(File photo)

A group of high school teachers won a great deal of public compassion after getting punished for drinking at lunch on a weekday in Changzhi, Shanxi province. The punishment, which many felt was unfair, has been revoked by Changzhi’s disciplinary watchdog.

News of the punishment was first circulated in late September. At that time, news broke that 24 local teachers had spent 1,390 RMB on a weekday lunch on Sept. 9 - a day before National Teacher's Day that their school had off, though most government institutions were at work.

“This incident has negatively influenced society,” the discipline order stated, adding that the group of teachers damaged the image of all teachers in Tunliu County, where they work. The order also vowed zero tolerance for drinking on weekdays.

Two of the teachers were ordered to give public apologies and perform self-criticisms, while the other 22 were reproached in a group meeting. The punishment quickly triggered a number of dissenting voices, with many contending that the drinking ban should not be imposed on teachers, who are not civil servants, and that the lunch bill was not so extravagant. Furthermore, the bill was also paid out of the teachers' own pockets.

However, an official with the county’s disciplinary inspection office explained that many government bodies were working on Sept. 9, and that the drinking restriction was applicable to all employees of government or public institutions, Thepaper.cn reported.

On Oct. 16, a disciplinary inspection commission from Changzhi announced that the initial punishment was inappropriate, and that the punishment order should therefore be revoked, according to the Xinhua News Agency.