Education ministry to deal with sports teacher accused of bullying

Taipei, Dec. 2 (CNA) Taiwan's Ministry of Education (MOE) on Monday issued an apology and pledged to re-examine the case of a teacher accused of bullying students at National Taiwan University of Sport, after a prominent lawmaker drew attention to the issue.

Taiwan People's Party (TPP) legislative caucus leader Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) held a press conference with a former student identified by his surname Wu (吳), an apparent victim of alleged bullying that occurred before Wu graduated from the school this year.

At the press conference, the teacher, a department head surnamed Hung (洪), was accused of verbal abuse as well as violent and threatening actions that included sticking a knife into a desk and kicking down a door.

"Over the years, many victims transferred schools or withdrew from the sports club," said Huang, referring to the teacher's alleged threatening behavior in sports-related classes and groups he was responsible for.

Wu Lin-hui (吳林輝), head of the MOE's Department of Student Affairs and Special Education, apologized to the recent graduate and acknowledged the harm caused by the teacher's alleged bullying.

Wu admitted the case was first reported in May, but that the MOE did not formally reply to the complainant until October.

"The students interviewed during the investigation clearly believed that there was impropriety," Wu said, "but the conclusion was that this did not meet the criteria for bullying."

Having said this, Wu added he now believes the teacher's "emotional management" and "way of leading the students" was "extremely inappropriate" and "constitute violations of the Teachers' Act," but he did not say if the teacher was still working at the school.

The MOE official vowed to re-examine the original investigation report and "ask the school to convene a faculty evaluation meeting" to handle the case.

The stated determination to address alleged bullying by the MOE official on Monday echoes other official statements made over the past few weeks.

The recent spate of bullying investigations began with the high-profile dismissal on Nov. 20 of a Ministry of Labor official implicated in the suicide of a civil servant in October.