Kindergarten Closes After Half-Day; Primary School Students Sit on Floor
On.cc · 1 SOURCESabout 1 hour ago2 MIN
Summary
Multiple schools across mainland China encountered difficulties on the first day of the new academic year on September 1, 2026. A kindergarten in Baoji, Shaanxi Province, was forced to shut down after just half a day because its operating license had expired. A primary school in Hunan Province had students sitting on the floor due to insufficient classrooms, while a separate controversy erupted in Sichuan over a proposal to hire cleaning staff for first-grade classrooms.
Key Points
- Jintai District Experimental Kindergarten in Baoji, Shaanxi, was ordered to close on September 1 after only half a day of operation when authorities discovered the school was operating without a valid license .
- Parents of Longhe Primary School in Mayang County, Hunan Province, posted videos on social media showing first-grade students sitting on the floor because the school lacked enough classrooms to accommodate all new enrollees .
- At a Xichang Aerospace School in Sichuan Province, a parent's suggestion to pay 600 yuan (approximately HK$705) to hire cleaning staff for first-grade classrooms was met with fierce opposition from another parent who argued children should not be treated as princes or princesses .
- The dissenting parent was subsequently muted by the teacher in a private message, raising concerns about potential differential treatment of her child .
- Research by Beijing Language University's Naming Culture Research Center found that 38.7% of 2020-born first graders had names derived from classical poetry and literary allusions, nearly triple the 2015 figure .
Why It Matters
These incidents highlight systemic challenges in mainland China's education sector, ranging from regulatory enforcement for private kindergartens to basic infrastructure planning and the delicate balance of parent-teacher communication . As cross-border exchanges between Hong Kong and mainland China continue, such developments may influence how Hong Kong parents view educational standards and expectations across the region.