Shenzhen Mom Blackmails Teacher for Accepting Gifts

Tang Fanxi:

The parent did not achieve her goal, so she used these tactics to threaten the teacher,” Deng told Southern Metropolis Daily. “She (the teacher) has always been fair and dedicated to her job, and we hope she is not treated unfairly.”

The school told the newspaper that it is investigating the case but declined to comment further.

Given the high level of competition for coveted spots at China’s top-flight high schools and universities, parents have been known to lavish teachers with gifts in hopes of creating better opportunities for their kids, even as Chinese authorities have tried to curtail such practices. In 2014, the Ministry of Education passed a regulation “firmly prohibiting” teachers from accepting money or other gifts from students or their parents.

Meanwhile, local governments have taken additional steps to discourage corruption in education. In 2015, Shanghai’s education bureau forbade teachers from accepting gifts from students or their parents, warning that anyone caught violating the rule would be ineligible for promotions or pay raises. Then in January of this year, Beijing banned teachers and parents from exchanging red envelopes — or digital currency — in chat groups on WeChat, China’s most widely used social platform.