Student Directed To Bang His Head Against a Wall 80 Times for Punishment

Pupils of Wopengtun Village Elementary School attend a Chinese class on April 19, 2006 on the outskirts of Baicheng City of Jilin Province, China. In a school in Henan Province, children revealed that their teacher was punishing them by making them hit their head against the wall if they missed math problems. (China Photos/Getty Images)

A mathematics teacher of Yutong primary school at Chaigou Village, Huiguo Township of Gongyi City, Henan Province was very “strict” with the pupils. The pupils were punished by having to bang their heads against the wall ten times for each mistake in mathematics. Thirty-six pupils have been punished, and one schoolboy had to bang his head up to 80 times in one class. The parents poured in their denouncements of this practice and received an apology from the school.

According to Da He News, the math teacher surnamed Li at Chaigou Village Yutong Primary School constantly abused students when they had mathematical problems. Mr. Liu, a parent of a student at the class, said recently his nine-year-old daughter often cries and complains of having headaches. His daughter said that she was often punished by being made to bang her head against the wall to pay for her mathematical mistakes. She made a record of hitting 60 times, which was not to be counted unless the sound of banging could be heard.

The 36 students collectively refused to bang their heads against the wall, generating a feeling of terrified unrest in the math class. The parents of the students also insisted that the unkind teacher was too harsh.

Most of the children dared not tell the facts to their parents. Only the bump on one child’s head led to the truth being exposed.

Xiaohua, a student of the class said that, in addition to rewriting the item corrected by teacher Li ten times, they have to hit their heads against the wall ten times for each mistake.

Xiaohua said, “I hit the wall up to 80 times in the last class.” Another schoolboy said that he got a headache and was even sick nearly to the point of vomiting when he suffered the corporal punishment.

A parent surnamed Yang said, “It is too brutal to punish students by having them bang their heads against the wall. How can we deal with the serious consequences that may occur?”

Li Yanli, the principal of the primary school, was astounded by such a punishment. She said, “Because the math proficiency of the students in that class is insufficient, the teacher applied this extreme approach to facilitate improvement.” “It is not appropriate,” said principal Li. “The school will apologize to every parent and guarantee to ban the punishment.”