Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, 5 July 2002

Teacher dismissed over corporal punishment

BEIJING, Jul 5, 2002 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- A young primary school teacher in northwestern Beijing was dismissed after he administered corporal punishment to one of his pupils earlier this week.

Friday's Beijing Times reported that the 20-year-old teacher, identified only by his surname Ma, was the superintendent of a second-grade class at the Zhangbei Hope Primary School in outskirtan [sic] Sijiqing (Evergreen) township.

At a class on Wednesday morning, Ma allegedly pinched the arms and then kicked the buttocks of an eight-year-old boy, identified as Xiaozhi, when he found the latter dozing during his lesson.

That afternoon, the boy's father went to the school headmaster to make a complaint and also contacted the newspaper.

While the teacher called the morning incident a "mistake" and claimed he seldom hit his students, Xiaozhi alleged that he had earned punishments varying from hand-smacking to bottom-kicking just for giving wrong answers.

Though Ma promised not to touch his pupils again, the headmaster decided to dismiss him immediately, claiming that corporal punishment of pupils was banned in his school and it was the first time such an incident had been reported.

However, the boy's father, who said his son had been hurt psychologically and had developed a fear of school, insisted that the school make some financial compensation. He also said he would take legal action if necessary, the report added.