Hell or help for China's troubled teens?

Girls train in the playground of Yingsi Teenage Growing School located in Nanxing village, Foshan city in South China's Guangdong province, Aug 1, 2012. [Photo/CFP]

Summer vacation is meant to be a happy time for school children to hang loose and care free, but for one group of troubled teenagers the holidays are spine-tingling hell.

The teenagers, believed to have troubled backgrounds, have been sent by their parents to the Yingsi Teenager Growing School to help get back on the right track.

The students have to stay at the special school, located in Nanxing village in Foshan city in South China's Guangdong province, for three months to one year. They are banned from going outside the school which is surrounded by razor wire and high walls.

They attend intense military training, undergo psychological counseling, education, as well as morality and legal guidance instead of the normal school curriculum at other Chinese schools.

"The whole purpose is to make the rebellious teenagers be well-behaved children," said Principal Du Lihui, "and we have had nearly 700 graduates since the school established in 2008 and 77 percent changed greatly."

Students attend military training in the playground of Yingsi Teenage Growing School located in Nanxing village, Foshan city in South China's Guangdong province, Aug 1, 2012. [Photo/CFP]

But, Du admitted that in order to reform the children in a short period of time, the institution might be overly severe. Their teaching method is to improve by providing more psychological guidance instead of violence.

"Severe training can indeed change the children's behavior, but it is a temporary palliative," psychological consultant Deng Zanpeng said. "They need more consideration and love from their families and the whole society as well as more platforms to perform," he added.

Qiu Yu, deputy director of the Youth Development Center of Foshan, worries the strict discipline may hurt the children and has a risk of a retaliatory rebound.

The children are sent to the school for a number of reasons including Internet addiction. China has 33 million teenagers addicted to the Internet and 24 million live in cities, according to a 2010 report.