Troubled teens in city of Dongguan get second chance to finish school

A public school for "troubled teens" is expected to enroll the first group of students in Dongguan, Guangdong province, in July, aiming to help the teenagers mend their ways and improve their behavior.

The school, operated by the Dongguan City Bureau of Public Security and Dongguan City Bureau of Education, expects to offer the teens a chance to continue their studies, said Zeng Jiale, director of a re-education center under the Dongguan City Bureau of Public Security.

"Many juveniles who have erred or made mistakes are actually very clever and they should receive an offer from universities and colleges to continue their studies if they can finish high school," said Zeng.

Zeng is in charge of the daily management of Qihang Campus of Dongguan Qizhi Special Education School.

"Unfortunately, many of the juveniles are abandoned by society and their parents when they have been detained and then released by police many times. And they might slowly dissociate from the social management system and it is very likely that they will gradually move toward the road of professional crime," Zeng said.

"Some of the juvenile delinquents might be labeled and discriminated against by society, as well as their friends and relatives, after they are released," Zeng said.

"The school offers an opportunity to such juveniles for correction and to continue their studies at a school campus," said Zeng.

A police officer from Tangxia branch of Dongguan city bureau said he felt sorry for a local juvenile surnamed Wang, who had committed 91 thefts in eight years.

Wang had dropped out of school many times in primary school, and his mother remarried after having divorced his father in 2002, the officer said.

Wang, whose parents are local migrant workers, is actually very intelligent and he could have been enrolled by a university if he had a good family environment, the officer added.

Yin Xinghe, deputy headmaster of the school, said the school has started a new model of cooperation between police and teachers.

The school implements a totally closed and year-round teaching management mode, with the education bureau being responsible for the education work, and the public security bureau taking responsibility for the security and safety management and legal education.

"Police officers are on duty 24 hours a day to help deal with all kinds of possible emergencies," Yin said.

"Students can usually study in the school for about three months, with the longest period no more than three years, before they are sent back to normal high schools," said Yin.

The first batch of 25 teachers and nine correctional police officers have taken up their posts in the school and are now receiving training, Yin added.

Juvenile delinquency has become one of the major social problems in Dongguan, a major production base in Guangdong that has a large number of migrant workers.

According to the Dongguan City Bureau of Public Security, local police investigated more than 4,600 juvenile delinquencies from 2015 to 2018－and the figure has been growing in recent years.

Of those, 97.3 percent have no household registration, or hukou, in Dongguan, and 71.5 percent were found to lack family supervision.

Located in Dalang township, the school is planning to enroll about 200 juveniles aged between 12 and 18 years old.

Each class will have no more than 20 students.

The school has functional classrooms, psychological counseling centers, legal education centers, a gymnasium, science and technology centers, and advanced teaching facilities.