Gift-free Teachers' Day proposal hotly debated

A proposal by 10 Chinese schools calling on teachers nationwide to refuse gifts during the upcoming Teachers' Day has triggered much debate in China.

The proposal, published on the official website of the Ministry of Education, says "all the teachers shall not accept money and gifts from students or their parents."

The proposal also says teachers shall be models of discipline and integrity.

More than 6,000 people made online comments in two days since the leading Chinese portal website www.sina.com.cn ran a news report on the proposal on Wednesday.

The 10 schools voluntarily released the proposal which attracted the attention of the Education Ministry. The ministry then posted the proposal on its official website, said Yang Ruiqing, headmaster of the Xingzhi Primary School in Pukou District of Nanjing, one of the 10 schools.

"We need a gift-free festival to win the respect from parents and students," said Yang.

Friday is the 26th Teachers' Day, which was officially started in 1985 to improve teachers' social status and call on the entire nation to respect teachers and to seek knowledge.

Many people applauded the timely proposal, while some remarked that gifts were still necessary to ensure the proper treatment of their children at school.

Zhu Weiguo, a bus driver in the eastern resort city of Huangshan, over the past week discussed with his friends and colleagues about whether and what gifts to give his son's teachers.

The conclusion of the heated discussion was "it is better to give gifts and it is worthwhile to spend some money for the kid," Zhu said.

In a survey involving 100 parents and 100 teachers conducted by the Yangtze Evening News in Nanjing city, more than 60 parents said they had sent gifts to teachers and all the teachers surveyed said they had received gifts.

A Xinhua reporter in the northern city of Shijiazhuang randomly interviewed 20 parents in front of the gate of a local school on Tuesday, and found only six of them would not give gifts for Teachers' Day.

Gift cards worth between 200 yuan (29.5 U.S. dollars) and 500 yuan are the preferable choice for city parents. However, some rich parents even give gold necklaces to their children's teachers, triggering resent from other parents who are not so wealthy.

"I cannot afford expensive gifts, but what if the teachers are unhappy if I offer cheap ones?" Zhu said.

Li Xiaoshi, head teacher of the class Zhu's son is in, said it was good that students gave cards to teachers to express thanks, but giving expensive gifts and even cash was inappropriate.

"They would do so even just to have their children's seats rearranged in the class," Li said.

Li finds it uncomfortable taking gifts. If he refuses the parents will feel let down and if he accepts he feels shame.

Prof. Lao Kaisheng, a renowned expert on education policies in the Capital Normal University, said the discussions on gifts ahead of the Teachers' Day showed that the public was highly concerned about ethics.

"It becomes bribery when you try to achieve certain purposes from giving gifts, which is unacceptable in terms of ethics and law, and greatly to the detriment of education," said Lao.

Most teachers, particularly primary and secondary school teachers, are heavily relied upon by families in China, where competition is white-hot for children who wish to get into the best schools and universities and eventually, the best jobs.

The teaching profession has been one of the most respected in China since the time of Confucius (551 B.C.-479 B.C.), a great philosopher and educator who was honored as "teacher of all teachers."

Source:Xinhua