Middle School Triggers Debate by Offering Scholarships Totaling 8m Yuan

2016/11/24

Han Jing

A middle school in Lingxi Town of Cangnan County in Wengzhou city, Zhejiang Province, offered scholarships of almost 8 million yuan (US$1.2 million) to their students, who scored the highest rank in the county, triggering a heated debate on the Internet.

The school offered cash scholarships to high school freshmen doing well in the examination. The announcement was made during the parents’ meeting. A total of 2.8 million yuan in cash was given out at the meeting. The rest was to be transferred to the bankcards.

The information was first posted on Weibo, which sparked an online frenzy. Opinions were divided on the issue. Some web users joked that the parents’ meeting had become bonus meeting while some others said students will now work hard to get their hands on the cash.

The privately operated boarding high school, which was established in May 1995, is the city’s key middle school. School authorities said on November 22 that they offered a huge sum of scholarships to encourage students to study hard and enroll more elite students.

The school issues more than 2 million yuan in scholarships to all the three grades every year. The amount has been upgraded to almost 8 million yuan this year.

The scholarships are divided into categories of 100,000, 50,000, 40,000, 30,000 and 20,000 yuan. Five students with scores ranking among the first 1,300 in the county have been awarded 100,000 yuan. Twenty-two others got 50,000 yuan with scores ranking among the county’s first 1,800. A total of 239 students received 7.87 million yuan.

“If my school had such policies before, I would definitely have strived to be No.1,” a former student said. Few others, however, thought differently. “It is just worship of money.” They felt that such practices ran counter to quality-oriented education.

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Middle School Triggers Debate by Offering Scholarships Totaling 8m Yuan

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