Amos Atlantis

SHANDONG, China – In a case of corporal punishment gone wrong, a student from Wujing Junior Middle School in Linqu, Shandong froze to death outside the school’s hostel last week.

Shin Min Daily reported that 14-year-old student Zhang Jixin was made to stand out in the cold as punishment for going out to buy titbits for his school mate.

Zhang was caught by one of the teachers on the evening of Dec 17, trying to climb the dormitory wall, the Wuhan Evening News reported.

The teacher who punished him allegedly forgot about about his charge and went drinking with his friends.

The boy ended up standing for the entire night in temperatures of minus 10 degrees celsius, and collapsed in a ditch outside the hostel.

During initial investigations, the school denied responsibility and a teacher allegedly said the boy "died very comfortably".

Student witnesses say that when the teacher found out that Zhang Jixin had slipped out of the hostel, he reprimanded him for breaking the rules and struck him a few times before making him stand outside the hostel.

Later, he went out drinking, and forgot to ask Zhang to return to the hostel.

However, the two teachers on duty that night denied that they went drinking. They even said that Zhang was found "lying with his head to the east and feet facing west", had a peaceful look on his face, and "died very comfortably".

Netizens in China expressed outrage at the callous response of the teachers, and the provincial government called an emergency meeting to resolve the issue.

China Daily reports that two school principals were suspended from duty. Yang Guangsheng, principal of Wujing Junior Middle School in Linqu county of Shandong province, and vice-principal Wang Dongping, were relieved of their posts on Tuesday night for poor school management.

However, Linqu police said Zhang’s death was accidental.

"We tend to believe Zhang’s death was caused primarily by unknown health problems. But there’s still a possibility that the freezing contributed to his death," police said in a statement.

Police said Zhang was found lying in the gutter, wearing dark jackets and sports pants with cotton-padded underwear.

He was carrying two packs of instant noodles and some candies in his pockets.

Zhang was widely known to be honest and quiet in his home village.

In an interview with local television on Sunday, Zhang’s father was crying hard over his son’s death.

An insider told the local media that the family would negotiate a compensation with the school rather than go to court.