A school in China ended a scheme awarding better meals to top students after facing backlash. Photo: DouyinShishichengfei Secondary School in southwestern China’s Sichuan province has come under fire for providing better lunch sets for students with top grades.
Their table in the school canteen was also labelled the “straight A student area”.
According to the school, only the student with the best overall grade, the student with the best grade in one subject, and the student who made the biggest progress from each class in the December school test were awarded a better lunch and a small gift.
Students with ordinary grades ate in the same canteen.
Video footage of the discriminating dining arrangement went viral online and triggered controversy. The school later apologised.
It admitted that the award was a “half-baked decision that brought bad influences” and announced that it had cancelled the scheme.
A staff member at the school said the award did not mean to treat any student differently but simply showed the value of academic performance.