Parents and the university authorities have been debating whether to recruit hourly-paid housekeepers for university students, the Youth Post reported today.

Some parents asked the university authorities whether they could recruit housekeepers to help their children cook meals, wash clothes and clean their dorms. "It is a waste of time for them to do all the work by themselves, and their main task here is to study hard," said a parent.

"I am able to do housework, but don't want to waste my time on it," said Chen, a first year student with the East China University of Science and Technology. "My parents can afford to hire a housekeeper for me so that I can save time for my favorite pass time which is physics research." he added.

However, local universities disagreed: "It will put psychological pressure on the other students with lower living conditions," said a spokesman with the dorm-management office of the Shanghai Jiaotong University.

Local universities should offer different living quarters with different living conditions for students to choose from, said Prof. Wen Jun, a sociologist with the East China Normal University. With the dorm charges all below an upper limit, it is reasonable to allow students to select dwellings by themselves, said a spokesman with the Shanghai Educational Commission.

(Shanghai Daily August 23, 2004)