Outspoken teachers are treading on thin ice as a battle over political ideology intensifies on mainland Chinese campuses where students are being mobilised to monitor and report “radical” political views.
In the past three months, several professors and schoolteachers have been sacked or disciplined for “out of line” opinions.
The firings have raised concerns among education experts over what they described as a worsening trend of “stifling classroom free speech” that could lead to a lack of critical thinking in education.
Liang Xin, a teacher for more than 10 years at a top secondary school in eastern China, is among the educators affected. Last year, the popular teacher was demoted to school janitor after one of his own students turned on him.