The enlightenment of the case of students "pushing stools" included in the report of the Supreme People's Court

　　Bingqi

　　On March 8, Zhang Jun, President of the Supreme People's Court, gave a work report at the second session of the 14th National People's Congress. The case of a student injured while playing "pull-a-stool" in school was heard by Guangzhou Nansha Court and was included in the report.

The report pointed out that the school emphasizes student ethics and teachers often remind them that they have fully fulfilled their duties. Although the children are in school, parents are also responsible. Therefore, the court ruled that the parents of the children who "caused trouble" should bear the responsibility.

In addition, when a primary school student was accidentally injured during physical education class, his parents sued the school. The school had fulfilled its necessary education management responsibilities and rescue obligations, but the court ruled that the school was not responsible.

　　The work report of the Supreme People's Court includes a "small case" in which a classmate was injured due to "pushing a stool", which has important practical significance and enlightenment value.

It is necessary to lead campus protection in accordance with the law, prevent "excessive accountability" of schools and teachers, and turn schools into "unlimited liability subjects", which will affect the development of normal education and teaching activities in schools.

At the same time, it also emphasizes the guardianship responsibilities that parents (guardians) should perform in accordance with the law. They must educate their children to abide by the law, protect themselves from others, and not infringe on the legitimate rights of others, and protect the healthy growth of minors through home-school co-education.

　　The media has reported on the incident of students being injured due to "pushing stools".

Xiaojie (pseudonym), who was in the first grade of a middle school in Guangzhou, secretly pulled his chair back while his classmate Sisi (pseudonym) stood up to talk during lunch break, causing serious injuries.

Afterwards, Sisi's parents sued Xiaojie, his parents, and the school to the Nansha Court.

In the end, the court ruled that the school was not responsible, and Xiaojie and his parents compensated Sisi more than 100,000 yuan.

This judgment attracted public attention at the time. The court's decision clearly stated that the school was "not responsible" and was generally praised.

　　In the minds of some parents, as long as a student has an accidental injury on campus, the school must bear the responsibility, which puts the school under great pressure on safety management.

In order to avoid accidental injuries, some schools have adopted a "blame-shifting" management and school-running approach, canceling any teaching activities that pose safety risks, such as not allowing students to leave the classroom and go to the corridors or downstairs during breaks.

At this year's Two Sessions, many representatives and committee members put forward the suggestion of returning ten minutes between classes to students, which included the issue of defining the school's safety management responsibilities in accordance with the law.

　　In July 2019, five departments including the Ministry of Education issued the "Opinions on Improving the Safety Accident Handling Mechanism to Maintain the Order of School Education and Teaching" which proposed that in the process of handling school safety accident disputes, the legal bottom line must be adhered to, and based on the objective facts of the accident and the provisions of laws and regulations, Clarify the responsibilities of each party.

If the person in charge of the school or the direct manager is responsible, the school authorities shall promptly handle the matter in accordance with laws and regulations and hold them seriously accountable.

If the school has no responsibility, it must clarify the facts and explain them in a timely manner.

However, when specifically dealing with student accidents, some places and schools failed to "stick to the bottom line of the law." Instead, they were influenced by public opinion. In order to respond to public opinion and calm the matter, they made decisions against school principals and teachers before the facts were clearly investigated. However, in the face of parents’ posts seeking accountability, the education department is worried about affecting the school’s reputation and requires schools and teachers to take responsibility.

　　This is not responsible for running the school, nor is it conducive to home education guidance for parents and rule education for students.

Behaviors such as secretly "pushing a stool" are considered by many parents and students to be a "prank" and just for fun. In fact, this is an intrusive behavior that should be clearly prohibited. Regardless of whether pulling another person's stool causes harm or not, as long as Children who have this behavior should be stopped immediately and severely criticized.

　　Only by strengthening children's rule education and legal education can we enhance children's awareness of obeying the law. Especially after a student accident occurs, the education department, school, family and judicial department will deal with it, and the school teachers, parents and all students will have to deal with it. They are all living case studies.

Always insisting on handling things in accordance with the law and regulations will increase everyone's awareness and consciousness of obeying the law. If we do not adhere to the legal bottom line, "whoever makes trouble is justified", "whoever is injured is justified" and "whoever is ignorant is justified" will seriously interfere with The order of school operation ultimately makes it difficult to implement the protection of minors and create a good environment for the healthy growth of minors.