School’s attempt to deter puppy love criticized

A middle school in Wenzhou in Zhejiang Province has kicked up a storm of protest over a new rule that bans students from getting "too close" to fellow students.

The Chunhui Senior High School has said maintaining "too close contacts" with schoolmates — both of the same sex or the opposite gender — will be viewed as severe violations.

Students will be kicked out of the school and fined the same amount as their tuition fees, according to the rules.

A photocopy of the new rules has been uploaded on the Internet. Netizens have given the thumbs-down to the rule, arguing how the school can figure out "extreme close relation" and fine the students.

The school's headmaster Su Lianfu said he did not know the school's moral education department had drafted such a rule. "The idea is good but the wording is improper," he told Wenzhou Metropolis Daily.

The issue of puppy love has been a matter of concern for a long time. Su said teachers and officials will not make any hasty judgments.

He also said that the school would not fine the students. "We will just not return their tuition fees," he said.

Education professor Zhou Qi of Wenzhou University said the school should not intervene too much when students make friendships with each other. A better way to curb puppy love was proper education and more care, he said.

Some schools have come up with bizarre rules in the past. On February 24, the Luohe Middle School in Henan Province banned boys and girls talking alone unless there were at least five people around them. The rule was criticized, forcing the school to dump it a month later.