Teachers at a B.C.-certified school in northern China have written to Education Minister Don McRae with accusations that the school is inflating marks so its fee-paying Chinese students can graduate with a B.C. certificate and qualify for North American universities.

Several teachers allege that officials with the Tianjin Maple Leaf international school have also violated work contracts, harassed them and created an unsafe environment. They have appealed to McRae, his ministry and Chinese officials for help, but said there was no immediate response from B.C.

“Laws are being broken, I’m being forced to give inaccurate grades and several teachers, including myself, are experiencing dangerous circumstances on and around the campus,” teacher Shannon Davis said in an email this month to Kerry Pridmore, B.C.’s international education director.

In her response, Pridmore noted the ministry reviews complaints about the B.C. Offshore Program Agreement, but she did not say whether it will investigate Tianjin school. Ministry spokesman Scott Sutherland also refused to indicate whether the teachers’ complaints are being investigated, and McRae did not respond to a request for an interview.

The school’s B.C. agent, George Watson, did not answer directly when asked about the allegations of grade inflation but noted that the school uses the letter grade I for “learning is incomplete” on report cards rather than giving a failing grade, in keeping with B.C. regulations. He also noted in an email to The Vancouver Sun that students must pass an entrance exam before being admitted to the B.C. program.

It’s not the first time the ministry has heard reports that grades are being inflated at some of its 34 offshore schools, most of which are in China. In 2007, then education minister Shirley Bond said the ministry was monitoring three schools — Dalian Maple Leaf International, Grand Canadian Academy and Sino Canada high school — to ensure students meet provincial standards, especially in English 12, before they receive the B.C. high school graduation certificate known as the Dogwood.

“The credibility of the Dogwood is vital. When someone sees the B.C. Dogwood, they (should) know that a certain set of standards has been met,” she said at the time. “Certainly there have been challenges identified, both here and offshore.”

That latter comment referred to concerns at University Hill secondary that struggling students were boosting their English 12 marks by taking the same course after-hours at a nearby private school. The Vancouver teacher who raised a red flag in 2007, Peter Hill, said the problem persists today. This week, four of his Grade 12 students who were getting low grades dropped his class to take English 12 through an online school.

“It’s clear why they want to do this ... it’s because they can get a better mark online,” Hill said. “We’ve almost come to the point where we accept this kind of mark-shopping as educational.”

Tianjin teachers, including one from B.C., told McRae in an email this month that they have been asked to “fake grades to push the kids through the B.C. program in order for them to graduate and be accepted into North American universities.” And U.S.-trained Davis, in her email to Pridmore, said: “My grades are meaningless since they change as soon as they go into the system.”