On April 16, it was rumored online that a third-grade student at a primary school in Ningjin County, Xingtai City, Hebei Province had died on campus. Parents cried and demanded answers from the school in their class group, accusing the school of negligence and refusing to let them see the surveillance footage, which has sparked widespread attention on social media.
Videos and photos circulating online showed parents placing wreaths and banners demanding justice at the school gate. They expressed in the class WeChat group, “No one is taking responsibility, they won’t show us the surveillance footage, how can we trust to leave our children here.”
An informant revealed, “I’m from the same village as this family, very close by. The school is a boarding school. Just yesterday, the family was happy, the child was lively. They sent the child to school yesterday afternoon, and then the child passed away. When the family went to the school to demand answers, they were stopped at the gate and not allowed to see the child’s body, and no responsible leader or teacher came forward to address the issue.”
The school involved was Fangda Experimental Primary School in Ningjin County, and the deceased student was in the third grade at the school. Local sources disclosed that the child had been at the school for only 2 hours before passing away, seemingly in good health before that. Classmates also confirmed that no one had any quarrel with the student, and suddenly the student was gone. Following the incident, the school did not handle the matter, and parents only held banners at the school gate briefly before local authorities arrived on the scene to address the situation.
After the incident gained attention online, the Education Bureau of Ningjin County stated on the 17th that the police were investigating the case. The Public Security Bureau of Ningjin County mentioned that the police were handling the investigation and would release a statement, with police officers currently present at the school gate.
Attorney Tian Mao from the Guangdong Promise Law Firm commented in a blog post, “Clarifying doubts in a timely manner and publicly releasing videos will help resolve disputes. Concealing information will only lead to misunderstandings and misinterpretations, not to mention shifting the burden of proof.”
“Show the videos to the parents,” “Everyone is trying to avoid responsibility, suppress, and minimize accountability. Even if there is surveillance footage, they will claim it’s faulty.” “Parents suddenly have no right to know the details! They can only read announcements?” “Parents want the truth, not ambiguous ‘notifications’ that are difficult to verify!”
责任编辑：李琳#