A school in China’s southwestern Guizhou province made headlines over the weekend for handing out hundreds of kilograms of raw pork to top-scoring students.

Last Thursday, the private Hanlin school, located in the relatively impoverished county of Nayong, bought and slaughtered seven hogs before distributing the meat to 90 students who had scored well on their final exams. The top students received 18 kilograms, those in the second tier received 12 kilograms, and third-prize winners were each awarded a pig’s foot.

“It suddenly hit me on Jan. 7 that the students could take the meat home for a more festive Lunar New Year atmosphere,” Hanlin headmaster Wang Hao told a local news outlet. The school reportedly spent over 50,000 yuan ($7,250) on the porcine prizes.

In April 2018, a school in the southwestern city of Chongqing also gifted pork to top students — part of an effort to encourage them to cook with their parents. But such an award appears particularly generous this year: An outbreak of African swine fever has decimated the country’s swine herds and driven pork prices to record highs. (Image: @时间视频 on Weibo)