An official with a university in East China's Shandong Province on Monday dismissed media reports claiming that six Christian students could have been expelled for praying together on campus.
"The university decided not to punish any of them after they promised not to do it again," Song Bolong, director of the publicity department of Shandong Yingcai University in the provincial capital Ji'nan, told the Global Times on Monday.
U.S.-based Christian human rights group China Aid reported Thursday on its website that five of the six Christian students faced expulsion from the university after they were spotted praying together on campus.
The six students were photographed by another student while they were holding their routine prayer session on December 15, and the photographer called local public security, said Song.
"We respect the students' legitimate right to religious beliefs, but the university has banned group religious activity by students according to the Ministry of Education (MOE) regulations," Song added.
Any individual or organization is banned from holding religious activities on university campuses, according to an MOE regulation on the management of college students enacted September 1, 2005. Religious activities and publicity are also banned in primary schools and secondary schools, according to the MOE. The regulation was made to safeguard the normal order of education in colleges and to guarantee students' physical and mental health, the ministry said.
An online search on baidu.com showed that such regulations have been adopted into the regulations of many universities, such as the Communication University of China in Beijing.
According to the education law of China enacted in September 1995, no individual or organization can use religion to interfere in education.
China practices a policy of the separation of education and religion, and educational activities must be conducted in accordance with national and social interests, the law added.
As for the need for religious practice, Song suggests that the six students can pray outside the campus and at religious sites such as churches in downtown Ji'nan.
