People often use the expression of "engineer for building up the
spirit of mankind" to describe the sacredness of a teacher's job.
As China's strategy of developing education to rejuvenate the
country is being carried out, and priority is given to the
development of education with related laws being made, teacher's
status in China has been greatly raised. The career is getting more
and more blue eyes from among the people.
Life becomes much better. In 1978, the average salary for a primary
or middle school teacher was 559 yuan annually, while in the 2001,
the figure increased to 10,194 yuan, a rise of 17 folds.
Welfare in higher education institutes also witnessed a big
increase, according to a survey conducted in more than 10
universities, from 1998 to 2001, university teacher's annual salary
jumped from 12,000 to 24,000 yuan, rising by one fold in three
years.
Housing for teachers becomes more and more spacious and cozy. From
1994 to 2000, the total fund for teacher's housing reached 114.4
billion yuan. Some 150 million square meters have been put up for
teacher's housing.
Medical treatment was ever a big problem for teachers. As most
cities now have carried out the policy of medical treatment with
public fund, the problem has been gradually resolved.
Life of retired teachers is also guaranteed. As teacher law is
being implemented, majority of provinces, cities and municipalities
raised the pension standard.
In
addition, the state also has it regulated that for those old and
sick teachers in rural areas, a system of "staying at home, but
keeping the post" has been carried out.
The central government and governments at all levels increased
investment in education year by year. The central government also
allocated special fund to solve the problem of teacher's salary in
arrears.
Currently, compulsory education in rural areas is being reformed
and upgraded with teacher's salary to be provided directly by
counties and so there's no need for teachers to worry about their
wages.
(People's Daily
September 10, 2002)