Comments on the Report of the Beijing Municipal Committee of the CPC Concerning the Financial Burden Faced by Primary and Secondary School Students [1] (June 14, 1952)

Premier Zhou: (1) If feasible, all private primary and secondary schools should be taken over in their entirety. (2) With regard to schools for cadres’ children, the first step is to standardize treatment so that no further distinctions by rank are made; the second step is to abolish these “aristocratic” schools and integrate them with those for the children of the general public. Please act as you see fit. Mao Zedong June 14

Based on the manuscript. Included in Selected Letters of Mao Zedong.

Notes [ ] In its report dated June 11, 1952, addressed to the Central Committee and the North China Bureau, the Beijing Municipal Committee of the CPC stated that the current financial burdens on primary and secondary school students are quite heavy for working-class families and low-wage employees. At present, the state scholarships for secondary school students are meager in amount and limited in number; although they provide some relief, they do not solve the problem. There are no scholarships at all for elementary school students—only reduced-fee or free places, which account for approximately 30 percent of the total enrollment in public schools and 20 percent in private schools. As for meals, those provided to secondary school students are generally still very poor, lacking in proper nutrition, and accompanied by inadequate medical and sanitary facilities. Meanwhile, the academic workload and extracurricular activities remain quite demanding. Although students’ health has improved considerably compared with the past, it remains unsatisfactory. To remedy this situation, it is planned to take over all private primary and secondary schools and to waive tuition and miscellaneous fees for both public and private institutions without exception. The report also notes that, in the existing schools for cadres’ children, although the benefits afforded to students are better than those received by ordinary primary and secondary school pupils, there is considerable disparity: first, the standards for meal allowances and stipends vary from one school to another; second, even within the same school there are distinctions between “large kitchens” and “medium kitchens.” Cadre children who attend regular schools are designated as state-funded students, with subsidies allocated according to three tiers based on their parents’ revolutionary background and official positions. These differences have a highly detrimental effect on both cadres’ children and ordinary students and should be rectified.