Govt reassures angry parents over class size

Ministry orders city to handle issues properly, protect interests of students

The Ministry of Education ordered education authorities in Leiyang city, Hunan province, to properly handle issues that gave rise to a street protest by parents over the weekend. The parents objected to a plan to reduce class sizes by moving some children to a private boarding school.

The government is determined to eliminate super-large classes - those with more than 66 students - by the end of this year, ministry spokeswoman Xu Mei said at a news conference on Thursday. In pursuit of that goal, education authorities should be flexible and take local needs into consideration, she said.