Uphill battle for new education minister

By Wang Wei (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-11-05 10:17

I'm overwhelmed every day by complaints about our educational system. I'm a newlywed thinking of having a baby. I often discuss with my husband about how to earn enough money to buy an overpriced apartment in Zhongguancun so our child can enroll in the best primary school in Beijing.

Beijing uses a proximity school enrollment policy. In order to secure a place at a valued primary school, parents flood into the area to buy properties and this causes a significant rise in prices.

On Sunday, China's legislature sacked the educational minister and appointed Yuan Guiren as his successor to address the widespread public dissatisfaction with the educational system.

China Central Television reported "eight malpractices in China's educational sector" on the same day.

Those malpractices included the proximity school enrollment policy favoring the wealthy, arbitrary fees, and the huge amount of resources allocated to only a few students for them to achieve high exam results.

While the public pins its hope on the new minister to change the status quo in China's educational sector, I want to know whether he can live up to their expectations.

It is said Yuan started working at the age of 19 as a middle school teacher. He was appointed as deputy minister of Ministry of Education in 2001 and has not left the education sector throughout his entire career.

On one website and in just three days, more than 600 netizens posted suggestions on how to enhance China's educational quality. These posts included how to promote higher quality education, raise teachers' salaries and advice on beating corruption.

As a popular saying goes: Knowledge changes one's fate.

I hope Yuan can create a favorable environment for Chinese students to achieve their dreams through valuable education.