Japanese student told to write essay promising not to fart in class

A student at a junior high school for special education in eastern Japan was instructed to write an essay promising not to fart during classes, with the composition then displayed in the classroom, school officials said Sunday.

“I will fart in the restroom during recess,” wrote the student in the special needs school in northern Tochigi Prefecture.

The student was told to write the essay in June last year by the teacher in charge.

Personal details such as the name and gender of the student and teacher were not revealed by the school.

According to the school, the student and teacher agreed on how to compose the essay and the student was not told what to write.

The essay also read: “If I break my promise, I will run 10 laps” in the running area in school grounds.

The student was never actually ordered to run, the school said.

Later that same month, the essay was removed from display after an objection that the action taken was inappropriate.

The school said it was a problem to restrict something as natural as farting and said the action, which amounted to punishment, was “excessive”.

The incident was not reported to the prefectural education board until late March this year.

An official of the board pledged that an incident of this kind would not happen again.