E-MAIL
The Office of Educational Supervision of the State Council recently issued the 2020 assessment program on the performance of provincial-level governments in their education related work, making arrangements for the national educational evaluation in 2020.
According to the Program, the 2020 assessment will be carried out under the guidance of President Xi Jinping"s Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for the New Era, and in compliance with the CPC Central Committee General Office and the State Council General Office"s Opinions on deepening reform of the institutional mechanisms for educational supervision in the new era and the CPC Central Committee General Office"s Circular on making consistent efforts to eliminate “formalities for formalities’ sake” practices to improve the Party’s conduct and secure a victory in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects. Aiming to overcome the effects of the COVID-19 epidemic and secure a decisive victory in eradicating poverty, the assessment work will follow problem-, objective-, and result-oriented principles and promote the lawful performance of duties by provincial governments and related departments in the field of educational reform and development.
The Program stressed that the priorities of the assessment this year would be the implementation of corrective measures for issues identified in the 2018 assessment, the performance of provincial governments in fulfilling their education related duties in 2019, and the measurement of progress in implementing major tasks for 2020. Taking full account of regional disparities in educational development and circumstances of all educational stages, the assessment will focus on the fulfillment of 12 education related duties: (1) Enhance the Party’s leadership in every aspect of education and Party building work in the education system; (2) Coordinate the prevention and control of COVID-19 in the education system with the promotion of educational reform and development; (3) Ensure annual increases in government expenditure on education in terms of regular total expenditure and regular average expenditure per student; (4) Raise the average pay for teachers in primary and middle schools to the average pay level of local public servants; (5) Promote better governance of urban community affiliated kindergartens; (6) Regulate the management of enrollment to nongovernmental schools at compulsory education level; (7) Promote the assurance mechanism for full coverage of compulsory education and balanced development in compulsory education; (8) Eliminate oversized classes; (9) Regulate after-school tutoring institutions; (10) Promote employment of HEI graduates and encourage entrepreneurship; (11) Evaluate the performance of municipal- and county-level governments in fulfilling their education related duties; and (12) Improve legislation and institutional mechanisms for educational supervision.
The assessment process will encompass the issuing of notices, self-reviews and self-assessments, monitoring and assessment, and random field inspections, while the assessment results will include formulation of suggestions, giving feedback, taking corrective measures, and follow-up supervision. The assessment will be implemented both online and in the field, through open investigations and unannounced checks, combining qualitative with quantitative evaluation methodology and emphasizing on both the process and the results.
The Program urged local authorities to improve their work ethics to reduce the administrative burden on primary-level institutions and strengthen the impact of educational supervision. The assessment should be comprehensive, objective, true and fair. Anyone engaged in practice of fraud or deceit in the assessment will face harsh punishment.