After Spending Nearly 400,000 Yuan on an International Class in a Private High School, Student Ends Up Without Enrollment Status or Graduation Certificate; Education Bureau Responds

Graduation Certificate Issued by the School to Mr. Chen’s Son

Recently, Mr. Chen from Dongguan, Guangdong, reported to The Paper’s public interaction platform “Service Pai” (https://tousu.thepaper.cn) that his child had studied for three years at the International Department of Guangzheng Experimental School in Dongguan. After graduation, he learned that his child had no student status and could not obtain a high school graduation certificate issued by the education department. Instead, he only received a graduation certificate issued by the school itself.
“Without student status, it is impossible to participate in the domestic college entrance examination or social academic examinations for high school graduates. The graduation certificate issued by the school is not recognized by any unit or enterprise,” said Mr. Chen.
In response, a teacher surnamed Dong from the Moral Education Office of Guangzheng Experimental School in Dongguan told The Paper that “the matter has almost been resolved.” They did not respond to questions about whether parents were informed of the lack of student status beforehand and the future development of students.
Additionally, The Paper made multiple attempts to contact the admissions office and relevant personnel from the International Department of the school involved, but was unable to get through.
Three Years of High School Without a Graduation Certificate Issued by the Education Department
According to Mr. Chen, in September 2018, his son entered Guangming Middle School in Dongguan after passing the entrance examination for the transition from primary to middle school. “In the third year of middle school in 2021, teacher Pan, the class teacher, recommended us to attend the International Department of Guangzheng Experimental School in Dongguan. She said that the investors of these two schools are the same, and students who graduate from Guangming Middle School can be directly admitted to the International Department of Guangzheng Experimental School without taking additional exams. After graduating from high school, they can enter overseas institutions ranked in the top 100 of the QS World University Rankings.”
“At that time, I thought that since the teacher was a professional, the recommended school should be beneficial to my child. Therefore, my child was directly admitted to the International Department of Guangzheng Experimental School in Dongguan without taking the high school entrance examination that year,” he said.
“This is a private school, with annual tuition fees exceeding 100,000 yuan,” said Mr. Chen. Before enrollment, school teachers informed his child that they did not need to participate in the domestic college entrance examination and could directly apply to foreign universities after graduation. “I thought studying abroad was also good, so I didn’t pay much attention to the school’s issues.”
In June of this year, Mr. Chen’s child completed high school. Due to the economic downturn, Mr. Chen wanted his child to continue studying at a domestic university. However, on September 12, when Mr. Chen received his child’s “high school graduation certificate,” he found that it was just a “graduation certificate” issued by the school, not a graduation certificate issued by the education department.
The photo of the “graduation certificate” provided by Mr. Chen shows that it states, “This is to certify that… the student was enrolled in the International Department of our school’s high school in September 2021 and successfully completed the third year of high school in June 2024, meeting the graduation requirements.” The certificate is stamped with the seal of the International Department of Guangzheng Experimental School in Dongguan at the bottom right corner.
“I asked the school, and they said that since my child did not participate in the middle or high school entrance examinations, they do not have student status, so they also do not have a high school graduation certificate,” said Mr. Chen. The school only informed the students in the International Department that they would not take the college entrance examination, but did not inform them that they did not have high school student status and could not attend domestic universities. “Now, this certificate is not recognized by any unit or enterprise, and my child cannot register for the college entrance examination or participate in other social academic examinations for high school graduates.”
Demanding a Full Refund of Tuition Fees, the School Says “The Matter is Almost Resolved”
The Paper learned that Guangzheng Experimental School in Dongguan was established in 2004 as a 12-year, private, full-boarding school under the Guangdong Guangzheng Education Group. The school has primary, middle, high, and international middle school departments. Mr. Chen’s son attended the International Middle School Department, which was established in 2005.
Previous enrollment promotions for the International Department of Guangzheng Experimental School in Dongguan stated, “The curriculum of the International Department operates on a British educational system, adopts original British textbooks, follows the small class system of British classrooms, and implements bilingual teaching in middle school and full English teaching in high school. Students can directly apply to famous universities in more than 160 countries worldwide after passing our school’s exams.”
However, Mr. Chen said that the school had not organized any exams for applying to overseas universities, and his child had not received any offers from universities. “The teacher previously said that students could directly enter foreign universities after graduation, but in reality, all the students in his class went to foreign schools to study preparatory courses. They could only take exams at foreign schools in the second year, and if they failed, they had to continue studying,” said Mr. Chen. The school also required parents to find third-party agencies to handle school applications, visas, and other issues.
On October 25, 2024, Mr. Chen filed a complaint with the Guangdong Provincial Department of Education and was told that the result would be available in about 15 days. On November 11, the Guangdong Provincial Department of Education informed Mr. Chen that the matter had been transferred to the Dongguan Municipal Education Bureau for handling, and feedback on the handling result would be provided within 60 days.
Regarding the above situation, on November 5, a teacher surnamed Dong from the Moral Education Office of Guangzheng Experimental School in Dongguan responded, “The matter has almost been resolved.”
Subsequently, reporters made multiple attempts to contact the school’s admissions office and relevant personnel from the International Department, but were unable to get through.
On November 21, a reporter from The Paper called the Dongguan Municipal Education Bureau. Regarding the question of whether a graduation certificate can be obtained without participating in the middle or high school entrance examinations, the staff responded, “If a child does not participate in the middle school entrance examination, according to the regulations in 2024, the education bureau generally organizes a separate graduation examination. If the child passes this examination, they normally meet the graduation requirements and can receive a graduation certificate.”
The aforementioned staff emphasized that due to the absence of similar regulations in previous years, operations were carried out according to the respective school’s regulations. “Therefore, there were cases where students could obtain graduation certificates without participating in the middle school entrance examination.”
Mr. Chen said that the school had proposed compensating one year’s tuition fee of 100,000 yuan, but he did not agree. “My child currently has no student status and cannot attend university. I demand that the school refund all the tuition fees for the high school period.”
Currently, both parties are still in negotiation.