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Headteacher forced boys to undress in front of entire school

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January 8th, 2015


This article is more than 9 years old.

Kids subjected to public ridicule for forgetting to wear their elf hats

The headteacher of Strandmølleskolen, a private school in Assens on Funen, ordered two boys to undress onstage and threatened to cut off their penises with scissors in front of a school assembly in December.

The incident occurred because the two boys were in violation of a holiday ‘policy’ that required all students to wear Santa Claus-style elf caps to school. When they failed to comply, the boys were arrested by the school's ‘elf police’ and taken to the headteacher, Anders Storebjerg.

Storebjerg then used the two boys, who are believed to be six or seven, as part of the entertainment at the 17 December morning assembly. 

Stripped down to underwear
Storebjerg, according to witnesses, forced the boys to get into black bin-liners and asked them to hand him their shirts and trousers.

He then reached inside the bags with a pair of scissors and threatened to cut off the children’s penises. When the bin-liners fell to the ground, the boys stood in front of the school assembly wearing only their underwear.

“We naturally reject this type of humour,” Thomas Hald, a spokesperson for the school’s governing committee, told DR Funen. The board, he revealed, have spoken to Storebjerg  who is “well aware” that he crossed some lines. 

Parents not satisfied with consequences
However, several parents of the children who witnessed the incident want more action and have reported the matter to student advocacy group Børns Vilkår

“These are children who have been violated and threatened,” Børns Vilkår head Bente Boserup told DR Funen. “The children and families are not receiving any help because the system is protecting itself. The adults involved are not looking out for the children.”

READ MORE: Parents voice support for teacher facing racism charges

Børns Vilkår  has recommended that the parents report the incident to the police and file a complaint with the Education Ministry.


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Moreover, 21 percent of those surveyed admitted to medicating their kids with paracetamol, such as Panodil, before sending them to school.

The FOLA parents’ organisation is shocked by the findings.

“I think it is absolutely crazy. It simply cannot be that a child goes to school sick and plays with lots of other children. Then we are faced with the fact that they will infect the whole institution,” said FOLA chair Signe Nielsen.

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At Børnehuset there are fears that parents prefer to pack their kids off with a pill without informing teachers.

“We occasionally have children who that they have had a pill for breakfast,” said headteacher Susanne Bødker. “You might think that it is a Panodil more than a vitamin pill, if it is a child who has just been sick, for example.”

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Parents, when confronted, often cite pressure at work as a reason for not being able to stay at home with their children.

Many declare that they simply cannot take another day off, as they are afraid of being fired.

Allan Randrup Thomsen, a professor of virology at KU, has heavily criticised the parents’ actions, describing the current situation as a “vicious circle”.

“It promotes the spread of viruses, and it adds momentum to a cycle where parents are pressured by high levels of sick-leave. If they then choose to send the children to daycare while they are still recovering, they keep the epidemic going in daycares, and this in turn puts a greater burden on the parents.”