Story By: John Feng, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Asia Wire Report
Video Credit: AsiaWire
This controversial video seen more than eight million times shows a laughing male teacher wiping down the faces of upset girls with a cloth after they ignored a boarding school’s no makeup rule.
The clip filmed at an as yet unnamed secondary boarding school in China’s south-western Guizhou Province shows the teacher standing next to a bucket of water while the young girls who are turning up for the new term at the boarding school wait in queues in front of him.
The clearly upset pupils who have their luggage with them are not even given a chance to drop off their belongings, and many of them are still clutching bags and pulling suitcases when they are stopped at the front gate.
The footage shows the group of girls standing in front of the teacher, who takes the rag and scrubs it on one girl’s face, wiping off her makeup before dipping it into the bucket and moving on to the next pupil.
This happens as a second male teacher films the bizarre scenes outside the secondary school, helping to point out which pupils’ faces need to be tackled.
The teacher’s actions were reportedly a response to the school’s existing no-makeup policy for its pupils.
When the girls still turned up all done up, school staff reportedly decided to enforce the rule.
Members of the public commenting online were in general support of the school’s no-makeup policy; however, many took issue with the teacher’s methods.
A teacher at the school revealed some “70 to 80 percent” of its pupils board, and that they had “tried in vain to send repeated reminders to students about the dress code”.
However, when that failed to stop pupils from putting on makeup, the teachers took matters into their own hands.
The spokesman said: “Some might feel our methods are a little extreme, but it shows that we’re taking responsibility for our pupils.
“And now less of them are wearing makeup because they know we’ll wash their faces with a cloth.”
On social media, ‘Yangyang Xiamu Meiyou Huangli’ wrote: “Isn’t it normal for secondary schools to ban makeup? What’s all the fuss about?”
‘Wo Tiaoguoqu Jiushi Yige Huodixuan’ said: “Remove their makeup – sure – but using one cloth and one bucket to wipe all the girls’ faces is far too dirty.
“Couldn’t you have asked them to use their own towels or makeup removers?”
‘Caomengde Sijiushan’ commented: “Pupils should be like pupils, but teachers should be like teachers too.”
The ViralTab page is created by and dedicated to professional, independent freelance journalists. It is a place for us to showcase our work. When our news is sold to our media partners, we will include the link here.
