The Shanghai Education Commission wants to make its young teachers more dynamic and has decided to pick the minds of the public sector.

 

 

A physics teacher (right) at Qingpu No. 1 Middle School instructs students at an open class yesterday. City education authorities are calling for public help in designing training courses for suburban teachers.

 

The commission said yesterday it is seeking a definitive set of training courses and is calling for public tenders.

 

The course set will be used for training young teachers in the city's 10 suburban districts - such as Qingpu, Jiading, Songjiang and Chongming County. The commission will purchase copyright of the training course that wins the contract.

 

Qu Jun, the commission vice director, said that the bidding was introduced to lift standards in rural areas and ensure the city's education reform.

 

"We understand that success of ongoing education reform lies in not modern campus facilities, but a team of high-quality faculties," Qu said. "Training good teachers is far more difficult than erecting buildings."

 

The city government announced this year that it would allocate at least 400 million yuan (US$50 million) each year for the next two years to subsidize local suburban areas' elementary education.

 

The commission will also launch a two-way visual online training system for elementary teachers throughout the city next March.

 

(Shanghai Daily December 20, 2006)