School should be held responsible for teachers' behaviors

The discipline master in a middle school in Taiping town, Yuanyang county, Henan province was detained for raping a female student and forcing her to have an abortion. The victim's family received a ridiculous response when they asked the country bureau of education to hold the school accountable. A related official at the bureau said, "If it happened in a wild area, would you ask us to hold the wild area accountable?" The bureau argued on Nov. 3 that it had never said such a thing as "holding the wild area accountable." However, the victim's family confirmed that the official who made the ridiculous response was sitting in an office of the bureau, and the staff there called him director.

Behind the ridiculous remarks of arrogant and overreaching officials is often the lack of responsibility. Being raped by the discipline master is already a painful experience for the left-behind female student, but the local education official ruthlessly rubbed salt into her wounds by making the ridiculous response.

The school is not a wild area, nor is the education bureau. Even if the tragedy occurred in a wild area, the school was also to blame because it was one of its teachers who committed the crime. Can the school really get away with hiring a lecher? Is it wrong for the victim' s parents to ask the education bureau to hold the school accountable?

Schools are not the guardians of students, but have a duty to protect and supervise students. They have legal obligations to teach, manage, and protect underage students, and should assume civil liability and provide adequate compensation to victims if underage students are harmed or have harmed others due to their failure to fulfill the obligations.

Nobody can "hold the wild area accountable," but the victim's family can totally ask the education bureau to hold the school accountable. If the bureau gives them the cold shoulder and even exonerates the school from all responsibility, they can ask the local government to hold the education bureau accountable.