“Poor grades and an unwillingness to learn” should never be the pretext given by parents and education authorities for refusing education. Receiving compulsory education is not only a personal choice for every family, but also an issue relating to the future of a nation, says an article from the Qilu Evening News. Excerpts:

Five boys around 10 years old were found dead from carbon monoxide poisoning after they burned charcoal to stay warm in a dumpster in Bijie, Guizhou province. Four of them had deserted school.

Though their teachers tried to persuade them to return to school, their poor grades and a dislike of the classroom have previously been the excuses given by the children and their parents to avoid education.

The children being long-term school dropouts is one of the main factors behind the tragedy.

The Law of Compulsory Education clearly stipulates that it is mandatory for children of eligible age to receive compulsory education; local authorities and parents bear a grave responsibility for children to receive and finish their schooling.

Unfortunately, children dropping out of schools are common.

According to the director of the rural education sector of the Chinese Society of Education, the rate of dropouts in primary schools has climbed rapidly in the past four years, with 883,000 students dropping out of school in 2011, almost the same number of people in the year 1999.

The deaths of five children in the dustbin seems to be an accident, but had they not long been out of school, there would have been a much lower possibility of this happening.

In the wake of the tragedy, we need to pay attention to the issue of school dropouts by intensifying the responsibility placed on local governments and parents for compulsory education. This would be a way to minimize the possibility of quitting school via a strict accountability system.

The tragedy of the five children is a wakeup call that compulsory education cannot be promoted by blind investment. We should strengthen the roles of relevant authorities and parents in the practice of laws and regulations.

 

Translated by Dong Fangyu