An incident in which students were humiliated by their teacher for not donating money has raised public attention.
According to a report by a local TV program, a student in Chaoyang school in Maoming city, Guangdong, had a parent who suffered from a serious disease. To help them, the school launched a fundraising activity. Many teachers and students lent a helping hand. Some parents however complained that a teacher forced the students to donate money. Those who did not donate anything were photographed, and the picture was sent to a WeChat group for the parents. In the picture ten of the students are standing on the podium. Some have their head lowered, and they all seem ashamed.
One parent sent a red packet with a donation in the WeChat group after seeing the picture, and then admonished the teacher not take such pictures anymore.
In response to the incident, the head of the education group that the Chaoyang School belongs to said that the teacher in question presented a written self-criticism to the principal on the following day, after the principal pointed out her mistake to her.
A report by Beijing News claims that the incident not only humiliated the students and their parents, but the teacher could also be suspect of breaking the law. For one thing, students can’t earn money by themselves. Asking them to donate money is equivalent to asking their parents to donate money. Demanding that the students stand on the podium and sending their pictures out hurts their self-respect, as well as humiliating their parents.
For another thing, most of the students’ parents are migrant workers, and some have financial difficulties. Whether someone chooses to donate money or not is their own business, and it is not reasonable to require those in difficulty to make a donation. According to the Charity Law, schools are not charities, and they lack the qualifications to launch public fundraising activities. What’s more, from the legal perspective the students are persons without or with a limited capacity for civil conduct. The article concludes that this fundraising activity is not legal and should be stopped by the local education department.
