Primary schools accountable for teachers they hire

A primary school student in the rural area of Linyi, East China's Shandong province, was reportedly beaten up by a female teacher. The boy said his teacher hit him on the head and face with a rod in the classroom, and then asked him to squat in her office, where she kept beating him. He was diagnosed with light concussion. A local online news outlet Jschina.com.cn comments:

The school authority admitted the teacher had thrashed the boy and promised to give her "due treatment". But this does not sound a satisfactory solution. Many similar cases of physical mistreatment of children in primary schools in China have been exposed recently. Innocent, as well as vulnerable pupils, turned into victims of some teachers' uncontrollable anger.

However, the education authorities have seldom coped with these incidents properly. They delay or avoid taking action, hoping to escape public attention, till the media reports the abuse.

Besides the cruel teachers, whose fault is that the students suffer such torture? The Ministry of Education has adopted regulations that forbid any physical punishment of children in schools. The quality of some teachers recruited by schools is worrying. Schools should be held accountable for the staff they hire. More should be done to regulate teaching certificates and strengthen the psychological evaluation of teachers before allowing to them to teach children.