- Parents in Jiangsu province were shocked by a form that said a kindergarten class had been investigated and ‘no pupils were found to be involved in organised crime’
- Officials fired or disciplined for ‘causing serious negative publicity’
One said that if officials really wanted to nip criminal tendencies in the bud, they were starting too late, adding: “Why not start when they are in the womb and crack down in the maternity hospital?”
An unidentified staff member from the Wuxi Education Bureau confirmed that schools were being targeted in the crackdown on organised crime, telling Chengdu Economic Daily: “Banners are hung everywhere inside and outside the school premises”.However, they insisted: “There was no wrongdoing by the kindergarten. We are mainly targeting teachers and parents for the publicity.”
But on Thursday the Wuxi government backed down and criticised education officials in Xishan district for misinterpreting the crackdown on organised crime and “putting on an unrealistic show”.
Three senior officials from the Xishan district authority were disciplined for their roles in “causing serious negative publicity”.
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Feng Dongyan, the chief and party secretary of Xishan district education bureau, was given a party warning.
Wang Zhaoyu, director of the bureau’s general office, and Lu Zhongxian, the director in charge of education inspection of the bureau, lost their jobs and were given a serious party disciplinary warning.
Beijing started the campaign targeting grass-roots criminal organisations and their “protective umbrellas” last year.
More than 3,000 people have been punished so far, but the campaign has also been ridiculed for taking aim at the wrong targets.
Last month a kindergarten in Guiyang in Guizhou province put up a banner at its entrance reading: “Crack down early and crack down young. Eliminate the dark and evil forces when they are still budding”.
The kindergarten said the banner was “meant for the public” but took it down after an online backlash.
Source: SCMP
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