The headmasters of a primary school in Northwest China's Gansu Province were fired after two male students reportedly bullied an 8-year-old female classmate.
The incident took place on December 14, 2018 at the Yangzhuang Elementary School in Ningxian county. The girl surnamed Zhao was beaten by two of her classmates who pulled down her pants and poked her with a broom handle.
The two boys, aged 6 and 7, claimed the girl had stolen an eraser and didn't pay back one yuan ($0.15) she had borrowed from one of them, according to the notice released jointly by the Ningxian police bureau and local education authorities on Tuesday.
Zhao's injury was later discovered by her grandmother, who took her to a hospital where she was diagnosed with a "damaged vaginal wall." The elementary school then paid the girl's family 13,000 yuan to cover her hospital bills.
Ningxian police and the local education department and sports bureau conducted an investigation the following day.
Because the two boys are under 14, they will not be criminally liable under Chinese law. But their guardians were ordered to bear unspecified civil liability.
The case has exposed the county's lack of moral education to minors and poor school management, said a government notice released on Tuesday by the local police and the education department.
Yang Derong, the school headmaster, and Li Jihong, a deputy head, were fired.
Reports on the incident stirred Chinese social media, with some 6 million people having read them and left 5,000 comments as of press time.
Most Chinese netizens were upset at the official handling, saying it is too lenient on the boys, with some even joking that "the girl should seek revenge since she is a minor and free from being charged criminally anyway."
"Chinese minors protection law, in this case, failed to protect the most vulnerable, the poor girl. It is not fair that the two boys get to grow up after committing such sins. At least the parents of the boys should be seriously punished," Sina Weibo user "Duanzhu" wrote on Tuesday.
