Teachers protest against violent students

More than half of the teachers in a high school in Ludian county, Yunnan Province walked out of classes to protest on the school's playground on Tuesday morning, saying their security cannot be guaranteed following two recent attacks on teachers by students.

Dozens of faculty members in Ludian No.1 High School gathered to protest against the school's insufficient punishment of students who humiliated and attacked two teachers, a teacher surnamed Ren told the Global Times.

"Every teacher is worried about their safety, so we decided to take some time off and suspend classes en masse," read a notice texted by teachers to the students' parents.

On Monday, a male ninth grader surnamed Yang punched his history teacher after the teacher reprimanded him several times for sleeping in a morning class. The teacher received treatment for an orbital fracture, according to a statement of the Publicity Department of Communist Party of China Ludian County Committee on its official Sina Weibo Tuesday.

But the only punishment imposed on Yang was to be sent home for a lecture by his parents, said the text.

Although an official surnamed Xie with the county's education bureau told the Global Times that classes resumed on Tuesday afternoon, an anonymous student and Ren told the Global Times that students just studied by themselves in the classrooms, with lectures resuming on Wednesday.

In an earlier incident, four 10th graders swore at their class advisor on November 28 after the advisor attempted to discipline them. Two of the students were allowed to attend school under supervision, while the other two got warnings, said Xie.

"The class advisor is also our chemistry teacher. The students threatened to kill her, which made her cry all night," the anonymous student said.

"It is unbelievable that the students are so impudent to insult teachers," Ren said.

In response to the protest, the deputy head of the county and officials of the education bureau held a meeting with teachers at the school on Tuesday, promising to seriously punish students who broke school disciplines and protect the teachers' rights and interests, news portal thepaper.cn reported Wednesday.

Xie denied spreading speculation that low salary levels were also a factor in the protest, saying that none of the teachers talked about salaries during the meeting.

In late November, teachers in several cities and counties in Heilongjiang Province staged strikes, demanding a raise in salaries.