#trending: Mother of 8-year-old boy in China who dies after fall alleges that teacher ignored his pleas for help

CHINA — An eight-year-old boy's unfortunate fall in school, which eventually led to his death, was thrust into the spotlight after his mother recently posted about his teacher’s alleged negligence on Chinese social media. 

Guo Rui Chen, who died in November 2020 from a coma induced from falling down the stairs, had apparently raised his hands numerous times in class because he was feeling unwell, but was met with alleged indifference from his teacher. 

The tragedy, which took place in Fuzhou city, the capital of China’s Fujian province, was detailed by his heartbroken mother with surveillance footage on microblogging site Weibo on Feb 6.

In the footage, the third-grade student could be seen raising his hands seven times in a span of 10 minutes as he was apparently feeling unwell.

However, he was repeatedly ignored by his teacher, known as Ms Bao, and was told on his seventh try to bear with it and rest his head on the table, classmates who witnessed the interaction said.

The lesson continued for 20 minutes after that. The class was extended for an extra 10 minutes, Guo's mother said as she detailed a chronology of events based on surveillance footage she managed to obtain from the school. 

After class, the boy was seen on the footage crying and not being able to walk straight.

The mother wrote: “Ms Bao was fully aware that my child was not feeling well, but did not notify parents or any medical staff members. She only wanted to quickly send the child out of school to get off work.”

While going down the stairs, the boy, unable to find his balance, tried to hold onto the railings for support. Although the teacher helped Guo down the stairs, his mother claimed that he was yanked away from the railings and scolded for crying. 

Tragedy then struck when the boy lost his balance and fell backwards, hitting his head, the mother said. The moment when he fell was not captured on closed-circuit television camera, because it had apparently happened at a blind spot, the school said.

In her Weibo post, Guo’s mother claimed that Ms Bao did not immediately call the ambulance. 

Instead, Guo’s father did so when he heard about the bad fall from a classmate.

In her Weibo account, Guo’s mother questioned why the teacher did not follow the procedures of taking the child’s temperature when he reported sick and why there was no attempt to inform his parents. 

Guo's mother also said that the boy's father would have gone to pick up the boy immediately since he was already waiting outside the school.

She added that after Guo was taken to a hospital, the doctor said that the boy had suffered irreversible damage to his brain due to oxygen deprivation.

He was hospitalised for 280 days and nursed at home for another 190 days before dying in the hospital, his mother said in another Weibo post.

She called on the school and teacher to take responsibility for the incident: “Fuzhou City Hubin Primary School bears a major responsibility that cannot be shirked in this incident… the teacher, Ms Bao, has completely neglected her duties.” 

The account of the incident, which received 6.7 millions views on Weibo, has outraged Chinese social media users.

They wanted the teacher to be held responsible for her perceived disregard of the child’s pleas for help. 

One wrote: “You must defend your rights to the end!” 

Court proceedings of the case is ongoing and a second hearing was held last Thursday (Feb 9).

Staff members of the education bureau in the Gulou district of Fuzhou city told reporters that the child had pre-existing health conditions and that his death was not related to the fall, China News Weekly reported. 

The mother of the boy has disputed those claims in a Weibo post, saying that her son had always been healthy.