[/floatl]AFP: Japanese teacher punished for horsing around
A Japanese teacher was reprimanded after leaving her classes more than 150 times so she could take horse-riding lessons, the education board said Wednesday. The 50-year-old middle school teacher in western Osaka prefecture would leave her students waiting as she went out to ride horses and then return directly home. She took 152 riding lessons for more than than two years until this month, mastering horse-jumping over a fence, the Osaka educational board said in a statement. But after receiving complaints, the board ordered her to undergo a week of re-education training. "It was not only a dereliction of duty but also lost the trust of students, parents and citizens in the community," the statement said. The teacher, who was not identified, said she wanted to relieve stress from caring for her family.
