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BEIJING - Chinese officials are trying to stop corruption before it even starts.
Schoolchildren in the Chinese capital will get compulsory anti-corruption lessons this school year, including case studies on executed officials, a state newspaper said yesterday.
The tone of the textbooks for the "honest education" classes would start off positive and gradually become darker, the Beijing Youth Daily said. It would also try to stop corruption in student elections.
"Primary and junior high school editions will concentrate on the positive, talking about traditional culture and personalities and standards for students," the newspaper said.
"The senior high and teachers' edition will include some negative examples, such as the 2005 mass cheating case in Xian and the Cheng Kejie case."
The cheating was for the make-or-break university entrance exam. Cheng, a former vice-head of Parliament, was put to death in 2000 for taking bribes. He was one of the most senior Chinese politicians to suffer such a fate in recent times.
"Teachers will get students to discuss the corruption that exists in their own lives, such as treating people when trying to get votes for student councils," the report added.
But the books would not be sold commercially, it said. They would instead be distributed to schools in the necessary numbers.
China's leaders have pledged to crack down on corruption which has become rampant since market reforms in the 1980s, prompting the Communist Party to warn it could threaten its rule if not curbed.
But investigators are hampered by a political system that permits few checks and balances on official power and by a judiciary packed with party-appointed judges.
- Reuters
