Minister slamming high school fees to retire
(AP)
Updated: 2005-11-01 08:36

Zhang Baoqing, a senior education official known for his outspokenness, will retire soon, according to an announcement last week.

Zhang Baoqing, deputy minister of education ministry, is to retire at the age of 61. He's famous for frankly expressing his views. [xinhua]

The 61-year-old official, known for frankly expressing his views, had been in the education ministry for 26 years.

He harshly criticized unreasonable school fees and spoken aggressively in support of compulsory schooling in rural areas. Zhang had openly criticized the policy of “industrializing” education.

In his latest outburst against the mainland’s education system Aug. 29, Zhang criticized eight provincial governments for failing to implement loan projects for poor students, a policy the Central Government had launched in 1999.

“Some provincial-level leaders do not understand the importance of education. They would rather spend billions of yuan on big projects, while allocating nothing to poor students,” Zhang was quoted as saying at his last news conference.

“They just use a lot of excuses to avoid helping poor students, although they do have money.”

According to the ministry, the Central Government estimated that at least 10 billion yuan a year would be needed to student loans. But only 5.15 billion yuan was allocated last year, benefiting only 650,000 students.