Daily Mail
November 1, 2013
A ten-year-old boy has died after a teacher ‘told him’ to jump from a building.
The Chinese youngster, named as Jun Jun, fell 30 floors to his death after failing to write a self-criticism letter demanded by his teacher.
The fifth-grade primary school student had been told to write a 1,000-character apology by his teacher, Miss Chen, for talking in class.
His devastated parents have now launched a campaign against the extreme pressure put on Chinese students.
Neighbours say the 30-year-old teacher told him to jump out of a building after he didn’t do the task.
‘Teacher, I can’t do it,’ was found written in one of his textbooks, along with ‘I flinched several times when I tried to jump from the building.’
The child smashed into a parked car beneath the flat where his family live in Jinjiang district.
Due to China’s strict one-child policy, it is likely Jun Jun was the couple’s only child.
His family have posted a banner outside the school in the southwestern city of Chengdu saying ‘The teacher forced our kid to jump off the building’.
‘The police investigation is still under way,’ an official in Jinjiang district said, refusing to comment further, the Hindustan Times reported.
The boy’s school said today on its verified account on Sina Weibo, a Chinese equivalent of Twitter, that the child and some of his classmates had been ordered to write reviews of their behaviour after they disturbed a speaking competition.
He died ‘by accident’, it said.
Strict discipline is an essential part of China’s education system and culture, and tradition demands deference to authority, putting children under pressure to obey instructions.