A middle school in central China’s Hubei Province has returned all the money collected from students to repay school loans on Wednesday.

According to reports, the No.1 Middle School of Yingshan County had invited alumni as well as students to donate money, with a minimum amount of 1,000 yuan (about 160 US dollars) for each student, and no ceiling amount, as the school is in some 30 million yuan (about 4.8 million US dollars) debt due to building hi-tech labs on campus to improve education facilities. 

The school responded that some parents voluntarily pushed the initiative forward, and it was not compulsory for students to take part in the scheme. 

However, a father identified as Mr. Li told Hubei-based Chutian Metropolis Daily that parents were forced by school teachers to donate money. According to chat screenshots in the class WeChat group, the most used instant messaging app in China, a teacher published a detailed sum the donations from every student in class 14 from senior three grade. The teacher also complained that the money collected in this class is “far less than that of others.” 

Even though the teacher denied the accusation, among all 58 students in the class, only one student did not make any donation, media reported.

During the first seven days of May, the school had collected some 310,000 yuan (about 49,000 US dollars) altogether, but most students were unaware of how the money will be allocated.

Local authorities have stepped in the case and required the school to return all the capital immediately. Schools are warned not to collect any extra expenses from students in future. 

With more than 70 years of history, the No.1 Middle School of Yingshan County, a key public school in the province, is located in a state-level poor region. Online editorials deem that China should increase investment in education and make balanced input between urban and rural areas to prevent such cases from happening again.