CAIRO (AFP) - An Egyptian court on Thursday jailed a teacher for six years for kicking a schoolboy to death after he failed to do his homework, a court official said.

Maths teacher Haitham Nabil Abdel Hamid was convicted of manslaughter after kicking 11-year-old Islam Amro Badr in the stomach in the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria in October.

The boy fainted and died shortly after in hospital, with several students saying they saw Abdel Hamid kick Badr.

A coroner testified in court that Badr had four broken ribs, Egypt's Al-Masry al-Yom newspaper reported earlier this week, amid emotional scenes in court from the boy's family.

The teacher's lawyer was quoted as saying that, "Hitting (a child) is not banned in schools and my client did not break the law."