A boarding school in China has found itself at the centre of controversies after incidents of students being punished by staff members for using the toilet at night came to light. A student, from Yundong Secondary School in Shanxi province, who went to the washroom at 11:00 pm, 15 minutes past curfew, was caught and reprimanded by the staff members. After the incident surfaced online, the boarding school had to face heat from people, who said the school resembled a ‘prison’ environment with such strict regulations.
A South China Morning Post (SCMP) report said, citing Beijing News, that the administrators forced the boy to write a “deep self-reflection” letter and distribute 1,000 photocopies of the essay to his schoolmates as punishment. In addition to that, the school also deducted five points from his class’s monthly discipline score.
Moreover, an anonymous teacher informed Beijing News that students were prohibited from walking around the dormitory after 10:45 pm, and there were restrictions on using the toilet as well. In case a student needs to use the toilet after curfew, they reportedly need to contact dorm administrators for permission, reported SCMP.
As asked, the student wrote the self-reflection essay. It read, “I have seriously breached the school rules, and going to the toilet in the evening not only disturbed other students’ sleep but also brought shame to my class.”
The boy also apologised to his classmates and teachers, promising not to “repeat this behaviour in the future.”
The incident also gained traction on social media, sparking significant criticism against the school. Following the outrage, the Education Department of Huairen responded and asked the institute to reflect on their errors, reported the South China Morning Post. The education authority stated, “We instructed the school to learn from this incident and reflect on its errors. We told them to revise their discipline policies.”
Furthermore, the department advised the school to engage with the boy in a caring manner and mandated compensation of 100 yuan (approximately Rs 1,100) to cover the costs of copying the self-reflection essay.
In wake of this incident, the officials have also directed all schools in the city to implement appropriate and humane discipline policies to avoid a recurrence of the late-night bathroom incident.
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