A primary school student in Keelung, Taiwan was humiliated by her homeroom teacher, who, in front of the entire class, used rubber bands to tie her hair into a "sky-high ponytail" while she stood on the classroom podium. The entire class laughed for nearly 5 minutes, but the student, despite struggling, was forcibly restrained by the teacher and had the rubber bands yanked out, leaving her in tears. After learning of the incident, the parents accused the teacher of constant unreasonable demands and bullying, severely affecting their child's psychological well-being and academic performance, and sued both the teacher and the school for compensation. After trial, the court ruled that the teacher and the school should jointly compensate the student and parents NT$375,850 (approximately RM48,000), with the verdict open for appeal.
According to the judgment, the student (referred to as A) in a private elementary school in Keelung, in June 2023, was ordered without cause by the teacher to stand in the center of the classroom podium. In front of the whole class, the teacher pulled her hair and tied it into a "sky-high ponytail" with several bento rubber bands, and even challenged, "If you dare to move, I'll tie another one."
Subsequently, the teacher forcefully removed one of the rubber bands, causing the whole class to burst into laughter. A tried multiple times to struggle and escape, but was forcibly restrained by the teacher until all the rubber bands were removed. A cried due to pain from her hair being pulled and the humiliation she felt. Her parents, upon finding out, were furious and filed complaints with the school and initiated legal action.
Additionally, the parents complained that the teacher, under the pretext of discipline, repeatedly prevented A from attending regular classes, required her to do extra corrections outside of classroom assignments, and forced her to stay in the classroom during other classes and lunch break for correction work, writing penalties, and copying. This long-term infringement on her right to learn left her unable to keep up academically. The teacher also often tore up her homework book citing messy handwriting, severely affecting her mental and physical health and leading to pessimistic, self-denying, and giving-up attitudes towards learning.
The parents also accused the teacher of falsely accusing their child of stealing classmates' belongings. When A denied the accusation and asked for surveillance footage to clear her name, the teacher retorted, "I don't want to waste time on you. I can tell from your eyes it was you," causing her to cry every night, be unable to focus on studying, and requiring multiple psychological counseling sessions and neurofeedback training, indicating serious psychological trauma.
The teacher argued in court that A had a significant lack of motivation and poor attitude towards learning, and that on the day of the incident, A disrupted class and repeatedly cursed. After unsuccessful attempts at reprimand, the teacher admitted to losing self-control and punished her by tying her hair.
The teacher also argued that this was a 'single isolated incident', that they had over 35 years of teaching experience with consistently excellent performance reviews, had actively supported and guided students to win awards in competitions, and that it would be unfair to put all responsibility solely on them. The teacher also said they felt deep remorse after the incident, suffered both mentally and physically, experiencing symptoms such as waking up at night, hand tremors, and rapid weight loss, for which they sought psychological treatment. The teacher emphasized that they did not attempt to shirk responsibility and were sincerely apologetic to the student.
Upon review, the judge found that the teacher had subjected A to long-term improper verbal and physical discipline as well as bullying, causing severe psychological damage that impeded healthy personality development. In order to help heal the trauma and guide proper personality development, A's parents needed to accompany her for psychological counseling and neurofeedback, making substantial extra efforts and providing emotional support, resulting in their own physical and emotional suffering. The ruling ordered the teacher and school to jointly pay A NT$375,850 in compensation; claims beyond this amount were deemed unsubstantiated, and the parents' request for NT$500,000 (approximately RM63,900) was rejected. The case can be appealed.