OPINION> Commentary
Invaluable expenditure
(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-03-24 07:46

An expanded special central government fund to hire more college graduates as short-term teachers will not only help ease employment pressure for the moment, but serve as a key source of long-term productivity that will underpin the country's sustainable development.

If China's massive stimulus package is to work its magic in combating the effects of the current economic downturn while laying a solid foundation for future growth, policymakers need to come up with more investment plans as valuable as the "special teacher" program.

According to the Ministry of Education, rural schools in central and western areas will hire 50,000 college graduates this year, almost tripling the number of teachers hired last year, thanks to aid from the special central government fund.

The short-term teacher project was launched in 2006 to help college graduates find jobs and provide good teachers for primary and high schools in rural areas.

Admittedly, the size of the project is still limited.

On one hand, 50,000 teaching jobs will hardly make much difference to the severe employment pressure confronting the 6 million college graduates expected to enter the job market this year. On other hand, the inclusion of 50,000 college graduates will not even meet a quarter of the number of new teachers local schools need this year.

However, the "special teacher" program provides an almost perfect example of how fiscal funds can be spent in the most efficient and productive way.

It is well known that the quality of teachers to a large extent deter-mines the quality of education. In this sense, the current overall quality of rural teachers remains a big cause for concern.

To narrow the widening development disparity between rural and urban areas, China must bridge the educational gap between them. But while the country's educational system is generally under-funded by the government, rural schools suffer more financial distress than their urban cousins, who usually snaffle the lion's share of governmental expenditure. As a result, it is more difficult for rural schools to attract qualified teachers.

Now, by setting a special government fund to pay the salary of new and qualified teachers, the central government is tilting its spending in favor of country schools. If local governments can follow suit to start their own "special teacher" programs soon, a large number of talented college graduates will likely join the effort to give rural students better education today for greater opportunities tomorrow.

To invest more in rural teachers will be a stimulus of far-reaching significance for college graduates, rural students and the nation at large.

(China Daily 03/24/2009 page8)