The suspension of classes at Sheyang County Experimental Junior High School

Sheyang County Experimental Junior High School teachers collectively suspended classes

There are 64 teachers; 20 city and county subject leaders and teaching experts. Chairman and Principal Chen Hong, who has been the principal of Sheyang Middle School for 14 years, is now a special teacher of moral education in middle schools and a senior teacher of English in middle schools. He is the only famous principal in Jiangsu Province in Yancheng City. He has presided over 2 national and provincial scientific research projects and published 3 books. Department, published more than 40 papers, among which "Mental Health Care of Middle School Students" won the first prize for outstanding achievements in philosophy and social sciences in Yancheng City in 2002. Party branch secretary and executive vice-principal Shi Yunchang, senior middle school Chinese teacher, national outstanding middle school Chinese teacher, member of Yancheng High School Entrance Examination Task Group, director of Yancheng Junior High School Chinese Teaching and Research Activity Center, the only in-service junior high school Chinese special-level teacher in the county, and has published more than 400 papers Articles, he presided over 5 provincial and municipal scientific research projects, and his scientific research achievements won the first prize at the national level. More than 40 teachers won first and second prizes in the provincial, city and county Young Teacher Teaching Grand Prix and Young Teacher Basic Skills Competition. The school has also hired three foreign teachers to teach spoken English classes to students. Teachers publish nearly 100 papers every year in journals at or above the provincial level. Currently, the school has 11 national sub-topics and provincial and municipal topics. The school has been designated as the "Yancheng Junior High School Chinese Teaching and Research Center" by the Yancheng City Education Bureau, and is responsible for the research and promotion of Chinese teaching and high school entrance examination research in the city's junior high schools, as well as new curriculum reforms.

Sheyang County Experimental Junior High School teachers collectively suspended classes

In the early morning of April 14, more than 4,000 parents of students in Sheyang County Experimental Junior High School in Yancheng City invariably received letters from their teachers. Class suspension text message. The news quickly spread throughout the county as if it had wings. Parents were shocked and began to complain: This middle school was the best school in their eyes. Many parents spent tens of thousands of dollars to let their children enter, but due to this "school suspension incident", the children could only stay in the classroom. Self-study. It is reported that the main demand of the suspended teachers is to restore their status as public teachers. They have made efforts before, but were rejected by government departments, and the teachers decided to take the drastic step of suspending classes collectively.

Public teachers have been working in private schools for nearly 10 years

Closed classes collectively to call on the government to “correct errors”

On the afternoon of April 14, at Sheyang County Experimental Junior Middle School , the reporter saw more than 100 teachers gathered on the playground, while nearly 4,000 students in 59 classes of three grades of the school's junior high school had been studying in the classroom for most of the day.

“The General Office of the Provincial Government issued Document No. 124 on November 9 last year, requiring that the existing restructured schools in the compulsory education stage be cleaned up and standardized. The standardized restructured schools will be non-public, that is, private schools. We can no longer use the 'guise' of restructuring schools." Teachers told reporters that according to the spirit of superior documents, Sheyang County Experimental Junior High School should also be included in this cleanup specification, because according to the "Private Education Promotion Law", private schools There must be "four independences", that is, independent legal persons, independent financial accounting and personnel management, independent campuses and school buildings, and independent education and teaching.

According to reports, Sheyang County Experimental Junior High School was originally the junior high school of Sheyang Middle School in Jiangsu Province, a famous local school. In 2001, during the reform of the public primary and secondary school running system that was carried out in various parts of Jiangsu, it was restructured into Joint-stock private schools. At that time, some public teachers who taught in the junior high school of Sheyang Middle School also went to teach in private experimental junior high schools, but their human relations were still preserved.

For the next eight years, the identity of these teachers whether they were public or private remained unclear. On March 16 this year, the relevant person in charge of Jiangsu Province held a video and telephone conference to further clean up and standardize the reformed schools, requiring all localities to clarify the basic direction of each reformed school before May 1, conscientiously do a good job in teacher placement, and effectively maintain Student Benefits.

The teachers told reporters that they believed that if the government could completely "correct" the deviations in the clean-up of the restructured schools in accordance with the provisions of the "Compulsory Education Law" and take this compulsory education school back to public operation, it would be a good idea for the country. The education burden has been reduced for the common people and education equity has been promoted. At the same time, the problem of teachers’ identity ownership can also be easily solved.

The teachers’ calls received no response from the local government. "The Yancheng City government requires all counties and districts to come up with specific plans before April 15, but the county has not made a clear statement as of today (the afternoon of the 14th)," a teacher who participated in the suspension of classes told reporters, watching another correction. The opportunity for non-standard restructuring behavior was missed again, so we had to call for a collective suspension of classes.

High-quality educational resources are highly monopolized

"Fake private schools" take advantage of the opportunity to charge high fees

On the morning of April 15, the Sheyang County Experimental Junior Middle School teacher suspension incident was still Continue. More than one parent of a student at the school expressed concerns to reporters about their children's academic performance. During the investigation in Sheyang County, the reporter found that although the incident was triggered by the teachers' request that the local government restore their public status, the deeper reason was the local government's lack of understanding of the nature of schooling that occurred in the process of transforming high-quality public schools into private schools. They turned a blind eye to problems such as irregularities in Qing Dynasty and restructuring, and high fees in the name of restructuring, and refused to "correct deviations", which led to strong dissatisfaction among the masses.

A teacher familiar with the situation at Sheyang County Experimental Junior High School told reporters that there were many irregularities in the school's restructuring process. In addition to the fact that a large number of teachers were actually in the public sector, for a long time, The experimental school even has shares in the public Sheyang Middle School.

According to reports, for a long time, this "fake private school" under the banner of restructuring has used state-owned high-quality educational resources to run schools, but has to charge high tuition fees, which has greatly increased the burden on local people. Teachers told reporters that students who attend experimental junior high schools have to pay a school selection fee of up to 18,000 yuan each, and even students who pass the school's independent admissions exam have to pay 9,000 yuan.

“Two of the three private schools in Sheyang County are converted from public schools. These schools include almost all the outstanding junior high school students and high-quality teachers in the county,” the teachers said. He told reporters that such a situation where the county's high-quality students and teachers are monopolized by private schools is unique in the province. Parents also told reporters that due to the high concentration of high-quality educational resources, the financial burden of studying in Sheyang County is too heavy.

In this case, the Jiangsu Provincial Government issued the "No. 124" document in November 2009, requiring further clean-up and standardization of restructured schools and a complete stop to "fake private schools", which was criticized by parents and teachers. It is regarded as an important measure to change the unreasonable distribution of educational resources and correct past policy deviations.

The local government insists that the school is privately run

Difficulty in standardization reflects deviations in school running philosophy

On the afternoon of April 15, according to a teacher who participated in the suspension of classes at the Experimental Junior Middle School, They received a notice from the Sheyang County Education Bureau requiring teachers to resume classes unconditionally.

Can the Sheyang County Education Department consider the voice of the masses, respond to the call of superiors, seize this opportunity to clean up standards, thoroughly clean up the problems left over from history and "correct", and re-arrange the rational layout of the compulsory education stage? What about high-quality resources? Because reporters have repeatedly requested interviews from the local government and education authorities but were rejected, these issues are unknown.

Just when the reporter was about to leave Sheyang County, he received a reply letter from the local government to the suspended teachers. The letter, stamped with the official seal of the Sheyang County Education Bureau, stated: Sheyang County Experimental Junior High School meets the "four independence" requirements for private schools, and the county party committee and government decided to retain the private nature of the school. The school will not be taken back to the public office until the superiors have clear opinions on the need to take it back to the school.

Teachers told reporters that currently all restructured schools in surrounding areas have been taken over by the government. In the provincial government's "No. 124" document "Opinions on Further Improving the Cleaning and Standardizing Work of Restructured Schools in the Compulsory Education Stage" which is regarded by teachers as a "New Deal to Benefit the People", reporters also noticed that The basic principle is to coordinate the planning of local public and private education, adhere to the public welfare nature of education, rationally arrange schools in the compulsory education stage, and control the proportion of students who pay fees to attend school.

“Why is it so difficult to implement the national policy of returning education to public welfare in Sheyang?” a parent of a student at Sheyang County Experimental School lamented. An old teacher who is familiar with local education told reporters that the difficulties in promoting clean-up and standardization of restructured schools in recent years are actually caused by the obstruction of vested interests behind the "fake private schools".

But what makes this old educator even more distressed is the various contradictions arising from the cleanup and regulation of restructured schools. Teachers, schools and local governments are wrestling with each other. Schools that were originally intended to educate people have now become It has become a place where the interests of all parties are competing. It is not only sad, but also terrifying.