Chinese legislators review draft of law on private education

BEIJING - Chinese legislators deliberated a draft amendment to the law on private education on Tuesday, agreeing to provide better conditions for private institutions.

The draft encourages county governments or above to support private institutions by purchasing services, providing student loans and leasing idle state-owned assets.

Favored policies should be given to non-profit institutions, including subsidiaries and tax preferences that are in line with those given to public institutions.

The draft is up for a second reading at the bi-monthly session of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee that started on Monday.

At the panel discussion on Tuesday, Wang Zuoshu said private institutions were entitled to gain support because they pooled private funds to nurture talent for the nation.

Wang's view was echoed by another legislator Wu Heng who said the draft was in line with the financial standing of the nation. Wu added it would boost private education and attract private investment.

More than 43 million students are educated in about 150,000 private institutions ranging from kindergartens to universities.

Standardizing and supporting the development of private education was written into a proposal adopted at a session of the 18th Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee in October on the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020).