‘Hold it in’: Chinese boy, 8, dies after teacher ignored his numerous ‘hands up’ classroom pleas for help thinking he needed the toilet
- Boy from China’s southeastern Fujian province who fell into a coma had tried to alert teacher he was unwell, but was ‘ignored’, mother says
- Online observers pour scorn on school and call for boy’s mother to ‘defend her rights until the end’
The story of an eight-year-old boy who fell into a coma and later died after his numerous pleas for help from a teacher in a classroom went unheeded has outraged mainland social media.
The incident, that took place in 2020 in Fuzhou City, the capital of China’s southeastern Fujian province, re-entered the public eye after his heartbroken mother posted a message on Weibo on February 6 about the tragedy.
In 2020, Ruichen was a third-grade student at a primary school in Fuzhou.
On the morning of November 5, the youngster felt unwell in class and raised his hand several times in an attempt to get the attention of the teacher, who ignored him.
After Ruichen raised his hand for the fifth time, his teacher, Miss Bao, told him “to hold it in until the end of class”, thinking the boy needed the toilet.