Editor's Note:

Have you caught the wave sweeping China's cyberspace as all eyes in the country turn toward the National People's Congress? Deputies are suggesting a wide array of policy changes, making for a flurry of political topics on the blogosphere.

Education has always been a major issue at the National People's Congress, but this year may prove to be the biggest debate on the topic in years. NPC deputies are proposing numerous suggestions to push policy reform and tackle important educational problems.

Administrative reform

Higher education institutions in China urgently need to be freed from the bureaucracy and red tape of the university administrative system, many say.

Chen Jining, president of Tsinghua University: "In our school, students are like tigers, professors are like gods, and the president is a dog at their service. Teachers should be asked to leave if their academic abilities are weak, and this has to be decided by their peers instead of the president or the dean."

Zhang Ming, a professor at Renmin University of China: "The Ministry of Education (MOE) is supposed to be a coordination agency only, rather than a powerful emperor over all universities who controls them with research funding and myriad administrative evaluations."

Luo Chongmin, national educational inspector: "Universities should have the right and room to apply their own policies and concepts to nurture students' creativity, which the current administration had failed to do. I hope the new one will be fully committed to it."

Backwards burden

The current system judges students by their test scores, placing heavy burdens on schoolchildren while college students enjoy lighter workloads.

Li Yifei, president of Jining No.1 High School, Inner Mongolia: "Children start extra-curricular training in kindergarten ... Some teachers withhold contents in class to make students attend their after-school classes and earn a fortune, while competition among schools has resulted in a money-based enrollment system."

Gu Hailiang, director of National Academy of Education Administration: "More creative scientific research will be carried out when students do not see college as a relief from hard work."

Lü Zhongmei, president of Hubei University of Economics: "We don't want our students to learn superficial knowledge. We don't have cultural literacy. Our education method encourages a utilitarian concept and students want as many certificates as possible instead of learning the humanities."

Pushing for equality

A policy allowing students without local household registration, or hukou, to take the college entrance examination, or gaokao, in the city they live in has sparked a heated debate nationwide.

Zhong Binglin, director of the Chinese Society of Education: "Such a barrier won't exist if the hukou system is reformed, but this will take time. The problem now is that we don't have enough good quality education resources for children in undeveloped areas."

Yu Minhong, chairman of New Oriental: "I'm thinking that if more children from very wealthy families would study abroad, there will be more high-quality educational resources going to kids in rural areas."

Global Times