Mainland Vocational Schools Exploit Students Through Forced Factory Internships
On.cc · 1 SOURCESabout 4 hours ago3 MIN
Summary
Mainland media on Friday exposed a shadowy industry chain involving vocational schools, factories, and labor intermediaries in mainland China, revealing how students are coerced into mandatory factory internships to generate profits for all parties involved. The investigation uncovered a "school-intermediary-factory" arrangement where students were essentially treated as commodities, with schools receiving "head fees" for each student dispatched to production lines. Tragic cases have emerged, including student deaths by suicide, heart attacks during package sorting, and respiratory failure after sick leave requests were denied. The practice appears widespread, with students from various vocational programs including early childhood education, aviation, computer studies, and automotive repair all being funneled into factory work regardless of their field of study.
Key Points
- Former employee Zhao Ben, who worked at a private university in East China for six years, revealed that enterprises need cheap flexible labor, intermediaries require head fees, and schools seek funding or corporate cooperation metrics, creating a three-way exploitative arrangement .
- The head fee paid per student intern reportedly reaches approximately 500 yuan (about 589 HKD), with students sent to electronics factories, textile mills, and logistics warehouses .
- A 17-year-old named Liu Li, a sophomore at a vocational high school, was arranged by her school last year to intern at a clothing factory for five months, where 12-hour workdays were the norm .
- A student named Wang Min, studying early childhood education at a vocational school, was uniformly sent to a factory production line in Jiangsu Province, despite the clear mismatch with her academic program .
- Multiple student deaths have been linked to this system: one student committed suicide at an auto repair shop, another died from a heart attack while moving courier packages, and a third died of respiratory failure after three sick leave requests were denied at an electronics factory .
- Wang Min stated that students from programs including aviation, computer studies, and automotive repair were all arranged for factory internships, and that she ultimately complied after her homeroom teacher repeatedly pressured her and threatened to withhold her graduation certificate .
Why It Matters
The exposure of this exploitation pipeline raises serious concerns about the protection of minor workers and the integrity of vocational education in mainland China. As cross-border education exchange programs between mainland institutions and Hong Kong continue to expand, these practices could potentially impact Hong Kong students participating in collaborative vocational programs. Parents and educators in Hong Kong should be aware of the risks when considering such exchange opportunities, and regulatory oversight of internship arrangements must be strengthened to prevent the commodification of students' labor and well-being.
The exposure of this exploitation pipeline raises serious concerns about the protection of minor workers and the integrity of vocational education in mainland China. As cross-border education exchange programs between mainland institutions and Hong Kong continue to expand, these practices could potentially impact Hong Kong students participating in collaborative vocational programs. Parents and educators in Hong Kong should be aware of the risks when considering such exchange opportunities, and regulatory oversight of internship arrangements must be strengthened to prevent the commodification of students' labor and well-being.