China: Teacher isolates boy with cancer from rest of class thinking his disease might be contagious

Beijing, Nov 27: A primary school teacher in China recently faced a serious flak after he made a child suffering from cancer sit alone at the back of the class and barring him from taking examinations like everybody else. Oddity Central reported.

The teacher was reportedly dismissed for his act.

According to the report, the languages teacher was unhappy ever since the unwell 13-year-old boy named Zhou was transferred to Liancheng Primary School in Quanzhou in Fujian province in September so that he could stay closer to his parents even while receiving chemotherapy treatment for Non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The teacher though that the child's health condition could be contagious. In fact, apart from him, several other guardians decided to withdraw their children from the school following the boy's transfer. This made the teacher take the extreme step of isolating the boy from the rest of the class and put him at the back and even stopping him from appearing in examinations.

Zhou initially did not tell his parents about his ordeal thinking it would worry them but after missing three exams, when he returned home with no mark, his parents asked what was the matter and the boy had to reveal the truth.

The teacher was subsequently suspended as the school's vice principal and the authorities started a probe into matter and it was demanded that the teenage boy be allowed to take the examinations like the rest of the class. His father also posted the photos and videos of his son's isolation in the class on Chinese social media platform Weibo and they went viral in no time with people sympathising with the boy and condemning the teacher, the Oddity Central report added.