A “correctional” school in eastern China’s Jiangxi province has been closed after being accused of physical abuse to “cure” adolescents that are “disobeying.”

(File photo of Yuzhang Shuyuan by CNTV)

The school, Yuzhang Shuyuan, or Yuzhang Academy, announced on Nov. 2 that it has applied to suspend operations and all students will be dismissed once its application is approved by authorities in Nanchang, Jiangxi.

Yuzhang Shuyuan has been under attack from several students who publicly accused the school of physical abuse during “correctional treatment.” It was even seen as the resurrection of Yang Yongxin’s treatment center, which used electric shock therapy to “cure” Internet addiction.

All newly-enrolled students would be sent to a single room without windows for a week-long “meditation.” They were not allowed to leave the room and could only get food from school employees. However, the school explained that the treatment method used at the school was Morita therapy. During their studies at the school, students are punished up to dozens of times for various kinds of violations, such as being absent-minded in class, according to the students.

(CNTV photo shows a teacher from Yuzhang Shuyuan tries to break a ruler for physical punishment into half)

Serious violations, such as smoking, threatening to commit suicide, or getting into a relationship would receive more violent punishment with the “dragon’s whip,” which according to some students, was a rebar. The school said it was a plastic tube. Other punishments included standing under the sun for hours and running for several kilometers on the playground.

The local government of Qingshanhu District in Nanchang, where Yuzhang Shuyuan is located, admitted on Oct. 30 that the school was permitted to offer correctional treatment to juvenile delinquents in 2014.

Chinese laws stipulate that such delinquents can only be sent for correctional education under the approval of their parents, their original schools, and local education authorities. But many parents and students claim that Yuzhang Shuyuan did not follow the procedures.

According to Beijing-based newspaper Legal Mirror, the school’s application for suspension has been approved.

Yet many Chinese parents remain supportive of the school. Some even held up banners in front of the school asking authorities to reopen it. What those students suffered were mere “rumors” in their eyes, Beijing-based investigative reporter Wang Zhi’an wrote on his Weibo on Sunday.

The fact that many Chinese parents send their children to such schools to “cure” their “rebellious” adolescence behavior concerns many people and media outlets, however, who have called for ending such treatment for adolescents