On October 14, a university teacher posted on a social platform, saying that what he teaches students is knowledge that is years behind, mocking himself as "a product of the previous industrial revolution teaching knowledge from the era of industrial Cthulhu," and feeling powerless for his students. The post received 857,000 likes and 157,000 reposts.
On October 11, according to domestic media reports, a member of the parent committee at Siji School in Jinwan District, Zhuhai, proposed in a group chat that parents take turns going to the school to supervise students' midday rest, claiming the move was intended to allow teachers to rest better.
A student revealed that the school collected 100 yuan per person in August for a student accident insurance policy, but had not actually taken out the insurance; emergency insurance records were only made up the day after the incident.
On September 29, the Beijing Institute of Technology announced that faculty member Pei Yi had seriously violated professional conduct standards for teachers, revoking his qualification as a graduate supervisor and terminating his employment. Pei Yi had previously sparked controversy over remarks made in class discussing feminism and noting that all members of the Politburo Standing Committee are male.
On September 28, at Leiyang No. 1 Middle School in Hunan Province, the first-year senior high grade lured students into classrooms, locked the doors, and collectively forced haircuts and imposed charges on the grounds that their hairstyles were non-compliant, triggering panic; some students climbed over the wall to escape.
A netizen shared a video of two elderly people fighting over cardboard boxes, sparking sighs in the comments section about social involution. Some netizens pointed out that given the involution and food safety issues in China, many people might not even live long enough to reach the age of fighting over cardboard boxes.
Ministry of Education spokesperson and Vice Minister Wang Guangyan announced that China has built the world's largest and highest-quality education system, with 270 million people having received higher education.
On the evening of September 16, after dining at the cafeteria, students at Zhizhi Middle School in Dongdaihe New District, Suizhong County, Huludao City, Liaoning Province, suffered collective vomiting and diarrhea. According to the receiving hospital, more than 80 students sought medical treatment. Official notices stated that the incident was acute gastroenteritis caused by improper cooking and food handling in the cafeteria. Some parents revealed that the principal said only 7 yuan of the meal fee would be refunded. Several parents went to the school to protest, but school officials did not come forward to respond.
On September 13, 2026, a netizen posted a video claiming that when freshmen at the Zhongdong Campus of Shanxi Medical University registered, they found that the loft beds with desks underneath in their dorms were not equipped with ladders, and that freshmen needed to buy a ladder costing about 200 yuan each to get into their dorms.
On September 9, AI designer Mihrolla released a surrealist video, using metaphor to showcase the academic burden and ideological constraints in Chinese education.
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On September 5, 2026, primary and secondary school teachers in various regions posted on social media to complain about schools disguisedly forcing donations. Quotas were assigned based on senior teacher rank or permanent staff status, with requirements to post screenshots of the donations in work groups, triggering strong resentment.
On September 5, 2026, Tang Jiafeng, a famous postgraduate entrance exam math tutor, publicly declared that English is merely a tool, calling for an end to English's status as a core course in basic education and an end to the worship of foreign things, sparking fierce public controversy over education reform.
A plan by Zizhuang Primary School in Yongchuan, Chongqing, to charge students a tray-cleaning fee of 45 yuan per semester has sparked controversy. On September 3, 2026, the Yongchuan District Education Commission announced that the charge was non-compliant and ordered the school to stop it immediately.
On September 2, 2026, a parent exposed the schedule of the high school division of Haikou City No. 4 Middle School, which shows that the school forces students to collectively watch a half-hour broadcast of Xinwen Lianbo during the evening self-study period, sparking public discussion.