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BEIJING, Feb. 28
(Xinhuanet) -- Altogether 794 school masters have been removed from their posts
since 2003 in a three-year campaign launched by the Chinese government to curb
unreasonable charges, which are rampant in parts of the country.
Chinese Minister of Education Zhou Ji announced this
here Tuesday at a press conference, adding that the move has effectively reduced
unreasonable charging in China.
According to Zhou, the State Council, China's
cabinet, has convened a leading workforce to combat unreasonable charges, with
nine governmental departments including the Ministry of Education, the National
Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Finance as its members.
Altogether 56,000 groups have been dispatched
nationwide since 2003 to spot unreasonable charges in more than 876,000 Chinese
schools of various levels. With 19,000 cases handled, more than 1.32 billion
yuan (about 159 million U.S. dollars) have been checked and returned.
More than 5,900 people have received administrative
and party disciplinary punishment for their involvement in these cases, Zhou
said.
Starting this spring semester, China will exempt
school tuitionfees and incidental charges for primary and junior middle school
students in poor western parts of the country. And all rural students will enjoy
free compulsory education by the end of next year.
At a special State Council meeting on promoting moral
excellence held in late February, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said that stricter
rules against unreasonable charges should be created to avoid their resurgence
in rural schools.
China has decided to launch a full-scale check and
fix a more specified standard for items allowed to be charged in schools. The
relevant standard will be publicized on the website of local governments or
other media, and people responsible for unreasonable charges will be disciplined
or even sacked, Zhou said. Enditem | 
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