A classroom confrontation in Brazil left people stunned after a 17-year-old student allegedly pulled out a hunting knife and attacked her math teacher inside an empty classroom.
On September 11, the incident was caught on camera, showing the teacher fighting to get away from the teenager.
The teacher survived the attack and was treated at the hospital.
Highlights
- A 17-year-old student in Brazil allegedly attacked math teacher Betânia Almeida Prestes with a knife.
- The teacher survived the attack and received stitches for the wounds.
- Because the suspect is a minor, Brazilian authorities are handling the case under juvenile law.
“Arrest with prison time,” one user wrote.
A teen student allegedly pulled out a hunting knife and attacked her teacher
The incident happened at Dr. Gerson dos Santos Peres State School in Cametá, Pará, Brazil, on September 11, 2026.
Security footage showed the student and teacher, identified as Betânia Almeida Prestes, together inside a classroom. The teenager can be seen standing near the teacher’s desk before suddenly pulling out a knife and moving toward her.
According to a Pará Civil Police report, the weapon was a hunting knife.
The teacher fought back and tried to grab the student’s hand. During the struggle, she was stabbed in the back before managing to get out of the classroom.
The student was still at the school when police arrived and was taken into custody.
According to the reports, she told officers that she attacked the teacher because she “didn’t like” her.
Other reports said the student did not give officers a more specific reason.
After the attack, the teacher was taken to the hospital, but her injuries were not life-threatening
A CT scan showed that the knife wound had not damaged any vital organs, and she received stitches. Local reports said she was later discharged from the hospital.
The school and education authorities also addressed the incident.
The Union of Public Education Workers of Pará condemned the attack and called for action over violence against teachers.
The union said, “Violence against education is violence against all of society.”
Pará Civil Police is investigating the case, with the Conselho Tutelar, Brazil's child-protection authority, also involved because the suspect is a minor.
Because the student is 17, Brazilian law treats her differently from an adult accused of a crime.
Cametá-based lawyer Thays Cruz explained that a minor is not treated as criminally liable in the same way as an adult and could instead receive a socio-educational measure.
Given the seriousness of the alleged attack, Cruz said confinement could be considered.
“Here, we use the term ‘socio-educational measure’ for any penalty imposed on a minor who commits a crime,” Cruz said.
She added that because of the seriousness of the alleged attempted homicide, she believed a measure involving confinement could be applied.
As soon as the footage went viral online, the incident turned into a debate
The footage prompted a large number of reactions online, with one user writing, “Justice! For the teacher, this teenager, she knew perfectly well what she was doing! Enough of all this, what's going on, parents?”
Another said, “Education comes from home, and now they will surely tell you the teacher was to blame”
A third said the student should be arrested with “prison time,” while others said the teachers should start carrying some “pepper spray.”
Others, meanwhile, mocked the student, saying, “The student suffers from post-class depression.”
One agreed, writing, “I had post-anything depression and was going through hormonal issues, problem solved”
This isn’t the first recent case of a student attacking a teacher
The Brazil attack comes shortly after another disturbing school stabbing case in Wales, where a pupil was sentenced for attacking a teacher with a knife.
On February 5, 2026, a student at Milford Haven Comprehensive School in Pembrokeshire followed history teacher Vicki Williams into an empty classroom after asking her to check his homework.
The boy, who was 15 at the time and cannot be named for legal reasons, pulled a kitchen knife from his bag and stabbed Williams in the head. She told the court that she feared she was going to d*e.
During the trial, the teenager was acquitted of attempted m*rder but found guilty of wounding with intent, per BBC.
On September 13, Judge Paul Thomas KC sentenced him to four and a half years in youth detention.
The judge described it as “pure luck” that Williams had not suffered much more serious injuries.
“What I do know for certain is that you took a knife that day to school because you wanted to really hurt her with it.”
The court also heard that a significant degree of planning was involved. Williams suffered injuries to her head, back and hands and said she did not know whether she would be able to return to teaching.
She told the court, “My fellow teachers and I don't deserve this because we work so hard.”
The case also raised concerns about possible copycat attacks. Judge Thomas noted that it was the second case in south-west Wales in two years involving a pupil stabbing a teacher, referring to the 2024 attack at Ysgol Dyffryn Aman.
Netizens shared their reaction after the incident went viral
