Recently, in Puning, Guangdong, a primary school student vomited due to feeling unwell, but the teacher asked the student’s parents to come to the school to clean up the vomit. The parents found this request absurd. The incident sparked a significant response online. The local education bureau has responded to the matter.
On January 8th, as reported by News Night Flight, a female student at a primary school in Puning, Guangdong suddenly felt unwell, turned pale, and uncontrollably vomited, splashing filth on the desk and floor, with a pungent odor quickly spreading.
The student’s parent received a call from the teacher saying that their daughter, who was still at school, vomited due to feeling unwell directly onto the desk, making a mess of the desk.
Upon hearing this, the parent was extremely worried and concerned about the child’s health. To their surprise, the teacher showed no concern for the child’s condition and instead asked the parent to come to the school and help clean up the vomit.
Without saying much, the parent quickly grabbed a cloth and rushed to the school. Upon arrival, they found that the child had already wiped the mess off the desk at the teacher’s request, but the teacher still wanted the little girl to move the desk outside to wash.
The report mentioned that the parent was helpless. Setting aside whether the child could even move the desk, the key point was that the child had just vomited and was still weak, yet the teacher requested such a strenuous task from her.
However, without much ado, the parent took over the cleaning, wet the cloth with water, and wiped the desk several times. After the desk looked clean, the parent took the child to the hospital.
Afterwards, the parent felt more and more that the teacher’s behavior was inappropriate and shared their experience online. This sparked a heated debate among netizens, focusing on whether parents should be asked to do such tasks.
Some netizens believe that the teacher could have easily handled the situation or could have arranged for other students to help, instead of insisting that parents make the trip to the school.
This news caused quite a stir locally. Personnel from the local education bureau responded, stating that the teacher did not need to request parents to come to the school for this matter. They are currently in communication with the school, and the principal is investigating the incident. The specific course of action will depend on the developments.
Some online comments stated that when faced with a student’s sudden illness, the teacher should promptly and properly take action to ensure the student’s safety and health. However, in this case, the teacher chose to ask parents to clean up the vomit, failing to demonstrate the responsibilities and human care that educators should uphold towards students.
Furthermore, from the perspective of home-school collaboration, parents and schools should be close partners. However, in this incident, the teacher completely shifted the responsibility onto the parents, requiring them to come to the school to handle the student’s vomit, undoubtedly deepening the gap and misunderstanding between home and school.