Chinese kindergarten teacher suspended for organising bare-knuckle boxing bouts among pupils
Teacher thought fights would control the excessive energy of a group of naughty boys, newspaper reports
A kindergarten teacher in eastern China has been suspended after she organised bare-knuckle boxing matches among pupils to “deal with their excessive energy”, according to a newspaper report.
Five boys were injured after they were told by their teacher to battle it out last Friday, the Yangtse Evening Post reported.
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The veteran teacher, whose full name was not given, has been suspended from the nursery school in Nanjing in Jiangsu province, the article said.
The incident came to light after parents found their children were bruised and injured. One child’s spine was knocked out of alignment in the fighting, according to the newspaper.
“I asked him whether he had again been in a fight with others at school and he said it was the teacher who told him to do it,” an unnamed parent was quoted as saying.
The report said the teacher wanted to try a new approach to stop naughty pupils’ rough-and-tumble play.
“Suddenly an idea popped up in my mind. Given that you were all so energetic, I would opt to let [them] practise boxing with each other to see who would win,” the teacher was quoted as saying.
A representative of the local education bureau told the newspaper that it was an unprecedented case.
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“We have various approaches to teaching children, but this ‘method’ is definitely unacceptable and can be viewed as a sort of corporal punishment,” the representative was quoted as saying.
Education experts told the newspaper that while there was no malicious intent behind the teacher’s actions, the priority was ensure children were not hurt, physically or mentally.
