China: The new Minister for Education and education problems in China

Beijing - The Chinese government announced that it has removed the Minister of Education Zhou Ji and to replace him with Yuan Guiren. The news, reported by People's Daily on 1 November, has sparked a heated debate (which appeared mainly in the national media) about the development of education in the nation. Doubts surround a wide range of topics.

It ranges from the call for greater transparency administration to academic freedom, from respect for intellectuals to increasing pressures on teachers (with the ugly practice of making gifts to teachers and principals), to the request for the use of the English language in public examinations . The new appointment comes just as thousands of people face a heavy snowfall in Beijing to pay tribute to Qian Xuesen, father of the Chinese space program: an intellectual acclaimed for his dedication to space research.

An article that appeared today in the Guangzhou Daily reports the new appointment, and stresses that this case may serve to speak about the Chinese people's expectations of the education system, which involves the whole nation. In recent years several cases of academic plagiarism, abuse of administration, lack of ethics among teachers and imbalance in educational opportunity have been discovered and reported: the appointment might mean that the current system does not respond to the needs of the country, as well as not being suitable for economic or social development in contemporary China.

In January 2009, Beijing began to think of an education reform; the population has shown a willingness to take part in this process, as is emphasized by the hopes expressed by individuals in Internet forums that mention the change of leadership. Anthony Lam Sui-ki, a senior researcher at the Holy Spirit Study Center of the Diocese of Hong Kong, says: "The Chinese government should consider the idea of opening schools to public participation: the more civic groups are present in the field of 'education, the greater the transparency of the system".

Another researcher claims that it is important to open the country to religious education, although there are already research institutes in this mould. Up to now in China it is forbidden to open schools of religious inspiration. Yet, on 8 October, during his visit to Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium, Chinese Vice President Xi Jingping acknowledged the achievements of Western institutions, which go hand in hand with religion, particularly Christianity . Without forgetting that many Chinese political leaders were educated, many decades ago, in religious institutions, before they were suppressed by Maoism. According to the researcher, therefore, it is desirable that the authorities reflect on reopening religious education by allowing the Church to manage new schools.