A teacher in Xiangtan, Hunan Province, has been suspended after physically assaulting and verbally abusing students who couldn't answer questions, the city's education bureau said on Thursday. The school's headmaster was also removed from their position.
A video widely circulated on Wednesday showed a female teacher wearing a brown down jacket reprimanding a female student in an office.
After the student fails to answer her question, the teacher becomes visibly agitated and slaps the girl in the face. She then continues to scold the student with abusive words, saying: 'I'll beat you to death! Are you blind? Study, do you deserve to study?'"
The teacher subsequently pinched the face of another boy who had come to hand in his homework, and pulled the previous girl's hair back and forth violently. She finally threw her book to the floor and barked at her: "You're such an idiot."
On Wednesday night, after a preliminary investigation, the Education Bureau of Xiangxiang, a county-level city under the jurisdiction of Xiangtan City, confirmed that there was indeed physical assault and verbal abuse by the teacher as shown in the video.
The bureau has temporarily suspended the teacher and an investigation is underway. Meanwhile, professionals have been arranged to provide psychological counseling for the students, the local education authority said.
The students involved are sixth-graders at a primary school in Lishan Town, Xiangxiang City, while the suspended teacher is their math teacher, according to the parents in the school's WeChat group.
