'Vulgar' homework book leads to school sackings

The publishing of an English homework book was outlawed by the local cultural market watchdog after authorities found it featured vulgar content, according to a statement jointly released Sunday by the watchdog and education authorities.

An investigation began after a picture spread widely on the Internet showing a page from the book for eighth graders at the SMIC Private School with a story called “Mommy’s Washcloth.” Students were required to read it and add their comments.

However, the story mentions the private parts of a boy’s mother and also suggests that his father had been having sexual relations with a maid.

Web users criticized the publisher for including such a story in the book and the school was condemned for failing to check the content before handing it out to students.

According to the statement, the city’s press and publication bureau has confirmed the book was illegal and features banned and indecent content and the producer, Shanghai Dongfang Laser Education Culture Co Ltd, has no publishing qualifications.

According to the profile of the company, it has a large scope of businesses, including sales of publications, but not publishing.

The cultural market watchdog said it had stopped the company’s illegal behavior, imposed a fine on it and revoked its publications business license.

It also said that it had confiscated some related publications and would continue to recover other remaining books. It did not say how many illegal books had been produced in total.

A printing factory and another publication sales company were also found to be involved in the incident and will be handled separately.

The cultural market watchdog said it would enhance inspection on publishing and sales of publications and crack down on illegal publications with a “zero-tolerance" attitude.

It also asked citizens to offer tip-offs by calling its hot-line on 12318.

According to the statement, the education bureau of the Pudong New Area, where the SMIC Private School is located, has imposed an administrative penalty on the school.

The school failed to pass the annual inspection and its annual enrollment will be reduced.

The education bureau has also ordered the school board to punish the three in charge of the project, including the principal.

The statement said the school board issued administrative demerit records to related people and removed them from their posts.

The latest incident is the second involving the school to have hit the headlines recently.

Last October, the school was caught up in a food safety scandal involving mouldy vegetables, expired seasoning, semi-processed food products, and the fabrication of production dates on semi-finished foods. Three administrators, including the headmaster, were sacked then.

Another school involved

In the investigation of the English homework book, authorities also found that some teachers at Luoshan Middle School had also purchased the book — the education bureau has issued demerit records to its principal and other people responsible.

The bureau said it would reflect on its own work and enhance supervision to prevent such incidents from happening again.

The Shanghai Education Commission has also asked all education bureaus in the city to strictly fulfill their duty in the management of supplemental teaching materials.

It said they should all set up or improve registration systems to make sure that all schools use supplemental teaching materials on the registered lists.