Legal basis: According to Article 3 of People's Republic of China (PRC) Private Education Promotion Law, private education is a public welfare undertaking and an integral part of socialist education. The state implements the policy of active encouragement, strong support, correct guidance and management according to law for private education. People's governments at all levels should incorporate private education into the national economic and social development plan.
Public welfare refers to non-profit organization activities aimed at safeguarding citizens' rights and interests or promoting social welfare. The purpose of public welfare undertakings is to serve the society, repay the society and meet the growing public welfare needs of the masses. Therefore, only organizations with public welfare nature and behavior performance can be recognized as public welfare undertakings.
For private education, if its service model, business philosophy and behavior conform to the characteristics of public welfare undertakings, it can be regarded as public welfare undertakings. Some public welfare private education institutions, such as charitable education institutions and migrant workers' children's education institutions, are held to promote the development of social welfare undertakings, and have certain social welfare nature for the goal, time, place and content of educational services, so they can be regarded as public welfare private education.
However, some private educational institutions will still be commercial in nature, and the improvement of education quality is not the top priority; At the same time, tuition fees, enrollment methods, charging standards and other issues are also facing certain social doubts. If these problems seriously affect the curriculum construction and education quality assurance, then these private educational institutions can hardly be recognized as public welfare undertakings.
Thoughts and viewpoints that private education belongs to public welfare undertakings
1. Source of school funds: The funds of public welfare institutions mainly come from administrative appropriation, social donation, fund-raising and financial investment, while the funds of private institutions come from enterprise investment, equity and income. If private schools can legally pay taxes, operate in compliance, provide quality teaching and give back to the society, then they can be considered as public welfare undertakings.
2. Competition: The competitive relationship between non-profit organizations and non-governmental organizations is complementary, not exclusive. The operation of non-profit organizations does face the problems of lack of funds and low operational efficiency, while non-governmental organizations may be better at management and operation. In the case that the educational resources of public schools can't meet the social needs, the development of private education needs proper promotion and support.
3. Curriculum and quality: Non-profit organizations should be oriented to public welfare goals and carry out public welfare services, rather than taking profit as the main purpose. Therefore, the curriculum and teaching quality of public welfare institutions should be public welfare, which is conducive to the maintenance and development of social public interests. For those private schools whose business philosophy and mode conflict with public welfare goals, it is more necessary to supervise and manage them.
4. Educational service targets: public welfare organizations should pay attention to public interests and social justice in the choice of service targets and service methods, and should not ignore the balance and fairness of education in order to pursue high profits or favor certain social classes and obtain more funds. Private institutions may be more flexible in responding to market demand, but at the same time they need to pay attention to social welfare and social responsibility.