Beijing, Sep 19 (IANS): A Chinese university forced its female students to wrap themselves in blankets in the hot sun as a form of punishment during the school's compulsory military training, a media report said Saturday.

The incident took place at a university in Hunan Province, according to Global Post.

Instructors at the College of Foreign Studies in Changsha ordered the group of 20 students to lie down on a paved athletic track and cover themselves in heavy quilts as a penalty for their "unkempt dormitory", the report said.

Drills and disciplinary action are part of China's military education programmne. The report also quoted a school official defending the instructor's actions, saying the punishment lasted "only five minutes".

"The weather was good and temperatures were below 32 C," said Xie Yong, a deputy director of the college's student work department.

The students were subjected to the penalty as more than 2,000 others participating in the military training watched. The school called the spectacle "punishment education".

"It's really miserable and embarrassing (to be punished) in front of thousands of people," said an unnamed student.

A freshman too sided with the authorities and said extreme measures are understandable.

"They don't do what they're told because they're pampered at home," said Hu Ling (pseudonym). "The instructors are being strict for our own good."

But Xie said such punishment was not appropriate for girls on an emotional level and that the school will arrange for counselling of the students.