The Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China is a constituent department of the State Council, responsible for basic education, vocational education, higher education, and other educational affairs throughout the country. The Ministry of Education acts as the predominant funder of national universities and colleges in China. The ministry also accredits tertiary institutions, degree curriculum, and school teachers of the country. The Ministry of Education currently has 19 internal departments and bureaus. , there were 75 colleges and universities affiliated with the Ministry of Education.

History

The Ministry of Education was founded in October 1949. The work of the ministry was overseen by the Culture and Education Commission that was created at the same time. On October 19, writer and poet Guo Moruo was made the director of the commission, and linguist Ma Xulun was made the first education minister of the People's Republic of China. In February 1958, the Ministry of Higher Education was merged into the Ministry of Education. In July 1964, the Ministry of Higher Education was restored. In July 1966, the Ministry of Higher Education was once again merged into the Ministry of Education. In June 1970, the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party decided to abolish the Ministry of Education and establish the Science and Education Group of the State Council. The Ministry of Education was restored after the disruptions of the Cultural Revolution in 1975 by the 4th National People's Congress. Until the Ministry's 1975 restoration, the State Council's Science and Education Group was the most important government body in the education bureaucracy. On June 18, 1985, the Eleventh Standing Committee of the 6th National People's Congress decided to abolish the Ministry of Education and establish the National Education Commission of the People's Republic of China. In 1998, the Decision on Institutional Reform of the State Council was adopted at the First Session of the 9th National People's Congress, and the National Education Commission was renamed the Ministry of Education. In 2003, China's Ministry of Education called for adding environmental education content throughout the public school curriculum from the first year of primary school through the second year of high school. Its guidelines on environmental education emphasized firsthand experience and recommended that a quarter of environmental education content should consist of "practice activities". In 2019, the Ministry issued a new regulation aimed at unifying the teaching materials for primary and middle schools across China in areas including history, language, and politics.

Development of the political counselor system

In 1952, the Ministry of Education sought to develop a system of political counselors as a pilot program in universities. Tsinghua University established a political counselor program in 1953, becoming the first university to do so. In this program, new graduates who were also Chinese Communist Party members worked as political counselors in managing the student body and student organizations, often simultaneously serving as Communist Youth League secretaries. The program was interrupted by the Cultural Revolution but resumed in 1977. After its endorsement by Deng Xiaoping, the program expanded across higher educational institutions. Beginning in the 1990s, the political counselor system was further institutionalized and expanded in higher educational institutions throughout China, with the Ministry issuing standardized rules such as term limits and age limits in 2000.

Organizational structure

According to the "Regulations on the Main Functional Configuration, Internal Organizations and Staffing of the Ministry of Education," the Ministry of Education has set up the following institutions:

Internal departments

Affiliate national bureau

Affiliate public institutions

Affiliate higher education institutions

There are 75 colleges and universities affiliated with the Ministry of Education.

Affiliate enterprises

The Ministry has a role in the foreign aid process thorough scholarships it provides for study in China.