China: Teachers are blamed for students' low test scores

According to Zhengzai News, the incident took place at an internal conference of the Bureau of Education of Leiba district (Sichuan province), at the end of August. More than 20 elementary school teachers were asked to step up on stage to take photos, behind a large screen displaying the average scores of students' final exams, all below 30/100, with the two words "Disgrace" (耻辱) in the middle.

A group of 20 middle school teachers were also called up in the same way, because their students' average test scores were below 15/100.

These images spread quickly on social networks. On one platform alone, the incident attracted more than 100 million views.

"This is ridiculous! Do they have any respect for teachers?", one person commented.

"Reading this news makes me feel discouraged. The leaders of the Department of Education are treating teachers like slaves. I think these people should resign immediately," another person wrote.

Many people believe that teachers have been humiliated without considering the specific cause. Loi Ba is inherently a poor district in a remote area. Most students belong to the group of "children who stay behind" because their parents have to go abroad and make a living in big cities.

"Parents are away from home, so no one supervises their studies. When students are lazy, teachers have no authority to punish them. Such low scores are understandable," a middle school teacher in Shanghai analyzed.

In a commentary on August 27, Guancha news site called Loi Ba district's handling of the matter "rough and rigid", not motivating teachers and making it difficult to keep them there.

Faced with a wave of outrage, the Loi Ba district government issued an apology on August 28.

"Our actions at the meeting were wrong, showed a lack of respect for teachers and caused psychological harm to those involved. We feel very guilty and are seriously reviewing this mistake," the announcement read. The government also said it was conducting an investigation into the incident.

In 2020, China issued the "New Era Education Assessment Reform Plan", which stipulates that schools and governments cannot use scores as the sole criterion. However, this situation has not yet been completely overcome.

Schools with students who score high on grade transfer or college entrance exams (gaokao) are still favored, and principals have more opportunities for advancement in the education sector, according to SCMP.