[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Soyoung] Since the 1st of this month, all physical and mental punishments inflicted on students in China have been banned.
According to AFP on the 2nd (local time), as cases of students suffering from corporal punishment or verbal abuse at Chinese schools leading to extreme choices have continued, punishments causing physical and mental harm to students have been prohibited. This includes not only corporal punishment but also long periods of standing and verbal abuse.
Instead, for students who do not complete homework, punishments such as writing reflection essays or cleaning the classroom are given, and for serious violations of school rules like bullying, official disciplinary actions such as suspension are recommended by Chinese education authorities.
Corporal punishment was banned in China in 1986, but due to lax enforcement, a custom of tolerating it had become entrenched. As a result, teachers frequently slapped students or made insulting remarks, and there were reports of students being humiliated in front of classmates and subsequently taking extreme actions.
In September last year, the state-run Xinhua News Agency reported that a 10-year-old girl in Sichuan Province in southern China died from aftereffects after being dragged by a teacher and hit on the head twice for getting math problems wrong.
Also, according to China Daily, in Jiangsu Province last June, Miao Kexin, a 5th-grade elementary student, was slapped by a teacher who said her composition lacked "positive energy," humiliating her in front of friends, leading her to take her own life.
Afterwards, the school explained that "there was no fact of the teacher verbally abusing the student," but investigations confirmed that the teacher had physically assaulted the child. It was also revealed that the teacher had previously used violence and made insulting remarks toward students.
Meanwhile, China’s highest legislative body, the National People's Congress (NPC), is scheduled to enact a new Family Education Law banning corporal punishment at home during its meeting this weekend.
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