A middle school in Qingyuan, Guangdong province, is amending a set of rules that restrict a wide range of interactions between male and female students, after images of the document were uploaded online that touched off a heated debate.
The rule, formulated by the administration of Qingxin District No 1 Middle School, prohibits male and female students from going in and out of the school canteen together, getting food for each other at the canteen, using a meal tray together or feeding each other.
The rules, dated March 8, also say that no student may carry personal belongs, such as bag or jacket, for another student of the opposite sex.
这些3月8日发布的规则还称,学生不能帮异性学生携带书包或者夹克这样的私人物品。
Giving or accepting a gift from a member of the opposite sex is banned, along with lingering on school roads, playgrounds and in dormitories.
禁止接受或者赠送异性成员礼物,以及在学校道路,操场和宿舍中逗留。
Physical contact of any kind between male and female students, including hugging and kissing, are "strictly prohibited".
男女学生之间的任何肢体接触包括拥抱和接吻被“严格禁止”。
Students of the opposite sex will fail their comprehensive quality assessment and receive serious warnings if they are seen riding a bicycle or motorcycle together, or if one sits on the lap of the other on a bus. Their parents will be notified and talked to by the school authorities.
Punishments for violating the rules range from verbal admonishment to demerits and even expulsion.
违反规则的惩罚范围从口头警告到记过甚至开除。
The rules were formulated to regulate the behavior of male and female students during puberty, and to target abnormal campus interaction - behaviors outside the boundaries of traditional morality - as well as frivolous or uncivilized conduct, according to the text.
They were meant for internal discussion and have not been implemented yet, the school administration said.
学校行政部门称,他这些规则仍在进行内部讨论尚未实施。
The administration admitted that the wording of the rules needed to be improved.
行政部门承认,需要改善对规则的表达。
The Qingxin district education bureau said the school will make the rules public after they’ve been amended.
清新区教育局说,学校将在修改后公布规则。
Such rules are unnecessary and discriminatory, according to Xiong Bingqi, deputy dean of the 21st Century Education Research Institute. Any school rule should comply with the education law and safeguard students’ rights, including the right to interact with others, he said, adding that students should be guided, not put under restrictive rules.
In the case of behaviors deemed inappropriate, the students involved should be educated, he said.
他说,在行为被认为不适当的情况下,所涉及到的学生应该受到教育。
"Many schools make rules to focus students’ attention solely on study, as well as for the convenience of school management, neither of which serves students’ development needs during puberty," he added.
If rules are thought to be necessary to deal with certain special circumstances, they should be discussed by parents for broader understanding and input, he said.