Chinese school to punish pupils if parents break ‘no parking’ rush-hour rule outside campus
Children at a school in eastern China could find they have been penalised on their reports if their parents break parking regulations outside the campus, mainland media reported.
A primary school in Hangzhou, in Zhejiang province, said that those parents who parked their vehicles and failed to follow traffic rules would see their child’s general evaluation scores – for things such as behaviour, attendance and effort – lowered by the school, the provincial newspaper Qianjiang Evening News reported.
The school had drawn a yellow line along the road in front of the school gates to make the area a “No Parking” zone.
The area had previously been packed with parents’ vehicles at the end of each school day as they waited to collect their children, the report said.
Parents were told that no vehicles should be parked inside the area marked with the yellow line or they could jeopardise their child’s evaluation scores, or even the overall ranking of their class at the school.
“I don’t think the behaviour of parents should affect their children’s school marks,” said the father of a pupil, who reported the school’s “new scheme” on the city’s 12345 hotline, which is used for people to complain about daily issues.
The father added that he hoped the school would halt the scheme as soon as possible.
However, the father of a fifth-form pupil, who backed the school’s move, said: “The school had asked for the parents’ general agreement,” he said. “I think it’s a pretty good [idea]. Only by deducting points can we make everyone abide [by the ‘no parking’ rule].”
A school employee said the scheme was designed to resolve the long-term congestion problem caused by parked cars outside the school gates during rush hour,
But the employee denied that the behaviour of parents who parked vehicles inside the area marked with a yellow line would affect their child’s school evaluation scores, the report said.
Traffic congestion in front of China’s schools, especially primary schools, has become a major social problem, with an increasing number of people now buying their own cars.
