A Hebin Elementary School teacher from Changzhou, Jiangsu province in China was slapped with serious warnings on Wednesday for misconduct, after one of her students committed suicide on 4 June 2020.
Parents Accused Teacher of Misconduct
Parents of the 10-year-old student, Miao Kexin accused the teacher Yuan Dengmei for insulting their daughter, indirectly causing her death from jumping off the fourth floor of a school building.
According to reports, the family viewed CCTV footage from the school and saw Miao running out of the classroom in distress after her Chinese writing class.
Following the incident, Miao's parents demanded a thorough investigation of their only child's death. They claimed that their daughter would never have committed suicide if not for Yuan's abuse.
Preliminary investigations by local education authorities did not show that the teacher verbally or physically abused the student on the day of the suicide.
Yuan was, however, found to have twice urged Miao to rewrite the essay.
The conclusions were drawn after investigating three teachers, 45 students and six parents, in addition to a 115-page written report.
Dissatisfied of the findings, Miao's parents took to Chinese microblogging service, Weibo, to express their suspicion towards Yuan and urged eyewitnesses to come forward.
They alleged that Yuan criticised one of Miao's essays, commenting that it lacked "positive energy". Large chunks of Miao's writing were also crossed out without explanation nor giving advice for the revisions.
Former Students Reported Abuse by Teacher
According to China news outlet The Paper, officials later confirmed that Yuan had previously slapped Miao in the face.
The 10-year-old's tragedy has sparked widespread outrage as netizens condemn the teacher for her misconduct, saying that the teacher is deserving of punishment.
Some of Yuan's former students—who have now graduated—also reported similar incidents online. They had been verbally and physically abused by Yuan years ago.
Feng Hongwei, an ex-student of Yuan said to China Daily that Yuan insulted him frequently even if he did not make any mistakes in his schoolwork.
"She took off my pants and spanked me once. One of her colleagues also witnessed that she poured tea on my face. It still hurts me deeply though many years have passed," the now 26-year-old said.
Yuan later admitted in a written explanation that she slapped Miao's face in October after finding she missed some homework and did not perform well academically.
Teacher in China Disciplined for Misconduct
Reports also confirmed that Yuan ran private writing classes after school for profit and violated the work ethics of teachers.
She also encouraged students' parents to pay for extra lessons.
For her misconduct, Yuan was demoted from her current post at the Hebin Elementary School and all her illegal earnings from the writing classes will be confiscated, according to the district's educational bureau.
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