Principal Resigns For Hitting Pupil Who Had Knife In School

[PeterCriss]

Principal Resigns For Hitting Pupil Who Had Knife In School

by Beth on Friday, August 2, 2013

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Schools in the Osaka region have recently been plagued by numerous problems, including reports of corporal punishment that drove a student to suicide. Generally, netizens have been shocked by the darker side of Japan’s school system, but in this article, which details the case of a school principal who hit a 6th grader around the head for bringing a knife to school and threatening other students with it, the comments on 2ch side firmly with the principal. Should the principal have resigned over the incident? Or should the punishment for students fit the crime?

From Yomiuri Shimbun:
School Principal Resigns After Being Reprimanded For Hitting 6th Grader Over The Head For Threatening Other Kids With Knife

On July 31, the Osaka Municipal Education Committee announced the on July 25 they had punished a principal (62) from a municipal high school in Miyakojima ward for having hit seven children around the head.

The prinicipal resigned from his post voluntarily on July 31, saying that “I had intended to teach them something. I’ve reflected very deeply on this matter”. According to the education committee, in May the principal had discovered that a boy in 6th grade had brought a knife to school and had threated other chidren, while six of his classmates who had been with him had failed to inform teachers about the knife.

The principal called the seven boys to his room and hit each of them over the head. None of the seven boys were injured; however, the education committee reprimanded the teacher, saying “Taking on board what happened in the suicide over corporal punishment at Sakuranomiya High School in Osaka, when we aim to guide children without depending on physical violence, then we are deeply responsible when a member of the school’s management raises their hand to a child”.