Education ministry releases new evaluation standards

Local governments should not require primary and secondary schools to meet certain enrollment targets to higher-level schools or evaluate schools, principals and teachers solely based on the enrollment rate, according to a new evaluation standard released on Thursday.

The evaluation standard for compulsory education, jointly issued by the Ministry of Education and five other departments, required county-level governments and schools conduct self-evaluation based on the standard, while the municipal, provincial, and national governments should re-evaluate all county governments and schools every three to five years.

Per the new standard, local governments and schools should not publish or sensationalize high-scorers at the high school entrance exam and the national college entrance exam.

There should be no key schools or key classes for compulsory education, and all students should be admitted based on the proximity of their home to the school without taking any entry tests.

Schools should limit the number of tests and not publish test results and rankings. They should also control the amount of homework assign to students to reduce their academic burden.