking four boys, including one with learning difficulties.

He struck out with a thin flexible two-foot long piece of pipe which was used as a teaching aid.

Part of the incident was captured on CCTV. Two boys aged 11 were hit.

Another was hit on his arm and one on his lower back.

One of the boys was upset and told his mother who found a red mark on his back.

Yusuf told police that he had been waving the pipe around to control the class and it had struck the children.

He said that he used it as a pointing stick and to tap on the desk to get the attention of the pupils.

The mosque has a ‘no hitting’ policy.

Punishment should be through exclusion or detention.

Yusuf has taught at the Grimshaw Street mosque for 10 years.

He was bailed by Hyndburn magistrates for the prepa-ration of a pre-sentence report.