Comment on the Directive of the Central-South Administrative Committee on Consolidating Primary Schools[1]
(April 2, 1953)
[I]
Refers to the directive issued by the Central-South Administrative Committee on March 31, 1953, to the governments of all provinces and municipalities, to be forwarded to all prefectural and county governments, and submitted to the Government Administration Council, regarding several issues in consolidating primary schools. The directive states:
Consolidation, reinforcement, and ensuring quality are the general policy set by the Central Authorities for the entire current cultural and educational work. Primary education in the Central-South Region has developed greatly over the past three years. This is an achievement resulting from the active efforts of educational cadres at all levels and must be affirmed. However, due to a lack of planning in leadership and a great degree of blindness in the work, the current situation is quite chaotic and the quality is mostly poor. Therefore, serious consolidation must be carried out.
(1) Regarding the consolidation of the number of enrolled students: first, verify the student numbers; second, handle transient students, overage students, and underage students. (2) Regarding the consolidation of the existing teaching and administrative staff: Those who were not originally engaged in educational work and were transferred to schools from among activists and progressive youth after Liberation, and are unsuitable for this work, should be allowed or persuaded to return to their original posts for production or work. Those who are old, weak, sickly, and no longer fit for teaching posts should be persuaded to retire. Those whose educational level is too low and who are incompetent for teaching posts should be persuaded to change their profession; among them, some younger ones can be enrolled in junior normal schools to study. Active counter-revolutionaries unsuitable to remain in schools should be screened by public security departments, which will propose handling suggestions, and then appropriate handling methods shall be discussed and agreed upon before being reported to the responsible organs of the prefectural government for approval and implementation. Serious lawbreakers and violators of discipline unsuitable to remain in schools shall be investigated and handled by the county (municipal) government. (3) Regarding the staffing quotas and salary standards for primary schools, they should be seriously studied based on the control figures stipulated by the Central Authorities and proceeding from local actual conditions. In the spirit of streamlining and fairness, set reasonable and appropriate targets, striving to be practical. (4) As far as possible, allocate half a mu to one mu of land to each school from local flexible land as school farmland, for teachers and students to work on after class, so as to maintain the fine tradition of diligence. (5) In the spirit of "people-run with public assistance," an appropriate amount of tuition fees may be collected from enrolled children. The amount of fees collected shall be determined based on the grade level and the family's economic situation. Those who are truly poor shall be granted reductions or exemptions. The tuition fees collected shall not be turned over to the state treasury; one part shall be handed over to the county for unified control and use, and one part shall be retained by the school for its use. (6) From the 7% local surtax, fix 4% as primary school funds, specifically for paying teachers' salaries. For school building repairs, whenever possible, local people shall devise means, either by contributing labor and materials, or by making voluntary donations. If funds must be provided by the government, the local surtax can be increased to 10%, and allocated from the increase thereof, but shall not be drawn from the aforementioned 4%.

Comment on the Directive of the Central-South Administrative Committee on Consolidating Primary Schools
Comrades Zhou Enlai and Xi Zhongxun[1]:
What do you think of this document? My view is that it is very good. Please ask Comrade Xi to forward it to the Ministry of Education for study. Any inappropriate parts should be amended accordingly, and then it should be issued by the Government Administration Council to the various greater administrative regions, provinces, and municipalities for reference and implementation.
Mao Zedong
April 2
[1]
Xi Zhongxun was then serving as Director of the Propaganda Department of the CPC Central Committee and Deputy Director of the Culture and Education Committee of the Government Administration Council.