Teacher's suicide reveals rural education woes (4)

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REMAINING ISSUES

An education official in Zhaotong who declined to be named said the city was striving to solve the remaining issues surrounding temporary teachers in its rural areas.

"Starting in 1982, we have stepped up training for these teachers and helped several thousand of them get qualifications," he said. "Meanwhile, we began recruiting new graduates in 2003."

As of last year, Zhaotong had recruited 17,876 graduates. The number of temporary teachers had been slashed to 2,723, from 7,053 in 2005.

Meanwhile, authorities are stepping up compensation for the temps.

About 74 percent of the former teachers have reached compensation deals with local education departments, said Li Bingze, a human resources official with Yunnan Provincial Education Department.

"We expect to settle all their compensation within this year," he said.

"Most of the teachers are happy with the compensation policy, though some of them do have grievances because the amount is indeed not big enough," said Li.

Officials estimate at least 150,000 temporary teachers are working in Yunnan's rural schools, but Li said the figure might be still larger.

"Many of them teach at schools in remote mountains where 'qualified' teachers refuse to go," he said. "The government plans to close down those schools and send children to boarding schools in faraway places. But that may do the children more harm than good as it's cruel to separate a seven-year-old from his parents."

As a result, it is still hard for temporary teachers to leave these rural classrooms.

"It takes time and pains," said Sun Xiaoying, a researcher with Guangxi Regional Academy of Social Sciences. "The government needs to increase spending on rural education, by offering higher pay to draw more teachers and new graduates to countryside schools."

On the other hand, rural education authorities should help outstanding temporary teachers get adequate qualifications to improve the quality of rural education in general, he said.

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