With a recent New York Times report - citing information sourced by two worker advocacy groups - highlighting that vocational students were being forced to work at the Foxconn Technology factories manufacturing components for the Apple iPhone, the Chinese company has, yet again, come under scrutiny for contentious labor practices.

According to the NY Times report, coming days ahead of the expected unveiling of iPhone 5, teachers of vocational courses were apparently compelling the students to assemble iPhones at a Foxconn plant in Zhengzhou, in north-central China.

In addition to the NY Times report, Chinese state-run news media also reported last week that hundreds of vocational students in the eastern China city of Huai'an were being made to work on assembly lines at a Foxconn facility, apparently to ease the shortage of workers.

With production in full swing for the soon-to-be-launched iPhone 5, Li Qiang - founder of China Labor Watch - said that vocational teachers are seemingly telling the students that if they do not work at Foxconn plants, they "will not graduate."

However, rebuffing the accusation of requiring vocational students to assemble iPhones at its mentioned factories, Foxconn said that though it does employ student "interns" on manufacturing lines, the students have the freedom to quit at any time.

Further noting that student `interns" comprised merely 2.7 percent - approximately 32,000 workers - of the company's Chinese workforce of 1.2 million, Foxconn said that schools "assign teachers to accompany and monitor the students throughout their internship."