Illustrations in Chinese school books
CAIRO – 24 August 2022: China's Ministry of Education has sanctioned 27 officials after illustrations in math textbooks sparked outrage.
The ministry stated that the national textbook management lacks adequate guidance and supervision, and criticized the publisher for not following strict protocol in reviewing textbooks.
The investigation began - according to the British Daily Mail newspaper - after an outrage campaign spread online over the illustrations, describing students as ugly and sexually inappropriate, and that the style of clothing was secretly pro-US.
In response to the investigation, the ministry announced on Monday that it had fired the editor-in-chief of the state-owned Peoples Education Press, China's most popular textbook publisher.
Communist Party secretary and publisher of the People's Education Press, Huang Qiang, received a stern and defamatory warning, as did Tian Huisheng, director of the ministry's National Textbooks Department, according to the South China Morning Post. The ministry dismissed two other officials who worked on the textbook and imposed disciplinary sanctions on 17 officials from the publisher and five from the ministry.
Peoples Education Press apologized after it faced criticism on social media that the illustrations were "ugly" and "sexually suggestive". China ordered a nationwide review of textbooks after netizens complained that the characters in the textbook were ugly and had very small eyes, which could be considered racist.
In a statement on Monday, the ministry said the illustrations are "problematic" and "do not raise the level of performance" and that they do not meet the "basic requirements for moral education." The ministry said it would strengthen the party's leadership in developing educational materials to ensure they adhere to the "correct political direction and values".
In recent years, Beijing has tightened its control over the books and curricula that go to primary and secondary schools to ensure they are consistent with the party's ideology.
The government banned the use of textbooks from overseas publishers and ordered a new set of standard texts for use in teaching Chinese language, history, and politics.
The People's Education Press has commissioned illustrations for the new textbooks, which will be done by a team from the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing. So far, they have received positive feedback from social media.
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