On November 24th, a video of a teacher brutally beating students at a school in Hejin, Shanxi Province, went viral online, sparking discussions and outrage.
The video, released by the mainland media outlet “Shenghuo Bang,” showed a teacher at the Fourth Middle School in Hejin, Shanxi, publicly beating two students in front of a large group of students, labeling them as “troublemakers.”
In the video, over a hundred middle school students dressed in blue and white sports uniforms were lined up on the sports field. Two male students, one tall and one short, stood in front of their classmates. Beside them, a male teacher in black clothing appeared to scold the students loudly. The teacher then grabbed the shorter student’s hair, kicked him from behind, slapped his head with force, followed by a punch, a kick to the chest, another slap, and more hair pulling. He proceeded to repeatedly hit the taller student on the head and pull his hair… Two female teachers were seen standing nearby, watching.
In response to the incident, the local education bureau stated that the school is handling the matter. The school initially explained that the students were repeatedly disrespectful to the teacher and that it was requested by the parents, who were allegedly present behind the students.
The video and the school’s response caused a heated discussion online. Netizens expressed disbelief, questioning if it was acceptable for the school to physically punish students in front of parents. Some comments included, “I don’t believe parents would ask you to grab the hair and verbally insult children,” “Blaming parents as a shield, the child was greatly insulted in front of so many students!” “If parents ask you to kill someone, would you do it?” “This is not a reason,” “Even if parents ask, it’s not acceptable! What a world.” “It really hurts the children’s self-esteem. It’s speechless!”
On the following day, the school issued a statement clarifying that this incident was from three years ago. The school has taken appropriate actions against the teacher involved. Netizens questioned, “What actions were taken?”
Overall, the disturbing video of the teacher’s violent behavior towards students has raised concerns about the treatment of students in schools and sparked a conversation about the proper way to discipline students without compromising their dignity and respect.