BEIJING: A mother in China claimed her son now has vitiligo, a chronic autoimmune condition that results in patches of skin losing pigment, after a teacher slapped the boy in the face for not doing homework.
The mother, surnamed Huang, said she took her son Liu, 11, to the hospital after noticing his face was swelling badly.
Liu, a pupil at Yifu Primary School in southwest China’s Yunnan province, told his mother that a teacher had hit him in front of the class.
The boy said the teacher brought him to the front of the classroom because he had not completed his mathematics homework.
Then, the teacher slapped the right side of the boy’s face three times and the left once.
Three months after the incident, he began to lose pigmentation on parts of his skin.
While the exact causes of vitiligo remain unclear, researchers suggest that environmental stress factors may contribute to the onset of the condition.
A staff member from the school told the Chinese media outlet Benliu News that the boy has been diagnosed with vitiligo.
The school is currently awaiting the results of a police investigation and a forensic injury assessment to determine appropriate actions against the teacher involved.
The report did not identify the gender of the teacher.
The mother said she had been unable to contact the teacher after the hospital had sent the bill for the treatment.
She said she is still waiting for the teacher or school to reimburse her.
Vitiligo patients often face discrimination due to misconceptions that the disorder is contagious.
According to the National Institutes of Health, individuals with vitiligo experience anxiety or depression at higher rates than the general population.
This increased risk may stem from challenges in social situations, making it difficult for them to feel accepted and blend in with others.
Online observers were outraged by the incident.
“How could a teacher hurt a student so badly without receiving any punishment for three months?” asked one person on Douyin.
Another person said they believed in mild physical punishments, such as a time-out to discipline naughty students, but added: “Slapping a boy in the face is a step too far”.
China’s law on the protection of minors bans corporal punishments from teachers.
The incident in Yunnan was not the first time inappropriate discipline from a teacher in China has sparked controversy.
Last year, a primary school teacher in central China’s Hunan province reportedly hit a nine-year-old girl on her head with a triangular ruler, which cracked her skull bone and required an operation.
The police detained the teacher for intentional assault. - South China Morning Post
