Anhui teacher tried to use bribes to molest pupils, report says

A 12-year-old Anhui pupil, identified by the Beijing News as Xiaoling, never dared to take the 1-yuan bribe from her teacher after the many times he allegedly groped her in the school’s dark storage room.

Neither did her seven female classmates at San Shui Jian School who had been sexually harassed by the teacher, Mr Xu, in the past three years, reported the Beijing News  on Thursday. The pupils were offered 1 to 5 yuan each time when Xu harassed them, the report said.

When Xiaoling finally overcame her fear and told her father, Li Jikou, Li was outraged and heart-broken.

After notifying the police, he and other parents went to Xu’s house to confront him.

Xu never answered the door, so the parents smashed his window and left.

Xu tried to kill himself by swallowing pesticide afterwards, said his wife. He survived the suicide attempt. Xu was later arrested and charged with “acting indecently against a child”, said the Beijing News.

Li, saddened by what the teacher did, said he would do everything to make up for the damages done to Xiaoling.

“She would often wake up from nightmares,” he said. “The mental wound will be hard to cure.”

Middle-aged Xu had appeared nice and honest, said the father of another victim, Xiaomei.

“We never saw this coming,” he said.

Xu was fired from his post after his arrest. Wu Xiaoping, head of the education department at Anhui’s Wuwei county, said the headmaster of San Shui Jian School would face “severe punishment” for negligence.