College renames China's only 'laojiao' department  

中國惟一“勞教系”更名 學生：尚未有實質變化

The Central Institute for Correctional Police in Baoding city.

(ECNS) -- With China taking concrete steps to end the controversial "reeducation through labor" system, commonly known as the "laojiao" system, the country's only laojiao department at a college in Hebei province has been officially renamed, the Beijing News reports.

The Central Institute for Correctional Police in Baoding city established the Laojiao Department in 1985. The department has now been renamed the "Correctional Education" department, the report said.

Gao Ying, dean of the department, said the renaming is not only the result of the central government's decision to abolish the "reeducation through labor" system.

Since 2001, the college has shifted the department's focus to correctional services, as well as added sociology and pedagogy to the curriculum, Gao said.

Chen Jiaquan, a student at the department, told reporters they had taken a course named "Laojiao Xue" (Scientific Study of the Laojiao System). "We were assigned a thesis addressing whether the 'laojiao' system should be abolished," Chen said.

Since it was launched in the 1950s, the "laojiao" system has taken in criminals whose offenses were not severe enough to warrant trial.

China will abolish the "reeducation through labor" system as part of a major effort to protect human rights, said a key policy document of the Communist Party of China (CPC) published last Friday.