NAGOYA, JAPAN -- Eleven boys in the first grade of a city-run middle school in Handa, Aichi Prefecture, formed a group whose mission was to make their pregnant homeroom teacher miscarry, mounting a campaign of harassment against her and lacing her school lunch with alum, it was learned Saturday.

According to the municipal board of education, the boys began tormenting their teacher, who is in her 30s, in January, when she was about five months pregnant. Their harassment included covering her car with chalk dust and trying to get her to fall from her chair by loosening a screw in it. On Feb. 4, the students sprinkled alum they had stolen during a science class on meat sauce in a dish she had for lunch.

The teacher apparently suffered no ill effects from the chemical, which is used to purify water and as a food additive.

The boys said they bore a grudge against the teacher because she told them off during a club activity and because they did not like the new seating arrangement she introduced.

The Yomiuri Shimbun/Asia News Network