About 20 parents and students on Thursday staged a protest in front of the Ministry of Education in Taipei, demanding stricter punishment for a teacher who allegedly assaulted a student in his class in May.
The demonstrators held up white banners that read “Good teachers bring a nation to power. Unfit teachers harm the nation. Ministry of Education save our children,” and expressed outrage that National Taiwan College of Performing Arts lecturer Lee Tung-chun (李菄峻) was not fired despite the incident being caught on video.
“Lee Tung-chun kicked the female student like he was kicking a sandbag ... but he was only given a major demerit,” said Tai Shih-hsiang (戴士翔), a parent and a representative of the protesters.
Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times
He said Lee received only a major demerit because other teachers were protecting him.
A student protester said that once a teacher uses corporal punishment, they can use it again.
No one wants to be kicked and no students should be treated this way, the protester added.
Surveillance footage from the school shows 36-year-old Lee, who teaches Hakka opera at the college, kicking a female student in the stomach and back five times, and slapping her head and face several times during a class rehearsal.
The kicks were so forceful they sent the student flying across the floor.
The incident was widely reported by the local media and caused public outrage, forcing the teacher to issue a public apology in May.
Chiu Tung-po (邱東坡), director of the Office of Personnel at the Ministry of Education’s K-12 Education Administration, said that schools are responsible for the discipline of teachers and do not have to forward their decisions to the ministry for approval.
However, the ministry will contact the school and look into the matter, Chiu said.
College chief secretary Wang Hsueh-yen (王學彥) said in a telephone interview on Thursday that the school’s teacher evaluation committee found that Lee did not injure the student and therefore did not find him unfit for the job.
Lee was given a major demerit by the committee, whose chairperson was appointed by the school’s teachers’ association, Wang said.
“It is not something the school can intervene in,” Wang said.
The school did not favor one side over the other in handling the incident, he said, adding that everything was dealt with according to the review mechanism.
Asked whether Lee would continue to teach next semester, Wang said the decision lies with the Department of Hakka Opera.
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