Mr Xie, a teacher in China, has been sacked after punishing two students by making them kneel on the floor and act as his footstool (above) A teacher in China has been sacked after punishing two students by making them kneel on the floor and act as footstools. Mr Xie told the male pupils from Nanguang High School in Fujian to stay behind after class on Thursday because they were being too loud. He made the students crouch on the floor while he played on his phone and put his bare feet on their backs, People's Daily Online reported. Mr Xie, who has been a teacher for 27 years, was dismissed after the Nan'an City Education Department saw a picture on social media. The image shows both students being made to kneel on the ground in their school uniforms in front of a crowd of pupils. Mr Liu, headteacher, said Mr Xie, who is in his 40s, was supervising a small self-study group around 7.30pm when the two students were too noisy. The Year One pupils - thought to be aged between six and seven - were taken into a different room and told to kneel on the ground. Mr Liu said the footstool photo was taken as a joke and added that Mr Xie, who was in charge of disciplining the male students at the school, 'performed well in his work and was extremely talented'. Nan'an City Department of Education said it took immediate action. It requested the school apologise to students and parents, and said that student counselling should also be offered. Stronger ethics and appropriate styles of teaching would be implemented at the school, the department added. Mr Liu said that a school representative had already gone to the homes of the two students to apologise formally. Boys and girls sit in lines outside Nanguang High School in Fujian, where the incident happened . He said: 'Mr Xie’s actions were in violation of our policies and there had to be some form of punishment by the school.' The two students have returned to class.
Mr Xie told students from Nanguang High School to stay behind after class . Made them kneel on the floor while he put his bare feet on their backs . Sacked after Nan'an City Education Department saw picture on internet .