China school slammed for invading privacy with pupil survey asking if parents’ work is ‘smelly’ or ‘noisy’
Survey launched to coincide with Workers’ Day asks pupils what makes their parents happiest at work, if their job entails overtime
A primary school in China sparked controversy for letting its pupils fill in a detailed questionnaire about their parents’ work.
The survey, titled Observation List of Parents’ Occupation, was distributed to pupils at the beginning of May at Huatai Primary School in Tianmen, central Hubei province, Zonglan News reported.
The questions regarding their parents’ work coincided with the May Day holiday which is celebrated in mainland China as Workers’ Day. The school said that it aimed to boost children’s gratitude for their parents.
The questions came in five categories: work environment, work time, work content, work challenges and work achievement.
Detailed questions included “what is your parent’s work environment? Is it hot? Noisy? Smelly?”, “how many hours do they need to sit or stand per day at work?” and “do they need to work overtime?”.