Inside China Today

Schools go against announcement to scrap school fees

September 1 marked the first day of school for Sichuan schools devastated by the May 12 earthquake, but despite the announcement by the State Ministry of Education to scrap compulsory school fees, residents have reported that certain schools are still receiving fees.
Also, 110 days after the major tremor which brought down numerous ill-constructed schools, the Chinese communist regime is still yet to provide a full report on the extent of student casualties and grieving parents are still waiting to hear from investigations into those responsible for the shoddy work.

The announcement by the Ministry of Education was the first time that fees were scrapped from 25,900 primaries in cities across China where 28 million students used to pay between $190 to $350 Yuan in school fees per year. Mr Zhen from Dujianyang, one of the most severely quake affected areas in Sichuan says he is still paying school fees for his children and that the Chinese Communist Party is simply speaking empty words. Mr Zhang says this occurs in certain areas, and some schools are still the same as before. He questions whether the words of the communist regime can be believed and says it’s very hard for him to earn the $100~$200 Yuan in school fees owing to the fast rising inflation.

Many parents have also been saying that it is sub-standard school construction that killed their children, not the earthquake. Parent Mrs Li says she distrusts the school and experts have identified many areas as falling below acceptable standards. She says local governments are suppressing these details and have refused to provide information to parents. Mrs Li says a number of parents of students in Dongzi Middle School who went to the local government to explain their situation were arrested.

Sichuan environmentalist and relief efforts volunteer Tan Zhouren says the first stage of response after the earthquake is aid, and it’s alright not to overly delve into other issues. He points out however that the second stage seemed to be welcoming the Olympics and everyone cooperated. He says now that the Olympics are finished, and school has reopened, if the issues (of school collapses) are not solved, then the credibility of the government would be lost.

Sichuan Provincial Government has released figures during a press conference that 13,768 schools in the province were damaged by the earthquake, and 11,687 require rebuilding. Of the one million students in the area, 33% have returned to undamaged schools, 38% are in schools undergoing reinforcement and 28.4% are attending timber classrooms and other modes of education.

The above news is brought to you by Wen Hong, Wang Qiang, Lu Fang and Chris Thomas for Inside China Today on the SOH Radio Network.