Recently, the well-known private school “Houde Academy” in Shenzhen has accumulated debts exceeding over ten million yuan, leading to over a thousand teachers and students being “forced out of the school.”
On July 18th, Zhang Peng, a teacher in charge of enrollment at Houde Academy, revealed to “China News Weekly” that he had already moved his personal belongings out of the school.
He mentioned that in early July, the Shenzhen Education Bureau dispatched a special working group to the school. Leaders of the first and second-year classes were in talks with them and were tasked with conveying the situation to parents of the students to jointly explore solutions.
The closure of Houde Academy has the greatest impact on students in the first and second year of high school.
Zhang Peng stated that after the college entrance examination, the third-year and preparatory class students had graduated, and the school did not enroll new first-year students this year. There are approximately 800 students who are about to enter the second and third year.
He revealed that one solution being negotiated at the moment is that from the next semester, all teachers and students of Houde Academy will be “transferred” to a private school in Longgang District of Shenzhen, Shenzhen Zhonghui Senior High School.
Currently, Houde Academy owes all teaching staff one and a half months’ salary and social security contributions, an issue the school has agreed to help resolve.
Public information shows that Shenzhen Zhonghui Senior High School is located at No. 6 Huamei Road in Longgang District. It is a newly established dual-track private high school. It has just enrolled its first batch of students this year and currently does not have students in the second and third year.
Zhang Peng is concerned about whether Zhonghui High School can accommodate all the students and teachers from Houde Academy at once and whether everyone is willing to accept the relocation.
One parent expressed that Zhonghui High School is a new school, and parents are unaware of its teaching staff and educational quality.
The article highlights that the concerns of the parents are valid: the tuition fees of private schools in Shenzhen are far higher than those of public schools. According to incomplete statistics, the tuition fees per semester at private schools in Shenzhen range from 20,000 to 100,000 yuan.
The enrollment announcement of Houde Academy indicates that the school’s tuition fee is 94,000 yuan per semester (including accommodation fees). The school has related preferential policies where parents can enjoy a certain discount if they pay the tuition fees in advance.
A parent disclosed that in June last year, she had prepaid about 170,000 yuan for her child’s tuition and accommodation for the second and third year. Although Zhonghui High School was not her child’s preferred choice, she had to accept it reluctantly since she had already paid the fees.
Public information shows that Houde Academy in Longhua District, Shenzhen, is a full-time private high school founded in 2016. In 2018, the school established a college entrance examination preparatory class with over 1,900 students; in 2020, it was rated as a “high-quality characteristic private school in Shenzhen” by the Education Bureau; in 2021, its college entrance examination rate was 87.93%, being recognized as a top-tier school in Shenzhen.
However, some parents mentioned that despite being operational for less than eight years, the school has had eight different principals, indicating administrative turmoil.
The official website of Longhua District Education Bureau indicated that by the end of last year, Houde Academy had 1,293 students, 264 staff members, including 185 full-time teachers and 79 teaching assistants and administrative personnel.
Houde Academy has a college entrance examination section and an international section covering first, second, and third years as well as a preparatory class.
The school had already encountered financial difficulties in January this year.
According to “Tianyancha,” the school had an execution amount of 171 million yuan, with the most recent court filing on July 1, 2024. In March, Futian District Court issued a restraining order against the school and its legal representative, Tian Hua. In May, the school was listed as an executee by the Shenzhen Intermediate Court.
On May 21st, the Shenzhen Education Bureau released the “Shenzhen 2024 High School Enrollment Plan,” where Houde Academy was not listed. Subsequently, various suppliers who had partnerships with Houde Academy began visiting the school to collect payments.
However, Houde Academy has repeatedly denied the rumors of its impending closure. On May 23rd, the international department of Houde Academy even issued a “solemn statement” asserting that the recent enrollment plan was pending, sparking much discussion that they claimed as “malicious defamation and rumors.”
On June 28th, a “notice letter” posted at the school gate requesting all staff and students to vacate put an end to the related rumors.
The property management company of the school, Shenzhen Bojin Huitong Industrial Co., Ltd., issued a “notice letter” stating that due to Houde Academy’s failure to pay property rent on time, the company issued a termination notice in January, terminating the “lease agreement.” By the end of June, Houde Academy owed rent and other fees exceeding 10 million yuan. After multiple unsuccessful attempts to collect, the company had no choice but to issue the notice letter.
On July 9th, the company issued another notice emphasizing that all items must be moved out by July 12th.
At that time, several netizens on platforms like “Xiaohongshu” posted that Houde Academy owed teachers’ salaries, and the school leaders had disappeared, along with rent arrears.
The financial audit report for 2023 of the school published by the Longgang District Education Bureau revealed that Houde Academy had a net loss of 16.31 million yuan in 2023. Payment records provided by the parents indicated that some tuition fees were directly deposited into the personal account of the legal representative, Tian Hua, rather than the school’s official account.
In response to this, Zhang Peng speculated that the principal receiving tuition fees into a personal account might be related to the school being listed as an executee and the freezing of the bank account. The exact reasons for the school’s financial crisis remain unclear.
There has been no official announcement from Houde Academy to date regarding the suspension of its operations.