Analysis | Declining teacher ethics ring alarm bells

A spate of scandals regarding teachers in China has not only underscored a fall in ethics in the profession, but also shamed the country’s education authorities for lax inspection.
On Sunday, southwest China’s Sichuan Fine Arts Institute barred Wang Xiaojian, a retired associate professor, from attending any of the institute’s teaching, research and academic activities, after pictures of him forcibly kissing and sexually harassing two female students in a restaurant circulated on the Internet.
Coincidentally, Wang’s fall from grace came just a day after the Ministry of Education issued a guideline on ethics for university professors, a provision aimed at enhancing ethical conduct among education staff.
The guideline, which bans college staff from sexually harassing or engaging in improper relationships with students, aims at curtailing China’s scandal-ridden education sector amid growing public disquiet.
It also puts forward seven prohibitions for college teachers, promising sanctions for violators. The provisions include conduct undermining national or student interests, research fraud and plagiarism.
A haze of corruption has shrouded China in recent years, and the toxic trend has spread to ivory towers, engulfing teachers, who are traditionally regarded role models.
But, according to Xinhua’s analysis, teacher’s ethics are not in decline. The education sector is.
Beijing’s official news agency claims that lowered ethical standards have reflected loopholes with China’s education system, characterized by a dearth of sufficient inspection and stiff penalties. This has left local officials large room to mull punishment on their own, allowing them to turn a blind eye to corruption and misconduct.
Still according to Xinhua, to plug the loopholes, specific inspection teams should be established to reverse the trend. The agency says that China does not lack regulations, but the patchy enforcement of such regulations at the local level that has fueled a surge in these incidents. Xinhua