Twenty-three debtors in North China have actively paid their debts of more than 1.4 million yuan ($210,000) in total, after recently finding out their children could be barred from attending expensive private high schools, a local court said on Monday.
Taocheng district people's court in Hengshui, North China's Hebei Province, issued in early July a judicial suggestion to seven private high schools recommending them to refuse to enroll students whose parents are listed as debtors by the court, in an effort to pressure their parents into paying their debts.
The move was a measure to establish a social disciplinary system, and would by no means limit children's rightful access to education, an official of the court was quoted as saying by chinanews.com on Monday.
He added that rather, the move aims to deliver a warning to debtors and push them to fulfill obligations as soon as possible.
Debtors have been restricted from high-value consumption since 2010, according to the provisions of the Supreme People's Court. Letting children attend private high schools with high tuition fees is considered high-value consumption.
The Taocheng court has taken strengthened measures in the campaign against debtors since May, including launching a platform to expose the debtors, increasing punishment, and setting special ring tones for debtors.
More than 500 million yuan has been retrieved within six months.
Similar methods have also been recently taken in other cities across the country. Courts in Quanzhou and Fuqing, East China's Fujian Province, and Foshan, South China's Guangdong Province, cooperated with local education departments to issue similar limits involving about 100 high schools, according to media reports.
