Steps will lift quality of rural education

Li calls for also ensuring equal access for migrant workers' children in cities

China will roll out a host of measures to attract more high-caliber professionals to teach in rural areas and improve education quality, a State Council executive meeting chaired by Premier Li Keqiang decided on Wednesday.

The meeting also decided on policy steps to effectively ensure equal access to compulsory education for children living in cities with their migrant worker parents.

"The Chinese nation has the tradition of respecting teachers and revering education. Ensuring educational equity is of great significance in advancing social fairness. Compulsory education is most fundamental. We must shore up weaknesses on this front," Li said.

The pay packages of teachers in rural areas will be enhanced. The regulation that the average salary of teachers in compulsory education must not be lower than that of public servants working in the same locality must be rigorously implemented.

Funds will be earmarked from the central government budgetary investment to improve dormitories for teachers working in harsh and remote rural areas. Localities will be encouraged to provide stable housing for teachers in rural areas.

"The benefits for teachers in compulsory education have seen improvements in recent years. Yet problems still exist, especially on implementing the policy that the average salary of teachers in compulsory education may not be lower than that of public servants. We must intensify supervision and inspection on this matter," Li said.

The program to cultivate competent teachers for designated regions will be implemented on an ongoing basis, to nurture some 10,000 undergraduates annually from normal colleges exclusively for counties that have just been lifted out of poverty and for land-border counties in the central and western regions.

The academic requirements for granting professional titles will be relaxed for teachers in rural areas, and the weight of teaching performance will be increased.

"The whole of society should show full respect for teachers working in rural areas, to raise their social status. We should provide special support in their training, conferral of professional titles and other aspects," Li said. "China has a considerable advantage in labor resources, and enhancement of their education is largely dependent on teachers in rural areas."

The meeting also required effectively ensuring equal access to compulsory education for children of migrant workers in cities. The local governments and public schools where these children live will shoulder primary responsibilities, and the education of these children will be included in local education development plans and budgetary spending.

Efforts will be made to lay the groundwork for providing children of migrant workers with greater opportunities to take high school entrance exams in their cities of residence. Universities and colleges will continue to enroll more students from the central and western regions and rural areas.

"China has a massive flow of people between urban and rural areas, and there are some 280 million migrant workers alone," Li said. "The number of children living with their migrant worker parents in cities is growing every year, and now is over 15 million. We must adopt further measures to better meet their education needs."