The Invictus

"The teacher always sent a girl to buy his cigarettes. He left the class unsupervised and waited in his office. When the girl returned to class with flushed cheeks and tousled hair, the other students said nothing".

"For nearly three months the teacher, Li Guang, raped 26 fourth- and fifth-grade girls in this rural village, parents and court officials say. Some girls were raped more than once as Mr. Li attacked them in a daily rotation. He was found out when a 14year-old refused to go to school for fear that the next morning would be her "turn." She did not want to be raped a third time".

This got reported in The New York Times today.

What do i say to this? Shocking? Apalling? or plain surprised - that this news ever came out?? The rapid force of modernisation in China has brought with it all kinds of complexities - chief amongst which is the breakdown of traditional societal models and support structures. Yet, even as the conventions of Chinese society are being shaken by the tumult of modernization, the Confucian reverence of teachers remains strong, particularly in isolated areas like this farming village in Gansu Province in western China. Parents grant teachers carte blanche, some even condoning beatings, while students are trained to honor and obey teachers, never challenge them. No wonder this carnage from a pathetically demented man went unnoticed for so long - and would have continued if not for that one poor brave girl.

I would not be surprised if hundreds of such incidents are happening in China - only one of which - somehow, accidentally - got reported in China's tightly controlled and censored media environment. In a society which believes teachers can do no harm, the responsibility of media becomes paramount. It becomes the media's job to go out there and highlight these issues and bring them into the open. Sadly, that's not what the central machinery wants.