Wang Yuanyuan

cheekywang@hotmail.com

Lihu Middle School in Nanshan District has opened an experimental class for 58 underperforming students.

The class caters to the needs of the differently abled students, but parents have expressed concern about the long-term impact on the students.

Located in Xili Subdistrict, the public junior high school enrolled its first batch of special-needs students in September.

“To determine their ability, we made 400 students sit an examination in September. The courses include Chinese, English and mathematics and to my surprise, some students gained as little as 20 out of 100 points in each course,” Fang Chaoping, principal of the school, said.

Fang said that more than 80 percent of the students were migrant workers’ children and many had just transferred to Shenzhen schools from less developed areas. “These students might have been given a different style of education and most come from low-income families. They may fail to keep up with their peers who have been in Shenzhen longer, and thus lose confidence and enthusiasm,” Fang said.

Many parents told Fang that their children performed poorly because they did not like school, but Fang did not agree. “I think it is the other way around. The reason they are not enjoying school is because they are struggling to keep up. I think their needs should be specially catered to. However, no child is forced to join the program,” he said.

After soliciting opinions from students and parents, the class eventually enrolled 58 students.

Qiu Xiang, the teacher in charge of the class, thought the experiment was effective and necessary. “I had observed them for a while and found that most of these students had adopted bad study habits at their previous schools. Some students did not bring text books, while others would sing or walk around during class,” he said.

Qiu thought that with enough patience and care, they would catch up with their peers. “If given the proper attention, their confidence will grow,” he said.