In mainland China, as the new school year begins, a screenshot of a parent group chat from a school in Nanchang, Jiangxi Province has been circulating on the internet, sparking discussions about the use of class fees and the authority of parent committees.
On September 18th at 16:13, the official Weibo account “Nanchang Donghu District Releases” in Nanchang, Jiangxi Province, posted a thread with the topics “A Thousand Yuan Class Fee Sparks Parent Group Conflict” and “How to View Using Class Fees to Buy Teachers’ Day Gifts”.
The post stated that the chat screenshot revealed that the class balance of 1,153 yuan for class 3-7 was to be used by the parent committee to purchase gifts for teachers.
In the screenshot, a parent named “Zi Han’s Mom” questioned, “Was the decision made by the parent committee? 1,000 yuan? Who gave you this authority?” The parent committee responded, “I’m just notifying you. Why are you causing a scene here?” Subsequently, a dispute erupted among the parents in the group.
The post from “Nanchang Donghu District Releases” also mentioned that the notice issued by the parent committee stated “Notice! Do not reply”, and the remaining 153 yuan would be combined into the class fee for the next semester.
Currently, the specific name of the school for class 3-7 has not been disclosed.
Class fee issues have been a frequent source of controversy this year. In April, when reporting on class fee issues, “Nanfeng Window” quoted a parent in Chengdu saying that after their child entered the eighth grade, the class fee for one semester was usually around 1,500 yuan, sometimes reaching 2,000 yuan, totaling to about 3,000 to 4,000 yuan per year.
The report highlighted an incident where a class in Chongqing had collected 181,800 yuan in class fees over two years. In February, the Chongqing Yuzhong District Education Commission reported that the class of 46 students had collected 181,800 yuan in class fees from September 2023 to January 2026, mainly used for learning materials and cultural activities. An official investigation found that some fees and expenditures did not strictly adhere to the requirement of one transaction for one matter and demanded that the school supervise the parent committee to return the remaining funds.
At that time, the report discussed class fee issues in terms of whether parents were truly voluntary, the transparency of income and expenditure, and parental oversight of public spending in the class.
Now, in Nanchang, a parent dispute has arisen over a class deciding to “use 1,000 yuan from the remaining class fee of 1,153 yuan to buy gifts for teachers”.