Redundant Chinese school teachers, many with years of experience, forced to work as security guards at their old schools

More than 170 redundant teachers in central China are taking up jobs as security guards, even though most have years of experience, state media reports.

Chen Dong, 53, has a bachelor’s degree and was a senior history teacher at vocational institution in Shayang county, Hubei province, state news agency Xinhua reported.

Chen is one of the 172 local teachers made redundant at 70 secondary and primary schools and 36 kindergartens who now work as security guards. Some were even school principals, with an average teaching experience of 30 years.

But at the start of this month, he left his textbooks at home and donned his uniform to guard the school’s front gate.

“I’ve been teaching for more than 30 years, but suddenly it was not a job that I could do anymore,” Chan told Xinhua.

He is finding it hard to adopt to a new position, he said. It took Chen a week to be able to adopt to what he called the “embarrassing change of reality”.