Chinese Legislators Debate over Draft Law on Private Schools

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, June 29, 2002

Chinese Legislators Debate over Draft Law on Private Schools

Chinese law-makers Friday had a heated debate over the issue of whether private schools should be run for profit or merely for the public interest.

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Chinese law-makers Friday had a heated debate over the issue of whether private schools should be run for profit or merely for the public interest.

The debate originated from a draft law submitted to the 28th Session of Standing Committee of the Ninth National People's Congress (NPC), which lays down that owners of the non-public educational institutions should be allowed to obtain reasonable profit given the condition that they are running the schools for the public interest.

Under the Chinese law on education, educational institutions for the mere purpose of profit making are prohibited.

Huang Yuzhang, member of the NPC Standing Committee, said allowing private school runners to earn reasonable profit will, onthe one hand, attract more investment into education, and on the other, prevent some people from seeking exorbitant profits.

Jiang Zhenghua, vice-chairman of the NPC Standing Committee, argued that since people have different needs for education, evaluation for private schools shouldn't be based on the single measure of whether they are run for profit or for public interest.

"Private schools with high profit returns should be allowed to exist as long as they provide high-quality education," he added.

Another NPC Standing Committee member Tsang Hin-Chi, who fundedhis own school and is famous for his frequent donations to education, did not show a clear stand on this issue, but called for tighter supervision and administration of private schools.

Other lawmakers stressed the government should give more support to non-public schools catering for the children of people who have migrated from outside and laws should ensure that these children enjoy adequate education rights.

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