A vocational secondary school in Wuhan of central Hubei Province has rented its playground as a golf training area, preventing thousands of its teachers and students from using it, the local news portal Cnhubei.com reported Tuesday.

Cnhubei.com said that billboards for the golf training area can be seen outside and inside the school, and the golf training field from the playground includes a driving range.

An unnamed principal of the golf training field said that the playground has been on lease for a year and the course will be used by school only in the case of certain activities, such as sports meetings and military training.

Gao Xinsheng, who is in charge of the playground, explained that the lease is part of the commercial plan of the school that underwent a renovation project last year.

However, students are not happy with the school's new business plan. An anonymous student said that he enjoys playing football, but now, he can not find a place to do so at school.

"Thousands of students now have to do sports only on the basketball courts," said an anonymous retired teacher, who warned he will report it to provincial education administration if the school keeps doing this.

(CRIENGLISH.com September 8, 2010)