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The new semester for most secondary schools has not begun yet, but lessons have already started in secret in some classrooms. Four high schools in Shenzhen cut short the winter vacation for third-year students, Guangzhou Daily reported. However, they were sent home again after it was found out by the local educational authority. A school in Kaifeng, Henan province, started their semester for all students early, on Feb 4. It too was caught and punished. And on Feb 1, Yutian Middle School in Shenyang, Liaoning province, transported more than 400 students to the city ofAnshan, 120 kilometers away, to escape inspection by the local education authority. That didn't work either, and the school principal was dismissed this week. Schools are banned from setting study time during holidays under an instruction by the Ministry of Education published in 2006, so local education authorities check constantly and punish those giving extra classes on weekends or during vacations. The Yutian students were sent back home to wait a further two weeks for the new semester to start, but some parents were not so pleased at the outcome. "Now I have to find other vacation classes for my daughter," said a mother surnamed Li, whose daughter is in her third year at the Yutian school. "If other children are taking extra classes, my daughter will lag behind them." However, Li admitted to having mixed feelings about the extra lessons. | 
