A plan to equip grade one students in a primary school in south China with iPads has been shelved due to mounting pressure from the media.

The parents' committee of Shenzhen Nanshan Experimental School in Guangdong Province temporarily halted plans to buy iPads for their children, who were enrolled for a Chinese reading and writing lesson, after an online outcry over teaching methods, Shenzhen-based Daily Sunshine reported on Friday.

A total of 88 students were required to buy an iPad to take the lesson, sparking web users and some parents to ask whether it was necessary to buy such an expensive gadget - an iPad costs at least 3,988 yuan (US$601).

There had also been concerns that children would use iPads to play games, and suspicions the school profited from group purchases.

But the parents' committee said it had decided on the group purchase without interference from the school.

The school has used computers to teach Chinese for more than 10 years, according to Zhang Zuzhi, a teacher in charge of the primary school division.