When teachers become bullies

A BOY was in high spirits, reciting a popular poem in front of his class as his teachers filmed him.

Everything went smoothly until the two teachers got annoyed with his classmate who covered her ears with her hands. Perhaps his voice was too loud for her.

Unhappy with the girl’s behaviour, which the teachers deemed to be an “eyesore” in the video clip, they scolded her, using words like “I’m sick of you” and “get lost”.

The video, believed to be from Dec 31, was made to celebrate the New Year and to be shared with parents of students in the class.

An edited version, with the reprimand highlighted, was sent to the teachers–parents group chat.

The intention of sharing the clip was unknown, but it is widely believed that the teachers were showing the girl’s parents that their daughter was misbehaving while trying to claim credit for “a job well done”.

They were wrong. The parents felt otherwise.

One of them wrote a long message, questioning if shaming a seven-year-old in front of her classmates was what education is all about.

“I felt bad watching the video... I don’t mind if you correct the students’ mistakes, if any, but is this how you educate the young?

“How would you feel if your daughter faced the same treatment? Kicking the desk, saying “disgusting” and pointing fingers at the girl – is this how professional educators communicate with children?” asked the parent.

The teachers dismissed the group chat and set up a new one.

Soon, the video clip went viral on Chinese social media sites and triggered an uproar among the netizens, who shared the same view as the parents.

The three-minute clip was filmed in a Year One class at Beijing Chaoyang No.2 Experimental Primary School.

It began with a boy reciting Man Jiang Hong, a poem written by infamous army general Yue Fei (1103–1142) from the Southern Song Dynasty. In this video, it is seen clearly that the girl was covering her ears.

But she was not the only one. A few other students did the same, but the teachers singled her out as she sat right in the middle of the front row.

“Today is a joyful day, you make me sick. You look at the video yourself, it is all about you being an eyesore.

“Let your parents see this, let other parents see,” said one teacher while her colleague added: “Other parents will be annoyed seeing you.”

The teacher went on to ask: “He was performing and you were covering your ears, is that respectful?

To this the class answers with a loud “no”.

The teachers then asked the girl to move to the back row, but she did not budge.

“Get up, don’t make me drag you. If you stand up yourself, I will not show this video to your parents. If you don’t and need me to drag you, I will send to them.

“Make it quick, don’t waste our time,” one of them threatened. Her classmates also asked her to move.

On seeing this, a teacher said: “See, you have triggered anger against you, do you want the whole class to dislike you?”

Unable to make the girl go to the back, one teacher suggested she exchanged seats with the classmate next to her.

The student sat still.

Then one of the teachers turned to the class and asked: “Are they sitting close to each other? If I ask them to change, it will not affect her at all right?”

The class replied in the affirmative and the student finally moved from her sitting place.

Responding to public criticism, the 69-year-old school – with some 450 teachers and 7,000 pupils in eight campuses – apologised for the incident.

In a statement, the school said the Chaoyang education bureau had sent a working team to investigate the matter.

The two teachers involved – the class teacher and her assistant – had been suspended, it pointed out. It added that counselling sessions had been arranged for the girl.

China Daily in a news report said teachers were given the authority to mete out punishment to students, according to an Education Ministry guideline.

However, the teachers should not verbally abuse students or ask them to punish their peers.

Man Jiang Hong (The River All Red) is a poem Yue Fei wrote to express his hatred for the Jin tribe and his wish to recoup the north-eastern lands.

Yue Fei’s most popular story was that he had a tattoo of four Chinese characters jing zhong bao guo (serve the country with utmost loyalty) on his back.

Yue Fei is regarded as a hero who led an outstanding army troop under the “Yue” banner to fight the invasions of Jin Empire that ruled the north-eastern region from 1115 to 1234.

But his 10 years of sacrifice at the war zone was lost in a flash after he failed to get the support and back-up from the corrupted Song government, which insisted on a peace negotiation with the Jins.

Soon after, Yue Fei and his son were convicted of a fabricated crime and executed.