The recent national holiday was a great time for leisure among local children. Sadly, for one group of pupils in Shanghai, their vacation was spent recovering from the aftermath of indoor pollution that had consumed their classroom, and their respiratory systems.

Just before National Day, a Chongming county hospital received a group of nearly 40 students overcome with symptoms such as vomiting, skin rashes, respiratory tract disruptions and nose bleeding. The county's disease control authorities found that the level of formaldehyde inside the students' new classrooms was three times higher than the national safety standard.

Similar cases have been heard across the country since the school semester started in September. Just one week before the Chongming incident, students from a primary school in Zibo, Shandong Province, also fell ill with dizziness and burning eyes. They too had been sitting in a brand-new classroom.

Prior to that scandal, a highly publicized incident in Lanzhou, Gansu Province, revealed that students at a certain school reported a variety of conditions including coughing, nose bleeding and red eyes. Guess what? An excessively high amount of formaldehyde in their classroom was also proved to be the cause.

It is common practice for schools to utilize the summer or winter breaks to renovate their buildings. But the short period also means that there is limited time for refurbished classrooms to be properly ventilated before the new semester starts.

All newly renovated classrooms in China are legally obliged to pass environmental tests to become qualified for use. But in practice, there are massive loopholes in the system which allows unscrupulous school administrators to cheat these tests.

Take the Chongming school for example, which passed all its tests after the classroom walls had been refurbished. But right after it was approved, school management went back to install the classrooms with additional cabinets, which were later found to be the source of the fumes.

Given the repeated occurrence of classroom pollution incidents, educational authorities across China should be well aware of the potential health risks for students sitting in renovated or newly constructed classrooms. And yet, many local officials just turn a blind eye to the corruption and malfeasance occurring at these schools.

These school administrators are the same group of people who have committed their careers to educating our future generations, so it's any wonder how they can sleep at night knowing their students are being poisoned.

Parents cannot say they are completely guiltless either. Some of the sick children in Chongming told doctors that they had previously complained to their parents about the pungent odor in their classrooms. Their parents, indifferent to the smells that constantly plague Shanghai, simply ignored their complaints.

It's ironic that local parents are willing to spend millions of yuan to secure a spot for their children in a so-called "quality" school, yet they seem to not give a damn about environmental hazards that their children could be exposed to.

But then again, it makes sense that those wealthy residents, who are accustomed to constantly redecorating their pricey apartments, would wave off what they probably consider "minor" health risks associated with construction. They probably also don't want to risk losing face with local authorities and school administrators by filing a complaint, so they just tell their children to suck it up, literally.

While additional investigations into the Chongming school construction scandal are underway, the incident should serve as a warning for China's education authorities and school leaders to rethink how they spend their budgets. Educational funds should serve the purpose of improving the quality of education for students - not the vanity of local authorities hoping to attract wealthy parents to their districts.

Parents across China should also be on high alert about their child's classroom environment. Just because a school is filled with high-tech equipment or fancy decorations does not necessarily mean it's safe for your child's physical health. And for goodness sake, if your child says the smell of their school is making them feel unwell, please take them seriously!

A fair and transparent system should be enforced by local authorities and school administrators for any school construction or renovation project, from bidding and material purchasing all the way to the final safety tests. This will guarantee the project's quality and safety standards - and also help guarantee a healthy future for China's students.