Pupil, 9, hit in the eye as teacher gets angry (2)

"She became very angry seeing me writing with the mechanical pencil again. She then threw it at my face.

"It hurt so much that my mind went blank," said Dan.

He said the teacher was probably angry because she might have thought he had stolen it back from the office.

Dan said that Ma used to be a good and kind teacher who "would not give the students a lot of homework."

But he said he couldn't understand why she had become so angry and thrown the pencil at him.

The teacher is now under investigation by both the police and Yangpu District Education Bureau officials.

The education authority said the teacher might simply have lost her temper.

Her behavior was a one-time aberration as she had previously enjoyed a good reputation and was regarded by pupils as a kind teacher, a bureau official said.

A spokesman for Yangpu District police said that the details of any punishment would be announced after their investigation into the teacher's conduct had been completed.