Two officials were sacked and dozens of others punished over the involvement of teachers in a child prostitution scandal involving more than 20 primary and middle school girls.

Xu Ruhu, head of the Weining Education Bureau and Zhang Chunpu, Party chief of Xinfa Town, were fired, according to the government of Weining County, Guizhou Province.

Zhao Yi, head of the Weining Public Security Bureau, was reprimanded. More than 20 other officials in Xinfa were also punished.

Twenty-two pupils, six under the age of 14, from a middle school and a primary school in Xinfa, and a village girl were forced into prostitution between March and June 2006 after they were taken by several teachers on the pretext of doing farm work or vacationing to hotels in Nayong County and Liupanshui City in the province.

The prostitution ring members were sentenced last Friday by a local court.

Zhao Qingmei, a former provisional teacher at Xinfa Town Primary School and her husband Chi Yao, also a teacher at Xinfa Town Middle School in Weining County, received a death sentence and a suspended death sentence, respectively.

Another couple involved in the case were also sentenced. Hai Long, also a teacher at Xinfa Town Middle School, got 11 years in jail and was fined 10,000 yuan (1,358 U.S. dollars). Hai's wife, Li Huiyan, was jailed for 13 years and fined 40,000 yuan.

The gang members made 32,350 yuan from their prostitution ring.

The court also sentenced 14 others involved to prison terms ranging from one year to a life sentence for a local female farmer Xu Xiaoyan.