CHENGDU: The opening of a family-style private school in Sichuan province offering unorthodox courses has aroused controversy, with an education chief saying it violates the law.

The school is located in a private residence near the famed Du Fu Thatched Cottage Museum, which is dedicated to Du Fu (AD 712-770), one of the greatest poets in Chinese history, in the western suburbs of Chengdu, capital of Sichuan.

The school, which has only five students aged from 3 to 12, teaches Chinese and English. Unlike all the other schools in the country, it does not have any course in math.

The textbooks for Chinese are the sayings of Confucius and Mencius, while those for English are the Bible and works of Shakespeare.

Xia Sheng, headmaster of the school, claims that a student's Chinese will be adequate if he can memorize the sayings with 200,000 Chinese characters.

Almost every student can recite many paragraphs from the sayings because they recite them every day.

English is the other required course in the school where the English teachers consist of graduate students from local universities and a native speaker.

In addition to reading the Bible, students play games with the native speaker three days a week and tell short stories in English with the guidance of the teacher.

The five students are either from rich families whose parents want to send their children abroad when they grow up so that they will not be bound by the country's traditional education system or those who are considered poor in other schools.

A 12-year-old boy was a fifth grader in a primary school attached to a foreign languages school. Because of his poor grades, he had to quit early last month. Now he feels at home in the private school because study is like playing most of the time, he said.

Xia, an engineer, likes classical Chinese works. This prompted him to set up the school last month.

Yang Wei, chief of the Chengdu Education Bureau, said Xia had violated the country's compulsory education law that stipulates every primary school-age student should receive a normal education. Xia's school does not have as many courses as State-owned educational establishments.

Parents of students at the private school say they have chosen it of their own accord because they want their children to study classical Chinese works.

Those opposed to the school say its students cannot learn how to adapt to large classes and mingle with more classmates, which will hinder their psychological growth, according to a survey made by a website in Chengdu.

Lei Bing, president of Chengdu Technicians College, said Xia's school should not be closed because there is a need for diversity in education models.

"Xia's school has shortfalls. But improvements can be made," he said. "For example, the education bureau can ask it to include math in its curriculum so that it is like a modern school."

No emphasis was placed on math in private schools in the old days.

(China Daily 10/01/2009 page4)