Young boys rob and kill teacher in south China

Three boys aged 11 to 13 attacked and killed a teacher and robbed her of a cellphone and a few hundred euros-worth in cash in China.

The state-owned Beijing News said the boys were hanging out around an elementary school in the township of Lianqiao in the province of Hunan on Sunday when they decided to rob the only teacher guarding the school.

The boys, who are students at other schools, beat the 52-year-old teacher with a wooden stick, stuffed her mouth with cloth, and dragged her into a bathroom, where she died, the Beijing News said.

The report said the boys fled the scene with the teacher’s cellphone and about 2,000 yuan in cash.

The boys were arrested on Monday.

A police officer reached by phone confirmed the case but declined to give more details.

He gave only his family name, Yang, which is customary with low-ranking Chinese officials.

Other media reports said that the three boys were ‘left-behind’ children, which means their parents are migrant workers who go to more industrialised cities in China for jobs and leave their children in their hometowns under the care of others, often their grandparents.

China’s rural areas have tens of millions of ‘left- behind’ children, and their well-being has become a major social concern.