10-Year-Old Chinese Boy Follows Teacher’s Orders, Jumps to Death

A 10-year-old fifth-grade primary schoolboy in China has jumped to his death in what seemed to be his last stand of obedience to his strict teacher, after failing to deliver a required task.

"Teacher, I can't do it," the boy allegedly wrote in a note to his teacher. The China National Radio (CNR) originally reported the story on its Web site. "I flinched several times when I tried to jump from the building."

Accosted for talking in class, the boy's teacher demanded he write a 1,000-character apology, otherwise jump out of a building if he failed to complete the task.

The note was found written in one of the boy's textbooks, CNR noted.

Death was instant when he jumped 30 floors down. West China City News reported the primary schoolboy smashed into a car parked beneath the flat where his family lives.

Relatives and friends of the deceased boy have pinned a banner outside the school's gate. It read "The teacher forced our kid to jump off the building." The school was located in the south-western city of Chengdu.

School authorities confirmed on a social media site that the child, along with some classmates, had been ordered to write an apology for their behaviour. They allegedly interrupted a speaking competition so many times to the ire and frustration of the teaching personnel.

"The police investigation is still under way," an official of Jinjiang district, where the incident happened, told AFP.