Vocational school ordered to rectify online classes after more than 700 students quit

A vocational school in southern China has been ordered to rectify its online classes and make other rectifications after it was found to have illegally increased its admission quota, leading to a shortage of teachers, local education authorities said Thursday.

The Qingyuan education bureau in Guangdong province said in a statement that it has ordered Qingyuan Desheng Health Vocational and Technical School to actively respond to students and parents' doubts and make rectifications accordingly. The bureau is also conducting a further investigation on the illegal expansion of quotas, and will punish those responsible in accordance with the law.

The school came under scrutiny after a report by Guangdong Television revealed that new students were still taking online classes in the classroom one month into the new semester, and they had basically been learning by themselves.

Parents speculated that the school did not have enough teachers to give in-person lectures because it did not expect so many students to be admitted. They have since questioned the education quality there.

Visits by Guangzhou Daily confirmed the lack of in-person lectures, but the school claimed that they were adopting a policy of "digital education."

"We wanted to guide the students to learn by themselves, and digital learning fits the trend looking into the future," a school worker told the newspaper. "However, we have pushed the policy too quickly and didn't communicate well with the students and parents, on which we have been working to improve lately."

A preliminary investigation by the education bureau confirmed that the school had been expanding its recruitment without permission, which led to a shortage of teachers and resort to online teaching.

A recruitment brochure from the school said it planned to admit 2,640 students, but eventually nearly 3,000 registered. The Qingyuan education bureau said the school now has nearly 4,000 students in three grades, with new students this year accounting for about half. The school admitted less than 1,000 students last year.

Some 730 new students who have quit the school have been given a full refund as of Thursday, the education bureau said, adding that they may choose other secondary vocational schools in the city where places are available.

The bureau also said that newly recruited teachers have come to the positions and are now basically able to guarantee normal teaching.