Story By: Ana Lacasa, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News

Teachers are warning parents about a trending challenge which reportedly sees youngsters slashing the backs of their hands with knives and scissors.

Picture Credits: CEN/ACAE & CEN/Google Maps

The challenge, known as “The ABC of the Devil”, which has already left 40 teens injured according to reports.

The latest trend allegedly sees students having the backs of their hands scratched by other youngsters, usually with fingernails and sometimes using scissors and knives, until they manage to go through the entire alphabet saying a word that begins with each letter.

The twisted trend was discovered in the Astures de Lugones secondary school near the city of Oviedo, in the north-western Spanish region of Asturias, after students allegedly began walking into class with strange wounds on their hands and wrists.

Teachers at the school are also scared the challenge could go viral and spread through schools in the country.

Teachers reportedly detected around 40 cases in the school and began asking the students where the strange cuts had come from.

Teachers later found that it is often enforced on other students by bullies.

Headmaster Mario Prendes told local newspaper La Voz de Asturias: “We started to see some kids were coming with injuries on their hands. One case can be accidental, but when we saw that it was starting to spread we decided to bring the kids in so they could tell us what was going on and they explained the game.

“It is a serious problem. There is a leader who, in order to keep his position as the leader, chooses the victims from among the weaker ones.”

The school authorities have reportedly decided to expel any students who are found with the injuries to their hands in the future, although this has caused controversy as some student say they were forced to participate in the game.