Kindergartens in three Chinese provinces are accused of giving prescription drugs to children without their parents' knowledge.
The drugs were given to prevent the children from getting sick in order to boost attendance because the schools get paid based on attendance.
Almost 2,000 children who attended the suspected kindergartens are receiving medical attention as some reported side effects from the medication, such as dizziness, stomachaches, leg pains and genital swelling.
China's response it have education and health ministries require its local branches to check all kindergartens and primary schools for illegally administered drugs.
Do you think China's response is going to help at all? If not, how do you think the government should respond? How should those who are administrating these illegal drugs be punished or prosecuted?
Psssssh... we do almost the same thing here in America. If your kids don't receive vaccinations they cant go to school. They're just giving the kids the drugs AT school so they do show up... I don't think china's reaction is doing anything. "Go complain to your local bureaucracy leaders about how they gave your kids drugs without your consent, see if they'll help you out." The Chinese government isn't going to prosecute anyone.
I dont think that its going to go away completely because schools can hide it and then keep giving them the medication after the government goes in and checks them.
I feel like they will try to help but wont completely succeed. i think the government should check all schools thoroughly including both students and teachers for best safety caution. I think they should be prosectued greatly because they have a government job and because of the effects to the children.
I think it is wrong to drug kids without their parents consent because if a kid would have been allergic to the drugs he/she could have died. It's pretty greedy to try to boost attendance just to make more money. I don't think that China is gonna do much in response.
i think that the response will help to some extent, but im not sure what the government should do. I think the people administering the drugs should be told to stop doing that and if they do not listen, should be arrested.
I do not think that China's response will help to solve anything. To be perfectly honest I am not to sure what actions their government should take but i do feel that they should act on it. I think that those whom have administered the drugs should be tried to decide their punishment.
I think the government should step in and threaten to fire staff at the schools if they don't stop giving the kids drugs. When you put someones job on the line and threaten to take it away I'm sure they will comply with the orders.
I feel like the schools shouldn't have done that especially without the parents consent. I don't think the government is gonna do anything about it, but they should.
I think that the Chinese government's response to this was acceptable. The first step is to make sure that this isn't happening anywhere else. The second step, however, is to punish the individuals responsible for this. Even if the drugs didn't cause the side effects, any administering of drugs to school children should result in immediate and harsh punishment. Although I understand that the reason for doing this was to increase school attendance, it will actually have an adverse effect, because I don't think anyone wants to send their children to a school that administers drugs. People need to be punished so that others don't do the same. There are other ways of increasing school attendance, such as providing medication to the parents of these children, so that they can choose whether or not to give it to their children. It is not the school's responsibility to do that, and they have no right to do so either. Maybe the government could provide parents with the required medication?
I don't the situation is the same in America with the required vaccinations with this situation in China. At least the parents know whats going into their child, than in China they don't know this drug is going in their child. I think the best decision the government could make is to make the parents more aware if these side effects and encourage them to speak up.
I think the Chinese government is doing the right thing checking them out, but i think that the people should be sentenced to jail. That is not their child and they did not have consent. Of course this is just my bias American perspective, which contrasts sharply from that of Communist China.
I think they will be prosecuted according the the law in China. But this probably wont get any better. there is always going to be something going on like this
Schools should not be giving students drugs for any reasons. If a student needs some medical attention or help, it should be on hands of his or her parents. I don't think local investigation is going to solve the problem since it is easy to hide if they know about investigation before hand. I think the government should come up with a system which they reward teachers or students who report those problems to the government agency.
-- Edited by eaturolive on Friday 21st of March 2014 06:07:28 PM
This kind of news scares me for our newest generation coming in a bit. People giving drugs to boost attendance.. Really? So if you want to boost attendance in hs just give everyone a joint and everyone will come right? That's what this article is exploiting and showing the people.
I think the Chinese government is doing the right thing in this situation. It is not right for them to be giving the children drugs in the first place. Even if the school is paid based off of attendance I do not think that is a reasonable explanation for even doing this.
I feel like the Chinese government did the right thing and the children should not have been given the drugs in the first place, the children's heath needs to be put before making money for attendance.
