A Note on the Directive of the Central-South Administrative Committee on Consolidating Primary Schools
(April 2, 1953)

[I]
This refers to the directive issued by the Central-South Administrative Committee on March 31, 1953, concerning several issues related to the consolidation of primary schools, addressed to the governments of various provinces and municipalities, forwarded to all prefectural and county offices, and reported to the Government Administration Council. The directive states:
Consolidation, reinforcement, and ensuring quality are the general policy of the central authorities for the entire cultural and educational work at present. Primary education in the Central-South region has developed significantly over the past three years, which 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 considerable blindness in work, the current situation is quite chaotic, and quality is mostly poor. Therefore, serious consolidation must be carried out.
(1) Regarding the consolidation of the number of enrolled students: first, verify the number of students; second, address the issues of transient students, overage students, and underage students. (2) Regarding the consolidation of 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 but are unsuitable for this work should be allowed or persuaded to return to their original posts for production or work. Those who are elderly, weak, or frequently ill and no longer fit for teaching duties should be persuaded to retire. Those with excessively low educational levels who are incapable of teaching should be persuaded to change professions; some of the younger ones among them may be admitted to junior normal schools for study. Active counter-revolutionaries unsuitable to remain in schools should be identified by public security departments, with suggestions for handling put forward, and then properly discussed and resolved, reported to the responsible organs at the prefectural level for approval and implementation. Serious violators of law and discipline unsuitable to remain in schools should be investigated and dealt with by county (municipal) governments. (3) Regarding the staffing structure and wage standards for primary schools, these should be based on the control figures stipulated by the central authorities, proceeding from local actual conditions, and studied earnestly. In the spirit of streamlining and fairness, reasonable and practical targets should be set, ensuring they are realistic. (4) Where possible, allocate half a mu to one mu of land from local flexible land reserves to each school as school farmland, to be cultivated by teachers and students in their spare time, so as to preserve the fine tradition of diligence. (5) In the spirit of being run by the local people with public support, school fees may be collected from enrolled children as appropriate. The amount of fees should be determined based on grade level and the family’s economic situation. For those truly impoverished, fees should be reduced or waived. The fees collected shall not be turned over to the state treasury; part shall be handed over to the county for unified control and use, and 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, local people should, as far as possible, find ways to address them, either by contributing labor and materials or by making voluntary donations. If government funding is necessary to resolve the issue, the local surtax may be increased to 10%, with funds allocated from this, but no funds shall be drawn from the 4%.

A Note 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? I think it is very good. Please ask Comrade Xi to forward it to the Ministry of Education for study. If there are any inappropriate parts, make revisions as appropriate, and have the Government Administration Council transmit it to the major administrative regions, provinces, and municipalities for implementation by reference.
Mao Zedong
April 2
[1] Xi Zhongxun, then serving as Director of the Propaganda Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and Deputy Director of the Culture and Education Committee of the Government Administration Council.

(April 3–7, 1953)
Comrades Zhou Enlai, Xi Zhongxun, Hu Qiaomu, Peng Dehuai, Huang Kecheng, and He Cheng [1]:
Comrade Bai Xueguang’s report [2] profoundly exposes the leadership deficiencies within the Military Commission’s Health Department.
[1] Huang Kecheng, then serving as Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the People’s Liberation Army. He Cheng, then serving as Director of the Health Department of the People’s Revolutionary Military Commission and Vice Minister of Health of the Central People’s Government.
[2] This refers to the report submitted on March 27, 1953, by Bai Xueguang, Director of the Political Department of the Military Commission’s Health Department, to He Cheng, Director of the Military Commission’s Health Department; Huang Kecheng, Deputy Chief of the General Staff; and Xiao Hua, Deputy Director of the General Political Department, concerning several major issues in the leadership work of the Military Commission’s Health Department. The report pointed out that while significant achievements had been made in military health work in the past, many problems still existed, primarily:
First, the organizational setup was overly expanded, with departmental leadership preoccupied with the administrative affairs of directly subordinate units, lacking guidance for the health operations of the entire military and the professional work of directly subordinate units, or even providing no guidance at all. Second, leadership was not centralized. Director He Cheng frequently worked at the Ministry of Health of the Central People’s Government. The several directors rarely studied work together; although there was a division of labor, it resulted in a situation of fragmentation, causing some issues to be passed back and forth and delayed. Third, there were many serious problems:
— A high number of medical incidents;
— Severe waste;
— A complex composition of personnel, with low leadership levels in various units;
— Many cadres (whether political, administrative, or professional) were unsettled in their work in the health department, and the Health Department lacked political and ideological leadership, failing to fully mobilize everyone’s enthusiasm. In response to these issues, Bai Xueguang proposed: First, streamline the organization. Second, have Director He Cheng return to the Military Commission’s Health Department to take charge. Third, earnestly launch an anti-bureaucracy campaign and strengthen political and ideological leadership. Fourth, hope that the General Political Department and the Party Committee of the General Logistics Department will strengthen leadership over political work in the health sector and assign a batch of necessary backbone personnel.