Sichuan county officials force rural teachers onto stage beneath 'Shame' banner over student test scores
- Liangshan Prefecture education officials forced 20+ rural primary and middle school teachers onto an auditorium stage beneath a giant digital 'Shame' (耻) sign.
- Officials blamed instructors for low student test scores resulting from crumbling classrooms and systemic regional underfunding.
- Revives Cultural Revolution-style public humiliation ceremonies to scapegoat underpaid educators.
More than twenty rural teachers were marched onto an auditorium stage in Sichuan’s mountainous Liangshan prefecture and forced to stand beneath a giant digital screen flashing a single character: ‘Shame’ (Chi). Their offense was student test scores. County education officials staged the spectacle for instructors whose class exam averages fell below fifteen percent, The Paper reported, setting off fierce outrage across Chinese social media over the ritual public degradation of underpaid mountain educators.
The display revived the darkest mechanics of Cultural Revolution struggle sessions (pidou hui), relying on blatant bureaucratic scapegoating. Instead of answering for crumbling mountain classrooms, chronic regional poverty, or years of budget neglect, local party cadres shifted blame downward. They turned underpaid teachers into sacrificial moral failures.
The spectacle laid bare the total eradication of labor rights for public sector workers across China. Barred from forming independent unions and denied any credible channel to contest administrative abuse, rural teachers have no defense against arbitrary cadre fiat. Officials can humiliate them on stage for an afternoon and call it school reform. Dignity counts for nothing.
Widespread public fury on Weibo and Xiaohongshu: 'Why are underpaid rural teachers paraded in disgrace while county education bureaucrats who pocket funds sit in air-conditioned front rows?'
The Weibo topic #雷波县教师被挂耻辱大屏幕# was scrubbed from hot search rankings within 12 hours, and comments across major portals were locked to 'selective display'.
Struggling Liangshan schools suffer 40% annual rural teacher turnover due to poor pay and heavy administrative burdens imposed by non-teaching cadres.