Anhui, military academy rises up against government
Hong Kong (AsiaNews) – Thousands of military academy students in central Anhui province are rioting after news spread that the government wouldn’t recognize diplomas awarded to the fee-paying students. According to eye witness reports “It was total chaos, over 7 thousand students took to the streets despite the presence of security forces”. The reports were carried by Radio Free Asia.
One student, named Peng said: “Many people were beaten and were bleeding. The school buildings are a mess. The iron doors in the corridors were smashed. In the morning armed police and police cars arrived to restore order. Their attempts were futile. Police cars were overturned”.
This is why, adds Peng, “The situation is really tense now. I hear that either tomorrow or the day after the Nanjing Military Region will send personnel to restore order. Everyone is like an angry lion now”.
The People's Liberation Army Artillery Academy comprises three types of students: fully registered cadets with military status, fully registered students without military status studying for civil degrees, and self-funding “contract students”. Despite the costly fees, these now risk seeing their diplomas annulled.
Protests of this kind are happening with increate frequency in China. State university entrance exams are extremely demanding as a result many young students turn to private colleges despite their inflationary costs, which in theory are recognised by he State, or they opt to becoming paying students at state institutions such as this one. But Beijing has stopped recognising the diplomas of this kind virtually annulling the study and expense that many students have undertaken.
A female administrator at the Academy confirmed the episode: “all students involved in the rioting are from “the sixth department… They are informal students without military status”. A teacher, under the condition of anonymity tried to defend the situation: “It could happen to any school. There are always some students who do not want to study. The majority of the students are good students”. The teacher went on to warn: “If you are a reporter, I advise you not to touch things related to a military academy in this country”.
Some students have posted complaints online indicating that that they had started rioting because “neither the Education Ministry nor the Military Commission would recognize our. What will we do now?”.
.png)
