The Ministry of Education (MOE) recently published the methods for implementing the Qualification Regulation on Teachers, in a bid to ensure the quality of teachers.
China will establish a certifying system for teachers across the country by the end of the year, said a MOE official Tuesday in Beijing.
People, who are qualified to teach according to certain standards or began to work as a teacher after 1994, can get the certificate if they pass the qualification procedure.
China issued the "Teachers' Law" in 1993, allowing only those with teachers' certificates to work in schools or educational organizations.
As a precondition of the legal management of teachers, the certifying system will guarantee the qualification of teachers, attract personnel into the occupation as well as promote the reform of the education system.
From April to December of 1998, the MOE launched tests in Shanghai Municipality, provinces of Jiangsu, Hubei, Sichuan and Yunnan, and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, and worked out the regulations on this basis.
After submitting the application and relative documents, applicants must pass the interview and selection process organized by an appraisal commission.
The regulation also requires that education departments of all levels should strengthen management of the certificates, which will be printed only by the MOE.
To those who fail to achieve the qualification, their teachers' certificates will be withdrawn; and those who use counterfeit certificates or trade the certificates will be prosecuted.
(Xinhua 10/24/2000)
