China to Increase Teaching Salaries
The editorial came on the back of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference this week.
In the sidelines of the session, China’s Education Minister Chen Baosheng said, "We will put a big share of finances into people in the education sector," vowing to ensure teachers’ salaries are on par with those of local civil servants.
The editorial, written by Liu Lulu, credits education as being a key contributor to China’s success over the past 40 years and a prerequisite for the country to become a global power.
However, Liu points out that teachers are still in high demand in China, with the teacher-student ratio sitting at 1-17 in 2016 in public primary schools.
The situation is of course even worse in rural villages, as teachers migrate to the cities for better pay and working conditions.
”Who would teach in a shabby classroom with a meager salary if he or she could choose to work in a well-equipped office with better pay?”, the article asks.
According to the latest data from the Ministry of Education, China spent nearly 3.9 trillion yuan on education in 2016, exceeding 4 percent of GDP for the fifth consecutive year.
While this is encouraging when compared to India, which has seen a falling percentage expenditure over the past three years, in pales in comparison to the 9 percent of GDP that developed countries spend on education.
The Global Times calls for more pay and preferential policies for teaching jobs in China, especially those in rural areas.
”Chen's commitment reflects the government's determination to reinvigorate the nation through education. This is a good political start for China's educational development in the new era, but more efforts should be put into the implementation of these policies to make teaching an admirable job for the new generation.”