The official Global Times on January 29, 2018 cited  Sina Weibo microblog posts, which were subsequently deleted, as saying  a mosque in the city of Baoshan opened classes during winter vacation for "left-behind" Muslim children to learn Arabic, study the Koran, Islamic culture and customs.  It said mosques in Yunnan Province are teaching Arabic to Muslim teenagers during winter vacation, a practice that a Chinese expert called "inappropriate."  An employee of the Yunnan Islamic Association confirmed to Global Times  on January 29, that some mosques organize classes for children of poor families left behind by their parents seeking work in far-flung cities. "But it's not all about Arabic," he said adding "They also teach them some common sense and how to do their school homework." He also said local mosques have been organizing such classes for years, but fewer run them today with declining numbers of left-behind children, the staff member noted. "The government does not encourage such activities, Describing this as  "inappropriate", Xiong Kunxin, a Professor at Beijing's Minzu University of China in Beijing, was quoted as saying "Teenagers have not yet completely formed their world view. Thus it is dangerous to brainwash them with religion."  

(Comment: Students of a Muslim-majority Guanghe county in Northwest China's Gansu Province have been banned from going to religious venues for activities, or attending scripture schools or religious venues for reading scripture during the winter holiday. Gansu Province Education Bureau issued a notice in May 2016 banning religious activities at its schools after a video went viral of a girl in Muslim clothing reciting the Koran. The Jilin Administration for Religious Affairs, on the other hand,  organized Muslim holiday celebrations  in 2015, in a Muslim primary school in Changchun, capital of Jilin Province, and invited all faculty members and students - including students from ethnic Han and other ethnic groups - to participate.)