Student's Safety Agreement Receives Blame

The 'Oriental Today', a newspaper in Central China's Henan province, reports that agreements regarding student's safety responsibilities have recently been distributed to all primary and secondary schools in Yuanyang county, requesting their parents' signatures.

The eight-page agreement specifies students' safety issues in schools, such as "in case of accidents involving playing with fire, knives or electric devices at school, students will be fully responsible for the consequences."

Many parents are annoyed by such an agreement and they have refused to sign. They argue that schools should be responsible of the students' safety when they are at school. Students are all juveniles under 18, and cannot take responsibility for themselves.

An official from the local Ministry of Education responded to the opposition, saying that the agreement is to strengthen parents' safety awareness and sense of responsibility for their children. Parents are free to sign, or not. In case of accidents both sides still have to go through legal procedures.

The 'Oriental Today' filed a report arguing that the safety responsibility agreement goes against both the spirit of law and moral code. The article says that schools are just trying to shift the blame and parents will be put in an impossible position to handle their children's safety concerns while they are at work.

Other papers such as the 'Qianjiang Evening and Guangzhou Daily' have also questioned the necessity of such a "life and death contract", adding that schools should seek ways to better ensure students' safety at school instead of shifting their duties and responsibilities.