Teacher’s verbal abuse of girl leads to his firing

A middle school math teacher accused of verbally abusing a 13-year-old girl in class was criticized and fired by authorities in Shangluo, Shaanxi province, on Sunday after a recording of the incident sparked widespread fury online and an official investigation.

In a statement, the government of the city’s Shangzhou district said it had confirmed the verbal abuse by the Shaanxi Shangdan Gaoxin School teacher, only identified as Wang.

The district’s education bureau said that Wang’s teaching credentials have been revoked and that he faces further punishment after an investigation.

The government said Wang’s behavior amounted to a serious violation of the code of conduct for teachers, and that Wang, the school’s administrators and the education authorities should take the matter seriously, reflect on the incident and apologize for the trauma sustained by the student in question.

The statement came less than a week after the parents of the girl posted up to 20 hours of recordings online that were secretly recorded by the girl while she was scolded by the teacher between June 14 and July 5.

The recordings show Wang called her a “dead person” and a “b----” in front of the class multiple times, and called her parents “stupid” in the presence of other teachers.

The girl told Huashang News, a local newspaper, on Wednesday that she had often been humiliated by Wang in public and suffered physical punishments including slaps on the face and pulling of her hair.

Wang acknowledged using the coarse language but denied the physical abuse accusations. He said the abuse was an overreaction to being let down by the student.

The local education authorities launched an investigation into the allegations on Thursday.

They said on Sunday they will hand down harsh penalties to Wang in accordance with followup investigations and launch a thorough review of related management flaws.

Psychological counseling and a school transfer will be arranged for the girl to minimize any harm. A yearlong campaign aimed at rectifying teachers’ ethics will also be launched in the district this month.

Local media said the math teacher had apologized on Sunday in the presence of school administrators, local education officials and media, and had been pardoned by the student and her family.

“I will make every effort to help if you’re in need of help in life and study in the future, and I wish to be pardoned,” Wang was quoted by Shaanxi Television as saying.

Wang’s colleagues said they were shocked by the recordings, saying Wang was dedicated to his job, local media reported.

They said Wang had been awarded honorary titles including district teaching master and the school’s excellent head teacher.

China’s Teachers Law forbids physically or verbally abusing students, with penalties ranging from dismissal to criminal charges.

Feng Xianying, a lawyer with the Yingke Law Firm in Beijing, said verbal abuse of students is punishable by the Education Law and the Law on Minor’s Protection. “The acts could constitute crimes of insult and intentional injury if they lead to severe consequences in the children’s growth,” she said.