Education minister is removed and replaced by vice minister

China's top legislature has replaced the education minister with a new person.

This came at the bimonthly meeting of the National People's Congress Standing Committee Saturday, when the five-day meeting ended.

Zhou Ji, 63, was relieved of his post as minister of education, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

Zhou was appointed the deputy Party Secretary of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, the website of the academy said Monday.

Zhou assumed the post in 2003 and was two years short of retirement.

He was elected to the board of the Chinese Academy of Engineering in 1999. The former principal of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, he once said, "I've worked with education all my life."

Yuan Guiren was appointed Minister of Education.

Yuan was born in 1950 in Anhui Province. He previously served as the president of Beijing Normal University and was a vice minister of education since 2001.

The change is the latest jolt in the public education system that Chinese idealize as a pathway to advancement.

The authority offered no explanation for the change yesterday. No speculation related to the change emerged on the Internet, which is usually filled with rumors and gossip. However, the Associated Press suggested a link between Zhou's removal and a recent high profile corruption case.

Source:Global Times

[1] [2]