How many of us have had to wear a mask to keep from being identified when being photographed? Probably none.

 

 

But for a group of children studying at a primary school in Guangdong's southeast city of Huizhou, they do it all the time.

 

"They wear masks when being photographed not for fun, but to protect themselves," said a staff member of the school.

 

A photograph in the school's prospectus shows a group of children sitting or standing with their faces masked, together with their unmasked teachers.

 

With fewer than 30 students enrolled the school is no ordinary one. "It is the most expensive primary school in Huizhou," said a local resident.

 

With tuition fees of 36,000 yuan (US$4,616) per student per year, the school claims it provides "elite education".

 

"For instance we teach our students golf once a week and playing golf is a compulsory subject here," a staff member said.

 

Some residents said the school was similar to exclusive schools for the nobility in the United Kingdom, while others said it was not justified.

 

Wang Youming, a retired middle school senior lecturer, said such schools reflect increasingly the disparity between the rich and the poor in some parts of the country.

 

"It is sad to see that some children are going to such super luxurious schools while many others cannot even afford an ordinary one due to increasingly high tuition fees," Wang said.

 

"These super school kids may find it difficult to adjust to society later because they have grown up in a confined little world. They are anything but free, happy children. It is really sad."

 

Nie Min, a senior accountant with an IT firm, said: "They are like caged canaries. It is a tragedy that they have to disguise themselves at this age.

 

"If they cannot show their faces at this age, how can we expect them to show their true selves later in life."

 

Lin Jieming, a social worker, said it was difficult to believe that there was such a school.

 

"It is very hard for me to imagine what these children will become later," Lin said. "On one hand they are very proud to be studying in such a school that many ordinary children can never afford, but on the other hand, they have to disguise themselves because of fears of jealousy or even public anger toward them can they really grow up healthy under such an environment and atmosphere?"

 

Lin Gan, a worker in an auto factory, said: "There kids live in a vacuum where they need to worry about nothing and the only thing that they may be good at later is how to burn their parents' money."

 

(China Daily May 17, 2007)