Chapter 708

After leaving the secretary's office, Deputy Provincial Governor Wei Dongsheng immediately issued an order to Education Department Director Wen Chaozhi, summoning relevant personnel to discuss the ten education proposals put forward by the secretary.

As the workday was ending, 120 education administrators, experts, scholars, principals, teachers, and parents from across the province gathered at the Education Department, splitting into four venues to hold heated discussions on the province's education reform.

At ten o'clock that evening, the Education Department staff drafted the 'Grassland Province Education Reform Implementation Plan (Discussion Draft)' based on the discussion results, with Deputy Provincial Governor Wei Dongsheng, Education Department Director Wen Chaozhi, and other leaders participating throughout, working until three in the morning.

At noon on August 23, the two brought the draft to the Provincial Party Committee to report to Lu Fan.

After reviewing the plan, Lu Fan felt many measures had been refined and was fairly satisfied, but he offered some suggestions on four of the items, prompting the two to hurriedly take it back for revisions.

At five in the afternoon, the Provincial Party Committee Standing Committee convened, studied and arranged the current key tasks, and examined and approved eight 'three major and one large' items.

Among them, the Leadership Group for the Special Rectification of Violations and Illegalities in the Province's Coal Resources Sector was adjusted, with Lu Fan as group leader, Luo Shiyu and Bai Chengzhi as deputy leaders, and the membership changed to Provincial Discipline Inspection Committee Secretary Du Wenlong, Provincial Party Committee Secretary Wu Xiaohua, Executive Deputy Provincial Governor Zhao Ziren, and Standing Committee Deputy Provincial Governor Zhang Rongqiu.

Lu Fan demanded that, as the special rectification reached the critical stage of the final all‑out push and entered the decisive phase of the showdown, a comprehensive, all‑round examination of the province's coal resource development and utilization should be conducted to thoroughly uncover and clarify problems, to punish corruption with thunderous force, to dig deep and investigate the chains of interest transfer, and to ensure that no violating project, enterprise, or individual would slip through the net.

All levels and departments must rally their strength and spare no effort to accomplish this major political task, daring to draw their swords against lawbreakers, taking concrete action, investigating a batch of major cases, and thoroughly eradicating the biggest malignant tumor polluting our province's political ecology, so as to deliver a satisfactory answer to the organization and the grassland people with genuine results.

We must vigorously push for the thorough cleanup of violations and illegalities, the complete resolution of coal‑related corruption cases, and the full recovery and compensation of state‑owned assets, ensuring that problems are not left for later or dismissed after the fact; we must press on relentlessly and persistently, truly taking responsibility for history and completely purifying and restoring the province's political ecology.

The final item on the agenda, and the main focus of today's Standing Committee meeting, was the report by the Education Department Director on the 'Grassland Province Education System Reform Implementation Plan (Discussion Draft)'.

Listening to Wen Chaozhi's report and looking at the documents in their hands, the committee members sat upright with solemn expressions, all deeply struck and shocked.

Everyone's minds raced as they weighed the pros and cons, feeling that the intensity of this move was unprecedented and unmatched nationwide, leaving them both tense and excited! What kind of earth‑shaking changes this massive reform will bring to the province's education cause? Everyone silently speculated……

Governor Luo Shiyu spoke first, saying: 'If this plan is released, everyone can imagine how great a shock it would bring to the whole province! Let me voice a few of my concerns: first, parental anxiety—some will surely say the kids will now have plenty of time to play on their phones; if parental supervision can't keep up, the grades of undisciplined children could plummet off a cliff!'

Second, there will definitely be parents complaining that, having done a favor for cram schools, everyone's wallets will be emptied!

Third, canceling English classes in primary school and lowering the English score weight in the middle‑school and college entrance exams—does this comply with national policy? Will it put our province's children at a disadvantage from the starting line?

Fourth, with reduced school hours, can children complete their learning tasks? Can teachers finish teaching the textbook content? Do parents have the ability to supervise their children's study?

Fifth, still on the issue of tutoring—if it is not thoroughly governed, private tutoring will become rampant, wealthy families will spare no expense for one‑on‑one lessons while ordinary parents can only look on in despair, thereby creating educational inequity and widening the gap among children.

Sixth, after regulating school hours, is after‑school extended time still needed?

These are the concerns I can think of off the top of my head; perhaps I haven't considered everything thoroughly. But from the bottom of my heart I hope the children of our province won't be as over‑driven as before—we are all parents, and the kids are simply too exhausted!

Lu Fan nodded and said: 'Governor Luo's points are excellent and very important. Concerning the future development of our province's education, we cannot afford the slightest carelessness; we must pool wisdom, consider everything we can think of, and digest in advance any problems we can solve, so that the education reform benefits thousands of households.'

Next, I will share a few views; later, comrades will take turns speaking—not to sing praises but only to 'pick out flaws,' so that the Education Department can identify gaps and make improvements.

First, should English be withdrawn from primary school classrooms? Can its score weight in the middle‑school and college entrance exams be lowered? Many complain that most people will not work in English‑related fields, so why study English? Learning English is pure waste of time; that energy would be better spent on subjects like Chinese, math, and physics, leaving English to those who truly need it.

The Ministry of Education's response is: it will not abolish English's status as a core subject, but it may, depending on circumstances, appropriately reduce the difficulty of English study and examinations.

Therefore, the Education Department's plan is to reduce the English score in the middle‑school and college entrance exams to 100 points, which I believe complies with policy. What we need to discuss is whether primary school students need to learn English at all.

I recall that before 2001, primary schools had no English classes; the main subjects were Chinese and math, and none of us took English in primary school, right? Perhaps my thinking is narrow, but I think only a certain group of people need to learn English—especially researchers. However, the focus of English study could entirely be placed at university; if you intend to work in that field, English is a required course, and it's never too late to start emphasizing it then!

The purpose of the education reform is to avoid educational involution, lessen children's burdens, give them back a free space, and not press a living child until they can't breathe, turning them into exam machines with empty eyes and no ambition.

I think if we're going to do it, we should do it thoroughly—simply cancel the primary school English curriculum, move it to junior high, so that children's childhood pressure is reduced and they can grow up happier.

Bai Chengzhi gave a slight smile and said: 'For me, learning English is extremely difficult; I have often fantasized about kicking English out of the college entrance exam scope. This idea of mine is unrealistic—English remains important, especially in scientific research and trade. But I agree with the secretary's view: English could easily be taught in junior high; the little bit of knowledge needed in primary school could be mastered in a few weeks of junior high, so there's no need to torment young children to the point of 'wanting to live or die,' given that primary‑schoolers' comprehension abilities are still limited.'

"Poor student" Du Wenlong chimed in, saying: 'I wholeheartedly support canceling primary school English; if our province does away with it, I'll transfer my son to study here!'

As soon as he said that, laughter rippled through the hall; no one expected the 'cold‑noodle' Secretary Du to have this side, actually being so 'afraid' of English!

Amid the chatter and laughter, the policy was settled: English would no longer enter primary school classrooms, but would be shifted to extracurricular reading materials and interest classes.

Lu Fan continued: 'Now let me talk about the second point, the issue of paid tutoring. This must be a blanket ban, with no room for negotiation! If we don't crack down on paid tutoring, parents will become even more anxious, spending more on tutoring fees, which runs counter to the reform's original intent.'

Yesterday I assigned Wen Chaozhi to have the Education Department stipulate clearly that paid tutoring by in‑service teachers will be met with zero tolerance, treated as official misconduct, with each case severely punished and no leniency. For paid tutoring by social individuals, the Provincial People's Congress, Provincial Judicial Department, Provincial Education Department, and other agencies must seriously study whether legislation can be enacted to create a strong deterrent, so that they dare not offer such tutoring from the bottom of their hearts.

Wenlong, after the school term begins, cracking down on paid tutoring will be the top priority for all levels of discipline inspection committees; you must personally oversee its deployment and implementation, definitely handle a batch of cases, use cases to drive reform, and achieve a deterrent effect.

Du Wenlong nodded and said: 'The Provincial Discipline Inspection Committee will attend the Education Department's autumn semester opening meeting, deploy this work there, and I will personally give the talk.'

Lu Fan continued: 'Third, public education must return to its essence, letting flowers be flowers and trees be trees. After the new education policy is implemented, we must complete the current stage's teaching tasks, but time will surely be insufficient. What should be done during school hours? Enough to run through the textbook knowledge once and lay out the framework once, while expansion, variation, and repetitive drills are discarded, becoming tasks that students themselves must accomplish, and also something that family education should provide as support for students.'

As the freed‑up time increases, certainly some students will be in a state of relaxed enjoyment, while others will not resign themselves to fate and will strive to make an effort; this requires them to have sufficient self‑discipline.

Cultivating this group of students is relatively easy, and they are also the key targets for selection. Self‑discipline is an attitude, perseverance a quality; a self‑disciplined person is not necessarily outstanding, but an outstanding person must be self‑disciplined, and self‑discipline is the greatest guarantee of success.

Moreover, there are two groups whose performance will never be affected by the education reform: one group consists of top students, who are either geniuses or sufficiently self‑disciplined; the other group consists of poor students, for whom educational reform makes no difference either way.

As for Governor Luo's proposal on after‑school extended time, I believe it is necessary to continue this measure to alleviate parents' burden, with the required funding still borne by the finance department, implemented on a voluntary basis, and after‑school extended time limited to physical‑education classes and interest classes.

Lu Fan set the tone, and the Standing Committee members freely expressed their views on the ten major reforms, identified gaps and made improvements; the meeting proceeded with great enthusiasm and was especially successful, refining much of the content, given that those present held high positions, possessed broad experience, and considered issues more comprehensively.

Only when night fell and the lights began to glow did the meeting finally draw to a close.

Seeing that it was already 10 p. m., some leaders' stomachs were growling, and Lu Fan paid out of his own pocket to treat everyone to a meal.