Uyghur Children of Incarcerated Parents Undergo Political Education in Xinjiang Schools
August 26, 2021A group of Uyghur elementary school students whose parents are incarcerated in internment camps or prison are being subjected to “special political education” classes in schools in northwestern China’s Xinjiang, with some pupils developing serious emotional problems and getting poor grades, sources in the region said.
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A principal in Ghulja county told RFA that his school has 42 students whose parents have been incarcerated and are receiving special political education as directed by higher authorities.
A police officer who serves a neighborhood where more than 10 of the 42 children in the school live, said the political education program aims to ensure that they do not despise the Chinese Communist Party and the government.
“We gather them all together and give comfort to those who are crying,” the officer said. “We tell them not to worry a bit, that the government isn’t going to do anything [bad], that it simply is going to educate people,” she said.
“I call some of the students who have been badly affected by their family situations, especially those who parents have been harshly punished, to my office one by one each week,” she told RFA when asked about the effect of indoctrination on the moods and academic performance of the pupils.
“I’ve educated them, telling them that the law is a very just thing, that it’s not going to harm their parents, that [the parents] are going to return [to normal life], that they will be really great when they return, and that the government is doing great work,” she said. “By detaining them, the government prevents big trouble in the country.”