Japanese high school teacher in hot water after forcibly giving male student a buzz cut

Both students and their parents have petitioned for his resignation.

Not too long ago, teachers from a Japanese school made media headlines when they went to the extreme of cutting off 44 students’ hair for not meeting the dress code. And it appears a similar incident has happened again, this time in Kudamatsu Technical High School in Yamaguchi Prefecture.

In late autumn last year, a male teacher in his forties allegedly grabbed an electric hair clipper and gave one of his first-year male students a buzz cut, causing the boy take a leave of absence from school shortly after.

▼ When approached by the principal in December,
the teacher claimed he did it because his hair was too long.

But it seemed the problem ran deeper, as the educator had often hurled verbal abuse at his homeroom class, calling them “morons”, “idiots” and “stupid”, earning him a stern reprimand from the principal. When classes resumed in January after the New Year holidays, the teacher’s personality had apparently changed for the better, an improvement the principal thought not important to warrant reporting to the local Board of Education.

But all 40 pupils of that class and their parents had not forgotten that the educator forcibly cut someone’s hair, and furiously launched a petition to the board in February this year calling for his disciplinary dismissal.

In an effort to appease them, a meeting between school, Board of Education, students and parents was held on 15 March, where the teacher officially apologized for his mistakes.

▼ “Forcibly cutting students’ hair amounts to corporal punishment,”
a board spokesman said firmly.

The educator’s role has now been shifted from homeroom teacher to assistant teacher, away from tasks that involve student-teacher interactions. “The current situation is still under investigation, and we will consider the feelings of the parents and students with regards to the teacher’s future,” said the principal.

“I deeply regret that it has come to this. I failed to report to the Board of Education because I thought the issue was solved with the teacher correcting his behavior, but I should have done so,” the principal apologized.

While this case is certainly not as bad as that teacher who punched his pupil in the face, it is still unacceptable behavior, a fact the educator seemed to have realized. And with more and more students fighting to protect their hair at school, hopefully the incident has taught the teachers a lesson.

Source: Nikkan Sports via My Game News Flash
Top image: Pakutaso
Insert images: Pakutaso (1, 2)
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