Chinese authorities have imposed a reward and penalty system to pressure schools and parents in Inner Mongolia to adopt Mandarin Chinese as the medium of instruction in some classes.

The system was among a series of measures implemented in the wake of mass protests against the new policy to replace the Mongolian language with Mandarin in select classes at ethnic minority schools in the region.

Earlier this month, ethnic Mongolians took to the streets to protest the new language policy and vowed to boycott classes conducted in Mandarin to protect their mother tongue.

Authorities in Horqin Right Middle Banner on Friday outlined a proposal to push students to attend classes taught in Mandarin. Schools and local government departments would receive a bonus of 50,000 to 80,000 yuan (US$7,316 to US$11,704) if 80 to 90 per cent of its students attended classes taught in Mandarin, together with the Mongolian language.

But school principals would be suspended, teachers have their salary cut and local party secretaries required to write reflection letters if they failed to achieve the benchmarks on student headcounts, according to the proposal.

The party office in Barin Right Banner earlier warned that civil servants must send their children to school or they would be suspended from duties, pending an eventual termination of employment.

Some civil servants in large cities such as Hohhot have followed the new rule but many in rural areas remained reluctant to send their children back to school, according to ethnic Mongolians who spoke to Radio Free Asia early this week.

In Tongliao, public security departments offered a bonus of 1,000 yuan for tips that could lead to the whereabouts of protesters in a bid to crack down on dissenting voices.

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