A middle school in Zhengzhou, Henan, China, has come under fire after reports that parents knelt in a row during an event, allowing blindfolded students to walk over their backs. Following controversy, the school issued a public apology and promised to further optimize educational methods and strengthen management standards.
According to Huashang Daily's Dafeng News on the 6th, Class groups at the No. 3 Senior High School of Zhongmou County, Zhengzhou, Henan, organized a "guilt education" activity. Videos cited from Henan internet users showed parents kneeling in a row on the ground during the activity, while students, apparently blindfolded and assisted by others, walked over their parents’ backs. The event was accompanied by sentimental background music and, as the video records, a voice said: "Go! Go!"
The report, quoting social media users who seem to be students from the school, stated: “The most outrageous thing is that the students didn’t know it was their parents below. They walked over with their eyes blindfolded. After one girl took off her blindfold, she found out it was her parents and started crying.” Another netizen said: “I graduated a few years ago; we did similar things then, but it wasn’t on this scale. Back then, the male students were made to lie on the ground.”
An unnamed staff member from the Zhongmou County Education Bureau explained that, after preliminary understanding, the activity was not organized by the school. The staff explained that the school was unaware such an activity would take place: “It involved students from two classes, and it was organized by the teachers of these two classes. The principal said they are investigating what happened.”
In the early hours of the 7th, the No. 3 Senior High School of Zhongmou County released an official statement via its WeChat public account, explaining that on September 30th, the senior first-year students held a school-family co-education event. In some classes, after obtaining parental consent, a "thankfulness education" outreach activity was conducted. Due to inadequate consideration of specific details, an inappropriate form occurred in the course of the activity, “leading to misunderstanding by some media and internet users,” for which the school expresses its apology.