Might I ask if the place you were working in was a state-school or a training institute

Dongbei Primary is NOT a ETC. It is primary school attached to a teachers' training college. They receive half of their fundings by the government but the students still have to pay fees, which are however lower than the ones of private schools. From what I understood the school is half private half state run in the sense that the state just gives it money and monitors it while the rest is run pretty much as a business.