‘Not giving up on a good teacher’: parents back educator fired for beating students with a stick over rude gestures
- The parents of 44 out of the 47 students in the class appealed to the school to let the teacher stay, arguing they are satisfied with her performance
- A woman whose daughter is one of the students punished says the teacher is not to blame and that she had acted ‘impulsively’
A primary school teacher in southern China who was fired for administering physical punishment to more than 10 students but later asked to stay on by dozens of parents is at the centre of online debate on mainland social media.
The Primary Two teacher at a school in Dongguan, Guangdong province, was sacked after she disciplined a group of students she said had made inappropriate finger gestures in class. Guangdong TV reported that the teacher told the students to perform a martial arts squatting stance for an extended period while she beat them with a stick.
The report did not identify the teacher, and it was not reported whether the punishment injured any students.
When the school responded by firing the teacher, the parents of 44 out of 47 students in her class appealed to the school to let the teacher stay, arguing they were satisfied with the teacher’s overall performance.
A woman whose daughter was one of the students punished said she did not blame the teacher for her actions and said she had acted “impulsively”.
“My kid communicates with me every day about what happens at school,” said the woman, whose name was not published in the report.
“I am happy to give this teacher another chance to correct her mistakes.”
Another parent, a father who was also not named, said the teacher should stay.