Premier Wen chats online, discusses education topics

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao participated in an unprecedented live Internet question and answer session with the public via Xinhua’s website on March 1. While addressing a range of topics, Wen answered a query about the quality of teaching and education funding in rural areas, revealing policy priorities. “The central government will add another 12 billion RMB to the salary packages of 12 million school teachers. Local governments will also need to increase their contributions. Our goal is to pay teachers no less than what is paid to government officials,” Wen said.

Any increase in pay for teachers is good news, though we wonder how real a difference this will make on its own. If there are no clear incentives to raise performance, if performance measures are not clearly defined, and if no strategy exists to nurture and distribute teaching talent across urban and rural areas, this may end up being little more than patchwork.

Another chat participant asked what could be done about prominent schools in big cities that charge, contrary to regulations, various extra fees. Wen responded, ”We must address this problem immediately. As it is, there are limited funds available for schools, and policies prohibiting extra fees have not been effectively enforced. We must work on these two aspects together to ensure parents of children in rural areas particularly, are free of extraneous expenses.”

We can see why a school with limited funds might want to charge extra fees, though the schools in question tend to be well funded and with high rates of demand, allowing them leeway to be what could best be described as opportunistic.  Netizens have been musing about the situation, including one man expressing bemusement at the lack of enforcement of MoE regulations at his young cousin’s school, which is charging extra ’reading material’ fees for grade 1 students. A country this vast presents challenges for enforcement, and such lapses are commonplace.

The responses by Wen likely reflect current policy development that targets schools in lower socio-economic regions, to bridge the quality gap with city schools, and ensure schooling remains affordable. We expect more education-related statements from Wen in the lead up to and launch of the 2020 education plan.