China considering law to bar teachers from insulting students: report

BEIJING (AP) - China's parliament is considering a law that would bar teachers from insulting students after widespread complaints of classroom humiliation, a news report said Wednesday. The measure would "ban teachers from insulting and physically punishing their students," the Xinhua News Agency said. It said the ban was part of an amendment to a law on child protection being considered by the National People's Congress.

Violators could be fired or given administrative punishments, Xinhua said. It didn't say how the measure would define insults.

A survey last year by an official youth committee found that "Chinese teachers often humiliate their pupils," the agency said.

It said the study found that "81.45 per cent of primary school students listed insults from teachers as their most serious problem."

A 17-year-old student committed suicide in 2004 after being humiliated by a teacher in front of her classmates, according to the report.

© The Canadian Press, 2006