While the schools in China remained closed due to the Wuhan virus in early March 2020, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) launched a nationwide campaign to force youngsters to join its affiliated organisations (the Young Pioneers and the Communist Youth League) via “DingTalk,” the largest mobile app Chinese students are using to study at home.
It was developed by the Alibaba Group in China, and has more than 100 million users.
In addition to being forced to join the CCP’s Youth League, elementary school students are also required to attend weekly political classes, watch the CCP’s flag-raising ceremonies, take and upload photos of them saluting the red flag, and write weekly thought reports.
Middle school students are required to “study” the CCP’s glorious history, watch its brainwashing news every day, and then take exams. All of their answers and browsing history is recorded by the backend server. Some schools use such data to assess qualifications for “honor students.”
Coercive Measures
This is how the CCP forces youngsters to join its organisations:
First, parents are required to choose to have their child join either the Young Pioneers or the Communist Youth League. They have to fill in their child’s details, including name, ID number, ethnicity, cell phone number, etc.
A screenshot of the submission must be sent to the student’s head teacher. If that doesn’t happen, the teacher keeps reminding the parents, telling them the screenshot is “mandatory.”
Some teachers revealed that orders to do this came from the school district and education bureau, which were passing the orders down from higher-ranking CCP officials.
“My Kids Don’t Want to Participate”
Many teachers and parents alike were disgusted by what they were being forced to do.
A parent in Jingjin County, Hebei Province, complained, “It says in the first paragraph, ‘If you are willing to participate.’ My kids don’t want to participate. I’ll stop using the software on the phone.”
But the technical support staff from “DingTalk” told the parent that if their kids didn’t join, they would be deemed anti-China and anti-Party, which would mean that the students could be deprived of opportunities to attend college, join the military, find jobs, or even get married.
The parent argued, “It has nothing to do with being ‘anti-China’ or ‘anti-Party.’ It’s only a matter of whether we use the software or not. If they force parents to urge their kids to join (the CCP organiszations), that will make the parents really resentful,” the parent said.
“This is my job,” replied the technical support staff.
“I Don’t Want My Students to Join, Either”
After being forced to join the CCP, a primary school pupil issued a declaration that she was quitting.
It said: “After I started studying online, my head teacher forced me to join the Young Pioneers on my mobile phone. My mom helped me fill out the details, including my name, phone number, ID, etc. I never wanted to join the Young Pioneers, and I want to declare that I’m quitting the organisation now. Signed: Xiaole.”
A primary school teacher (“Qiu”) from the same county said, “The principal has repeatedly urged us to make sure that every student in our class has joined the Young Pioneers so that we can complete the ‘Home Project.’ It’s the same for the whole school district. It’s an order from the Education Bureau.”
Teacher Qiu said they had reported complaints to their superiors, but nothing was done to address the issue.
“The head teachers in our school are under orders to require parents to register their children to join the Young Pioneers.”
“Parents and pupils do not want to do this, and I don’t want my students to join, either, but the principal forced us to,” said teacher Qiu.
Related article in Chinese:
(Clearwisdom)