A volunteer teaching project for migrant workers' children in Kunming, Yunnan province was shut down by the local department of education earlier this month, only because it hadn't officially registered as a school, the People's Daily reported on Friday.

Yan Duansu, who graduated from Yunnan University of Finance and Economics, started a volunteer project in August 2009 to help migrant workers' children with their homework. In November 2009, she was offered a 25-square-meter room in a bookstore to continue the project. Later called the Folk Classroom, the project attracted more than 20 volunteers and about 20 children of migrant worker parents.

On Dec 7, the local bureau of education notified the Folk Classroom of a decision to penalize it, because it was "enrolling students without permission of an official education department."

What's more, according to an official with the bureau, the classroom was located near a registered training school, thus affecting the latter's enrollment; and Yan charged some student fees, making the project "not purely voluntary."

Yan said she needed money to keep the project going. The expense list she provided showed an income of 2,300 yuan($347), of which 1781.6 yuan was spent on supplies and surveys. "We don't have the money for the 200-square-meter room required by the bureau," she added.

The project has been suspended since Dec 7. The bureau said it would ask local neighborhood offices to provide a place for the project, and that the project would be better served if it worked with an organization and didn't have expense problems.