The incident occurred at an internal conference organized by the Leiba County Education Bureau in Sichuan Province, China, in late August.

During the rewards and punishments segment, more than 20 elementary school teachers were called onto the stage for a group photo. Behind them, a large screen displayed their students' average final exam scores, all below 30/100, along with the two Chinese characters "Shame" (耻辱) prominently in the center.

A group of 20 middle school teachers faced a similar public shaming, as their students' average test scores fell below 15/100.

Images of the event quickly spread across social media platforms. On one platform alone, the incident garnered over 100 million views and a flood of scathing criticism.

"This is ridiculous! Do they have any respect for teachers?", one user commented.

"Reading this news disheartens me. The Education Bureau leadership treats teachers like slaves. I think these officials should resign immediately", another wrote.

Many observers noted that local authorities publicly shamed the teachers without considering the specific underlying causes. Leiba is a poor and remote county, where most students are "left-behind children"—children whose parents have moved to larger cities for work to earn a living.

"With parents absent, there's no one to supervise their children's studies. When students are idle, teachers also lack the authority to discipline them. The consequence is a lack of seriousness among students, so low scores are understandable", explained a middle school teacher from Shanghai.

In an opinion piece on 27/8, the news site Guancha described Leiba county's approach as "crude and rigid", arguing that it fails to motivate educators and makes it difficult to retain them.

Amidst the wave of public anger, the Leiba county government issued an apology on 28/8.

"Our actions at the meeting were wrong, showing disrespect for teachers and causing psychological harm to those involved. We feel deeply remorseful and are seriously reviewing this mistake", the statement read. The government also announced that it would launch an investigation into the incident.

In 2020, China introduced the "New Era Education Evaluation Reform Plan", which stipulates that schools and authorities must not use test scores as the sole criterion for evaluation. However, this issue has not been fully resolved.

Schools with students achieving high scores in entrance exams or the gaokao (China's national college entrance examination) still receive preferential treatment, and principals often gain more opportunities for promotion within the education sector, according to SCMP.

Middle school teachers whose students scored below 15 points in Leiba were brought on stage for a photo. *Stheadlight*

Khanh Linh compiled