‘Loss of humanity’ in Covid era: Chinese city backtracks after it expelled student because his parents hid travel history

The parents did not report they had left the city and later were identified as close contacts of a Covid-19 patient

An expulsion statement from the education department went viral in China, with many people expressing outrage

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A secondary school in China is in hot water after it tried to expel a student whose parents travelled outside of the city. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 3:00pm, 20 Apr 2022Updated: 3:09pm, 20 Apr 2022

A local government in northeastern China has rescinded a decision by the education department to expel a secondary school student because his parents violated Covid-19 prevention policies after it received fierce backlash from the public.

The school in Suihua, a small city in Heilongjiang province, initially expelled the student because his parents did not report their travel history to the school as local Covid-19 regulations required.

The parents had travelled outside the city without the boy but did not report this to the school when they returned on April 11, and the teenager had continued to go to school as usual.

The school issued a statement on Monday that said the family had caused “serious consequences”. Photo: QQ.com

According to a statement issued by the education department on Monday that soon went viral in China, the parents were later identified as close contacts of a Covid-19 patient and, because the student had gone to school, his teachers, classmates and their families had to isolate themselves.

The statement said the family’s behaviour “had caused serious consequences … and we decided to expel this student”. It never mentioned whether anybody involved in the situation tested positive.

The news was met with shock and condemnation in China.

Zhu Xiaoding, a lawyer at Beijing Cailiang Law Firm, said: “Expelling the student and depriving his rights to education is not only destroying the hope of a child and his family, but it also ruins the whole school and all the families who attend.”

“It shows how local education authorities have lost their humanity as well as their qualifications and ability to educate people. These wicked trends will put the education system in danger if we do nothing about it,” he said.