Chinese university punishes student for father's mistake

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A university in east China's Zhejiang Province has suspended an offer of admission to a student whose father failed to settle an old bank debt.

The student from east China's Zhejiang Province, identified by his surname Rao, received a call for a Beijing-based university he had applied to, informing him that he might not be able to complete his enrollment because of his father's low score on the country's social credit system.

The system, introduced in 2014, keeps a running score for citizens based on their behavior. Poor credit performers are penalized, including being banned from taking planes or asking for loans and restricted from real estate purchases, among others.

The father of the student had owned a debt amounting to 200,000 yuan (30,000 US dollars) to a local bank for over two years. In May 2016, the bank took the father to court for defaulting on the loan, but the latter still couldn't fulfill his obligations. His social credit score moved down as a result, and the judge warned him that being blacklisted comes with consequences.

VCG Photo

But it seems that Rao is paying the price of his father's mistake. The university suspended its offer to the student, prompting the father to finally clear his debt in an attempt to allow his son to continue his tertiary education.

The judge is reportedly working on removing Rao's father from the list, now that he assumed his responsibilities.

The case has caused a stir online, with netizens weighing in on the concept of "collective punishment".

Some people threw their support behind the court and school, saying that people with bad behavior should be punished. They also argued that children are enjoying the benefits brought by the debt owned by their parents, and hence have an obligation to help them repay it.

Others however expressed concern over children's right for education, noting that parents are responsible for their own misdeeds.

This is not the first time an offspring has been implicated by their parents' wrongdoing.

In May, a student surnamed Wu, also in Zhejiang Province, got rejected by a high-end private school because his parent's name was also blacklisted, while another student surnamed Tao in Central China’s Hubei Province was considered ineligible for applying to an aviation college for the same reason.

Schools in the eastern province of Fujian and north China’s Hebei Province have reportedly been ordered not to enroll students whose parents' social credit is below a threshold limit.