'So Much Effort to My Work'

''I will make this sacrifice alone,'' he was quoted as saying this weekend. But he added: ''The board of education is setting me up as an abnormally violent teacher. Why did such a tragedy happen to me, when I devoted so much effort to my work?''

The high school principal has also been severely criticized because after the incident on July 6, he called a school assembly to express sorrow and grief but also to remind students that this was the kind of thing that could happen when they are late for school.

His comments were widely reported in news articles, with many commentators denouncing him for insensitivity and cruelty. Two weeks after the initial outcry over the incident, the Board of Education of Hyogo Prefecture, where the incident occurred, reprimanded the principal, Atuo Nomura, and accepted his resignation.

By coincidence, the occasional cruelty of teachers was reflected this month in the suspension of seven junior high school teachers in Fukuoka for alleged involvement in beating two students and then burying them up to their necks on a beach as waves crashed in.

The incident occurred last September, apparently in response to charges that the students had been extorting money from a student. The Fukuoka authorities have not determined who carried out the punishment or why, and there is an investigation by independent civil liberties lawyers in the area.

In Kobe, where Miss Ishida was killed, her parents are suing the school district for damages but have generally not said anything in the press.

Little Re-examination

Many of the commentaries in recent days have criticized the Hyogo prefectural school system for failing to order any kind of re-examination of the way in which school rules and discipline are carried out, which they say is the core of the problem.