China school slammed for invading privacy with pupil survey asking if parents’ work is ‘smelly’ or ‘noisy’

A primary school in China sparked controversy for letting its pupils fill in a detailed questionnaire about their parents’ work.The survey, titled Observation List of Parents’ Occupation, was distributed to pupils at the beginning of May at Huatai Primary School in Tianmen, central Hubei province, Zonglan News reported.The questions regarding their parents’ work coincided with the May Day holiday which is celebrated in mainland China as Workers’ Day. The school said that it aimed to boost children’s gratitude for their parents.The questions came in five categories: work environment, work time, work content, work challenges and work achievement.The questionnaire for pupils, above, asked detailed questions about the nature of their parents’ employment. Photo: QQ.comDetailed questions included “what is your parent’s work environment? Is it hot? Noisy? Smelly?”, “how many hours do they need to sit or stand per day at work?” and “do they need to work overtime?”.Other questions included “what specific work do your parents do?”, “what is the most difficult part of their work?”, “what is the happiest aspect of their work?” and “what gives them a sense of achievement?”.As the survey went viral on social media, many people criticised it for collecting the occupation and related background details of parents in a disguised form.An official from the school, whose name is not revealed in the report, denied they were collecting parents’ work information.A primary teacher asking questions of her pupils in the classroom. Photo: Shutterstock“What we are doing is guiding pupils to observe their parents at work up close for a day. We hope they can appreciate the hard work and dedication their parents put into their families and to learn to be grateful,” the official was quoted as saying.The questionnaire is required to be double checked by parents before being handed in to the school, said the official.“The response from pupils has been generally positive because many of them truly understand how hard their parents have worked,” said the official.The municipal Education Bureau said they have looked into the controversial survey following the backlash it triggered in the society.Further Reading“We have reminded the school to be thoughtful and consider potential impact to the public when they implement activities in the future,” an official from the bureau told the media.China’s Ministry of Education issued a circular in 2022 banning elementary and middle schools from collecting information about parents’ occupation and income.The story has attracted significant attention online, with most netizens condemning the school.Primary school pupils enjoy a break and some recreation in a Shanghai playground. Photo: Shutterstock“After learning about parents’ work, they can treat pupils differently,” said one online observer.Others sided with the school, with one person saying: “I do not think there is any problem with this survey. After all, it does not involve the parents’ companies’ names or specific titles they hold.”Similar surveys are not uncommon in China.In 2024, an intern teacher at a Shanghai secondary school asked pupils to answer a questionnaire that ranked their family’s financial status, triggering a public outrage.