School officials dismissed after book burning

Headmasters at a high school in Jingshan county, Central China's Hubei province, were removed from their posts following a book burning to protest extra fees by senior high students on April 5, the Wuhan Morning Post reported Thursday.

Li Zexin, headmaster at Jingshan No 1 Senior High School, was stripped of his administrative position and Party position for collecting irregular educational fees, the paper said. The vice-headmaster of the school and director of local educational bureau also got punished after investigation.

Students at the school tore up and set fire to hundreds of books on April 5 to express their wrath after they were told to pay 700 yuan ($111) in fees, including for reference materials, notebooks, printing, equipment maintenance and weekly exercises. Many students said it was not the first time that the school collected fees without reasonable explanation, which led to the mass destruction of books as a protest.

Up to 2.25 million yuan ($360,000) in the name of extra lessons and reference materials have been collected by the school since 2011. And about 1.15 million yuan ($180,000 million) were returned to the students, the report said.

Students burn books in protest of excessive charges at Jingshan No 1 Senior High School, April 5, 2012. [Photo/163.com]