Paper Keywords: fee system, government supervision and education investment
As early as the first half of 2004, China's National Development and Reform Commission had conservatively estimated that in the past 10 years, unreasonable education fees in China exceeded 200 billion yuan. In recent years, education ranks among the top ten profiteering industries in China every year. Among the six hot spots of price reporting in China, unreasonable charges for education topped the list for three consecutive years. According to the data of the Ministry of Education, since 2003, nearly 3,000 people have been investigated and punished for the problem of unreasonable charges in education, among which 395 principals have been dismissed. 853 million yuan was spent on investigating and handling arbitrary charges, and 639 million yuan was spent on cleaning up illegal charges. Over the years, the state has promulgated dozens of rules and regulations, large and small, in order to put an end to the phenomenon of arbitrary charges in education, but all of them have had little effect. The problem of unreasonable charges in education is still widespread, which puzzles students and parents. Many children can't go to school because they have no money, which is a great sorrow of education. Our country implements a nine-year compulsory education system, but the results of this "obligation" implementation are really different. Many people feel sad about the current situation of education, but at the same time they strongly appeal to the state to introduce a strong policy to curb arbitrary charges in education, so the "one-fee system" came into being.
According to the Ministry of Education, the "one-fee system" means that on the basis of strictly checking the standards of miscellaneous fees, textbook fees and operation fees, the provincial government determines a total fee and then collects it from students at one time. The "one-fee system" stipulates that nine-year compulsory education is the responsibility of governments at all levels. Schools do not charge tuition fees, but can appropriately charge miscellaneous fees and textbook fees. The miscellaneous expenses in the "one-fee system" include a very small part of the public expenses for running schools that parents or individuals should share, as well as some supplementary expenses for information technology education and winter heating in northern areas. The central government requires all provinces to formulate the basic standard of public funds per student first, and then determine the reasonable proportion of miscellaneous fees in public funds. According to the regulations, except the central and provincial governments, other local governments, departments and schools have no right to formulate charging items and standards. The original intention of the state to introduce the "one-fee system" policy is good, but will the "one-fee system" eradicate the problem of unreasonable charges in education? I haven't finished reading it. On the surface, all parts of the country, from primary schools to colleges and universities, are declaring war on unreasonable charges in education and advocating the "one-fee system", but in fact, how many can really implement and put the "one-fee system" into practice? The introduction of the "one-fee system" policy can only regulate the superficial fees of schools, but the fees for tuition, uniforms and materials. Followed by the name of "supplementary fee". Although parents are full of complaints, they also silently accept for their children. In a sense, they condone arbitrary charges in education, making them "have policies on the top and countermeasures on the bottom" and have nothing to fear. Therefore, in my opinion, the release of the "one-fee system" cannot be regarded as "relying on the heavenly sword" or "killing the dragon road"
Then, how should we fundamentally solve the problem of unreasonable charges in education? I think we should start with increasing government investment, standardizing the charging system and introducing the principle of legalization, which should be carried out in parallel and steadily.
1. Increase government investment in education. Increasing the government's investment in education is a good medicine to solve the problem of unreasonable charges in education. The state and government should increase investment in education, block the excuse of "lack of funds" in schools, and allocate certain funds for education every year to ensure its better operation, so as to improve the quality of education, cultivate a large number of talents and ultimately benefit the country. Some local governments may say that the expenses in all aspects are too high, and if the investment in education is increased, it will bring a heavy economic burden to the government. Then, since there are "welfare lottery tickets" to support welfare undertakings and "sports lottery tickets" to support sports undertakings, why can't we issue "education lottery tickets" to raise funds for education undertakings? Nothing is impossible, only unexpected. If we really want to eradicate the problem of arbitrary charges in education, we must find ways to stop arbitrary charges and prevent them from creating opportunities for charging. Reprinted from: publishing educational papers II. Standardize the charging mechanism and manage scientifically. Although the "one-fee system" seems to be the reform and innovation of the rationalization system of school fees, it has not actually played a substantive role. Different regions have different educational levels, and schools in the same region also have good or bad points. Therefore, in order to give their children the best education, parents choose schools and classes at high cost. The school believes that this is "a willingness to fight and a willingness to suffer" and "reasonable". In this way, the kindness of parents was regarded as a reasonable excuse for arbitrary charges by the school, which gave him an excellent opportunity to collect fees. The variety of "school selection fees" and "course selection fees" makes the education charging system messy, so it is necessary to make a unified plan for the charging standards of all schools. To eradicate arbitrary charges in education, we must also establish the concept of standardizing education management. People used to think that the school's duty was to teach and educate people, and nothing else was needed. However, with the diversification of education funds, the standardized management of school work is imminent. Many principals know how to improve the quality of education, but they know nothing about the management of people and property. Many schools have financial loopholes. There are weaknesses in management. On the one hand, it gives birth to arbitrary charges in disguise, on the other hand, it pollutes the educational air and even provides a hotbed for corrupt elements.
3. Strengthen the supervision mechanism and introduce the concept of legal system. To eradicate arbitrary charges in education, we must first change the concept of "punishment is not allowed to enter the school gate". All along, we often hear that corruption and various crimes within the party have been punished by law, but we rarely hear about illegal cases in schools. However, judging from the situation in recent years, corruption also exists in the field of education, which is not only reflected in the prevalence of money and power transactions and gifts, but also reflected in the fact that some teachers and principals use arbitrary charges to obtain ill-gotten gains. Where there are arbitrary charges for education, there will be educational corruption to varying degrees. It is urgent to introduce the sword of law into the campus. At the same time, it is necessary to strengthen the supervision mechanism of school fees. First, the channels are smooth and you can report at any time. Someone will investigate and report the results immediately. Second, agency personnel must be "neutral", have no conflicts of interest, enforce the law impartially and seek truth from facts. To control unreasonable charges in education, we must rely on "neutral" forces without conflicts of interest, such as superior to subordinate or judicial intervention.
Education is education, and for the purpose of making profits, education itself will be led astray and bring disaster to the country and people. Therefore, while implementing the "one fee system", there must be supporting measures and compulsory means to assist its effective implementation. We look forward to the early eradication of the problem of unreasonable charges in education, which depends on the unremitting efforts of many forces, and all forces must cooperate with each other, work together and work together!