London, Apr 16 (ANI): Special school teachers in Britain have been forced to wear body armours to deal with punches and bites - in classrooms.

They are also paying for the vaccinations to deal with bites in classrooms.

The annual NASUWT teaching union conference heard that arm guards designed for use when training dogs, and jabs against tetanus and hepatitis B are as indispensable to some teachers as red ballpens.

"For colleagues in special schools and specialist settings such as pupil referral units, these are often daily occurrences," the Daily Express quoted Suzanne Nantcurvis, of the NASUWT teaching union as saying.

She said biting was recognised as a big issue and risk assessments often called for arm guards to protect teachers.

However, with tight budgets, she said, "this type of item may well go down the list of priorities."

"In fact I know of members buying their own arm guards," she said.

"I sat in the staff room of a special school listening to teachers nonchalantly talking about their daily experiences of being kicked and bitten and their visits to hospital ­outpatients departments," she added.

The number of suspensions has also drastically increased because schools find it difficult to permanently expel the students.

Sir Alan Steer, a retired headmaster, who conducted a four-year investigation into school discipline, blames the violent trend over badly behaved footballers.

He called for a ban on TVs in children's bedrooms and more "parenting contracts" to manage unruly children, with fines up to 1,000 pounds for those who fail to do so. (ANI)