A junior high school student remained hospitalized on Thursday, a week after after he was repeatedly slapped in the face by a teacher in Guangzhou, Guangdong province.

Doctors from Guangzhou No 2 Hospital affiliated with Sun Yat-sen University said 14-year-old Xiao Jie had a dislocated vertebra in his neck and he would be hospitalized for at least four weeks.

Xiao is a junior high school student at Guangzhou Haizhu Huazhou Experimental School.

He said that a sports teacher named Zhao had scolded him and ordered him to stand in front of the school gate because he had chatted loudly with friends on the school bus on the morning of Nov 21.

As he stood at the school gate, he cursed at schoolmates passing by who had laughed at him.

Zhao thought that Xiao was cursing at him and he slapped the boy repeatedly in the face.

The next morning, Xiao complained of pain and was taken to the hospital by his parents.

After reports of the incident were published on Wednesday in the media, Wang Zhenggang, the school principal visited Xiao in the hospital.

Wang apologized to the boy and in addition promised to pay his medical bills, arrange for teachers to help him make up missed lessons, and he offered counseling to help Xiao overcome eventual fears of returning to school.

Wang vowed that Zhao would be dismissed.