Chinese teacher physically abuses students, even suspends them upside down as punishment

A male teacher in Longjiang, Zhejiang, caused a public outcry after video clips of him physically abusing several primary school students in class surfaced online.

In a series of CCTV footage taken last Friday (Dec 27), the teacher could be seen repeatedly hitting two male students on their back with a ruler. He then turned his fury towards a female student, slapping her and dragging her towards the front of the class.

At one point, he was even shown lifting a female student by her legs, suspending her upside down before he proceeded to continuously hit her with a ruler, not stopping even after a part of the ruler snaps from the impact.

According to China Press, the entire ordeal spanned at least five minutes while the other students cowered in fear, desperately covering their ears.

Authorities were alerted to the situation after the video went viral.

In a statement released on Sunday (Dec 29), the relevant authorities of Longjiang have identified the teacher and suspended him while further investigations and questioning are being carried out.

Meanwhile, psychiatric help has been provided to the students affected.

This is not the first case of abuse by teachers in China.

Just a month ago, a father assaulted a kindergarten teacher after witnessing her slapping his daughter first-hand. He subsequently won the support of the Internet for protecting his daughter. 

Yet another month prior to that, another teacher made headlines for forcing students to swallow literal garbage from the trash.

Earlier in March, a teacher came under fire for forcing students to repeatedly slap themselves as punishment, one of them receiving 58 slaps in total. 

rainercheung@asiaone.com