Rural primary and junior middle schools are forbidden to collect
extra fees for students, or the schoolmasters will be removed from
their posts, according to sources with the Ministry of
Education yesterday.
Students only need to hand in fees for textbooks, workbooks, and
accommodation fees for student residents, Wang Xuming, spokesman
for the ministry told a regular press conference yesterday.
"Rural schools are forbidden to collect any other fee aside from
the three permitted categories," he said.
In the past, rural students were charged various types of fees
as the main support for rural school operations and teacher
salaries.
"The governments should invest in primary and junior middle
school operations and staff salary payment. They are not allowed to
depend on fees from students to run schools," Wang said.
"Besides textbook and workbook fees, schools are not allowed to
collect any other fees for supplementary books and equipment," he
said.
Rural schools are also forbidden to require students to buy
school uniforms or bedding.
The ministry encouraged local governments of developed regions
to provide school uniforms and bedding to students free of
charge.
Meanwhile, Wang mentioned the possibility that students who quit
studying to accompany their migrant worker parents to cities will
swarm back to their hometowns to study.
"Educational departments should keep a close eye on the issue
and report to upper governments and help propose solutions," he
said.
An estimated 2.3 million children, who should receive compulsory
education, have quit school. Most of them are from rural areas.
"We hope that the new policy will attract more rural children
back to school," Wang said.
Students and their parents should report to the government
immediately if they find any school that charges extra fees.
"Those schoolmasters will be removed from their posts," Wang
said.
The Ministry of Education will also investigate cases in which
some university teachers have allegedly cheated in academic papers,
the spokesman said.
"The Ministry of Education will cooperate with the Ministry of Science and
Technology and relevant universities to punish those teachers
if they have cheated," he said.
Late last year, Qiu Xiaoqing, a professor with the Sichuan University
in southwest China reportedly cheated in a medical paper.
Earlier, Shen Luwei, an associate professor at the Tianjin Foreign Studies
University was criticized by a local language academy for
plagiarism in one of his books.
(China Daily January 26, 2006)