Ministry calls for crackdown on 'female virtue classes'

The Ministry of Education said Thursday that after-school training institutions are not to offer full-time Sinology classes or “female virtue classes” to primary and middle school students.

Female virtue classes refer to lessons that teach young women and girls that women are inferior and should be obedient to their husbands at all times.

The ministry further said that educational institutions are not to teach full-time divination, fortune telling, and fengshui, or hinder students from receiving compulsory education in the name of religion.

Students should attend regular schools for compulsory education from first to ninth grade and their parents have the obligation to ensure they do so, the ministry said in its statement.

Local education authorities should conduct thorough inspections of students who attend private training institutions full-time in lieu of normal compulsory education by the first half of this year and hold violators accountable, it said, adding that they should ensure these students return to regular schools.

Female virtue classes, which claim to promote traditional Chinese values and customs and encourage women to defer to male power unconditionally, have been found in a number of cities across China.

Concepts taught in the class include: “Women should remain in the bottom of the social class” and, “The best dowry for a girl is her virginity.”