Controversy has heated up after news emerged that a Chinese high school in Guangzhou, South China’s Guangdong Province purchased more than 3,000 "smart bracelets" to track its students as part of its 4.85 million yuan ($723,135) smart campus project. 

Criticism has centered on whether the use of those bracelets would harm students' privacy and personal rights. 

The 131-year-old Guangdong Guangya High School purchased 3,500 bracelets, which can reportedly locate the students, collect their personal information like name and body temperature, and calculate such information as how many times students participate in class, according to the notice on the school's procurement contract awards to the smart campus project that has been circulating online.  

Guangya issued a statement in response to the recent controversy on Tuesday. The statement said that the bracelets are part of the school's efforts to build a "smart campus," and the bracelets are intended to facilitate students' life on campus and oversee students' health conditions. 

It said the smart bracelets are only used in part of teaching process or only when students "need them."

The statement also claimed that the school is still studying how to use the smart bracelets more scientifically, and the school promises to "fully consult" the students, parents, teachers and experts. 

A Shanghai resident surnamed Lu, whose daughter is studying in a primary school, told the Global Times that she firmly opposes such action by schools.

"Chinese schools, particularly middle schools and primary schools, have too much control over their students already. But children also need to have their free space and secrets. Forcing them to wear trackers is just too much," Lu said on Thursday.

On China's Twitter-like Weibo service, there were many users expressing a similar viewpoint. 

One user named Zackbuks questioned why Guangya's statement skipped the sensitive aspects of the bracelets' functions, such as calculating hand-raising times. "Where are the students' personal rights and privacy protection?" the person wrote. 

Lu nevertheless said she is not all against using the smart bracelets, but they should only be used as a kind of auxiliary tool for parents to communicate with their children because some smart bracelets have telephone functions, for example. Such devices should not be used to monitor students on a large scale.

"It's important that children should be notified of the use of those gadgets and they agree to wear them, before those things can be used," Lu said. 

Zhi Zhenfeng, a legal expert from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times that the school could risk legal action if it decides to put the bracelets into use.

"Legally, the students can in theory reject the bracelets if they don't feel respected and don't agree with the school's decision."

"The amount of highly personal data, including data about students' locations, behavior and even physical conditions could be highly vulnerable if it gets into the wrong hands. Schools should be extra cautious to make sure every preliminary measure has been taken and must be extra careful when handling with the highly sensitive information of students," Zhi said.