Principal ‘Fired’ After Welcoming Children Back To School With Pole Dance Show

Michael Standaert/Twitter

Going back to school was always a heady mix of emotions.

With your brand new, as-yet untouched stationary supplies still fresh in your bag, walking back into school you never knew who might come back from summer holiday with a crazy new haircut or had themselves a summer romance.

With all the excitement going on, whatever was actually happening at the school itself was secondary to the usual mix of nerves, excitement, reluctance, hormones and Lynx Africa.

However, kindergarten students in Shenzhen, in the southern province of Guangdong, China, may have something else to talk about besides their holidays…

Michael Standaert/Twitter

Returning from the summer break, students and parents were welcomed by a pole dancing display ahead of their first class on Monday, September 3.

Before the holidays, the children had apparently been treated to military activities, but the return couldn’t have been more different.

Taking to twitter, one concerned parent called the principal ‘nuts’ for putting on the strange show.

They wrote:

So before our kids got out of kindergarten for the summer, there was 10 days of military “activities” and displays of machine guns and mortars at the door; now the principal has welcomed them back with a strip pole dance on the flagpole bearing the PRC flag. [sic]

She’s gone nuts.

They added:

Who would think this is a good idea? We’re trying to pull the kids out of the school and get our tuition back.

They wouldn’t give us the number of the company that owns the school, but looking into that.

Since the display, education authorities have removed the kindergarten principal from her role at the school, reports Global Times.

The Baoan district education bureau announced their decision after the video of pole dancers performing next to China’s national flag went viral.

The principal, Lai Rong, said there were around 500 children aged three to six, as well as 100 parents.

Some of the young boys were even seen mimicking the dance moves, according to reports.

The principal later sent an apology out, admitting the school had ‘failed to carefully examine the dance content before allowing it to be performed,’ and how the school was simply trying to liven up the atmosphere.

The principal said:

A few parents did come to me requesting a refund and threatening to pull their children out of the school, while others said it was just to learn a new type of dance.

The school and principal have received large amounts of criticism since the event, with many parents calling the dance ‘absolutely inappropriate’ for children of that age.

On parent added:

And they also had a bunch of adverts out for a pole dancing school. The gals in the videos, except for the first one, were not the principal. [sic]

The principal said she’d arranged the pole dance because of the dancer’s excellent skills, and is upset at the backlash she’s since received.

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Charlie Cocksedge

Charlie Cocksedge is a journalist and sub-editor at UNILAD. He graduated from the University of Manchester with an MA in Creative Writing, where he learnt how to write in the third person, before getting his NCTJ. His work has also appeared in such places as The Guardian, PN Review and the bin.