厦门教会办幼儿园遭宗教局人员上门调查



4/18/2018

北京爱加倍幼儿园遭取缔
(图:对华援助协会,2018月3月28日)

(福建-2018年4月18日)厦门一教会创办的幼儿园,本周一(4月16日)被当地宗教及教育部门人员上门调查两个多小时。当地信徒称,约二十位宗教局和教育局的人员到该校,调查幼儿园的班级、教材及学生名单等情况,遭到校方抵制。部分学生家长闻讯赶到校内质疑官方人员的行为,双方未发生激烈争执。

据福建省厦门一教会人士披露,4月16日早上,当地一教会创办的幼儿园,遭到政府方人员闯入调查,包括询问学生人数,学校教材,并登记宗教类印刷品。该教会一位信徒星期一傍晚发帖称,当天早上,先是教育局十多人前来声称“执法”,一位带头的人称,该学校未经登记,属于“非法办学”,称他们“接到群众举报”,因此前来调查。

据不愿披露学校名称的信徒称,来人带着照相机和摄像机,拍摄了该校幼儿园孩子们进行早崇拜的过程。期间一名男子对教师称,教材中如果有宗教内容,需要经过宗教局认定。其后教育局人员致电宗教局。稍后,宗教局的工作人员抵达该校,加入调查。现场政府人员增至约20人。信徒还称,当校长指出他们没有执法文书时,对方的态度由初期的恶劣转为平和。

该校信徒称,宗教局人员在现场详细记录了校舍的名字,并翻阅教会的诗歌与圣经,还认定这些材料是“宗教材料”。又要求孩子的家长在笔录上签字,但被拒绝。此时,教育局人员招来当地街道办事处人员作证,以证明孩子的家长拒绝签字。最后,官方人员又要求校方交出孩子的名单及课程表、学习材料等,但遭拒绝。

信徒表示,他们不知道官方人员为何匆忙前来调查,却不带任何法律文书。不过,教师对此早有准备。从早上9点许到中午11点20分左右,校方与教师均保持平静的心态,据理力争。在两个多小时的调查过程中,有情绪激动的家长闻言赶到后,质疑官方人员的行为不合法,双方并未发出激烈争执。

不久前,基督教北京爱加倍教会八福公学幼儿园,也遭到当局刁难及逼迁。3月29及30日。有关当局雇佣的保安员围堵该幼儿园大门,不准教师和工作人员进入。据学生家长和教师称,多名保安已持续三天堵在幼儿园门口,另有警察在场戒备。3月25日,20多名男子突然闯入八福公校幼儿园,将办公和教学用品扔出园外。幼儿家长与保安理论。要求对方说明受谁指使,对方拒绝透露,房东否认雇佣保安人员,称“此事与其无关”。目前,爱家倍教会已委托律师代理此案,希望通过法律手段解决问题。

对华援助协会特约记者乔农报道

英文翻译

Officials from the Bureau of Religious Affairs intruded a preschool established by a church in Xiamen

(Fujian-2018-4-18)On Monday (April 16th), the officials from the local bureau of religious affairs and ministry of education visited a kindergarten established by a church in Xiamen and conducted a two-hour investigation. According to local Christians, about twenty officials arrived at the kindergarten and inspected the classes, textbooks and rosters. The school administration protested against the government intrusion. Some parents came to the school after hearing the news. There was no clash between the parents and the government officials.

 According to an insider from Xiamen, Fujian Province, during teh morning of April 16th, the government employees intruded a kindergarten that belonged to a local church, inquiring about the number of students and the textbooks and taking notes of the religious materials. During the evening, a church member posted online that more than ten officials from the ministry of education arrived at the school in the morning "to enforce the law." The government official who led the squad claimed that the school, which had no registration, was an illegal institute. The government employees also claimed that they "received tips" and conducted the investigation accordingly.

According to a church member who did not want to reveal the name of the kindergarten, the officials brought cameras and took videos of the kids during the morning prayer. An official told the teacher that the kindergarten had to obtain permission from the bureau of religious affairs before using textbooks with religious contents. Afterwards, officials from the bureau of religious affairs joined the investigation after receiving calls from the ministry of education. There were twenty government staff members totally. The believers told the reporter that the officials' altitude softened after the school principal asked for official documents.

According to the church members, the officials from the bureau of religious affairs recorded the names of the school buildings and read through the psalms and the Bible, ascribing them as "religious materials." Then, the people from the ministry of education also summoned staff members from the local subdistrict office as witnesses when the parents refused to sign the government documents. Finally, the officials demanded the school to turn in the rosters, class schedules and the textbooks, and the school refused to comply.

The church members said that it was unclear why the officials conducted the investigation in such a hurry without presenting any legal papers. The teachers, however, were prepared for such condition. From 9 A.M. to 11:20 A.M., the teachers remained calm and attempted to negotiate with the government officials. During the two-hour investigation, some parents arrived at the scene and questioned the legitimacy of the government raid, but there was no intense clash.

A short while ago, the Beatitudes Public Kindergarten under the Aijiabei Church of Beijing also suffered from government suppression. On March 29th and 30th, security guards hired by the government blocked the front gate of the school and prevented the teachers and staff members from entering. According to the parents and the teachers, several security guards blocked the school gate for three days with the acquiescence of the police, who were patrolling around the school. The parents tried to reason with the security guards, asking them to reveal their superiors, but the guards refused to cooperate. The landlord that accommodated the kindergarten insisted that he did not hire the security guards, claiming that he "had nothing to do with the incident." Currently, the Aijiabei Church had commissioned lawyers and hoped to address the issue through legal means.

China Aid Association Special Correspondent Qiao Nong