System aims to improve supervisors' role in school development

The Ministry of Education is trying to make school supervisors play better roles in the development of schools, a senior official said on Tuesday.

The ministry will implement a system in the 2,800 counties across the country that selects and manages school supervisors, as well as assists the supervisors' work, in order to help supervisors play a more practical role in supervising and guiding schools, said He Xiuchao, director of the ministry's supervision and the guidance office, at a conference in Beijing on Tuesday.

The system will provide clarity in terms of the criteria of selecting, managing, training, evaluating, awarding and punishing school supervisors. It also promises to provide the necessary conditions and funding to help supervisors perform their work smoothly, He said.

In September 2011, the ministry instructed elementary and secondary schools across China to have supervisors to aid the development of schools by overseeing the work of staff, instructing teachers and handling complaints from the parents.

According to ministry figures, 99 percent of elementary and secondary schools have supervisors in place.

"By initiating the system, we hope to achieve teams of professional supervisors in some counties as early as the next three to five years," He said.