China's Ministry of Education issued a notice on Tuesday launching an initiative to further standardize basic education management by introducing a negative list that prohibits 16 specific practices. The move aims to rectify improper school governance practices that violate educational principles or public interests, the ministry said.
According to the notice, key prohibitions in the negative list include: banning any speech or actions that oppose the Communist Party of China and socialism, advocate secession, distort history, or glorify acts of aggression, as well as the dissemination of such erroneous views through online platforms, exam materials, or other media; barring frequent exams that increase students' academic burdens; forbidding schedules that encroach on students' breaks or rest time; prohibiting early semester starts, delayed holidays, or holiday makeup classes; and disallowing school regulations that defy common sense or violate public order and morality.
The list also imposes bans on neglecting campus food safety, unauthorized textbook purchases, and profiteering from school uniforms.
According to the ministry, to address persistent challenges and emerging issues, the notice defines key tasks, including consolidating standardized management achievements by institutionalizing effective practices, reinforcing moral education, upholding teacher ethics as the baseline standard, and ensuring safety and compliance as non-negotiable red lines.
Also, the notice requests schools to boost digital empowerment through internet, big data, and AI technologies to improve the precision, intelligence, and efficiency of basic education management.