All-China Federation of Education calls out to candidates for county mayor: Implement the ten demands for education

Nine-in-one elections for counties and mayors will be held at the end of the year. The All-China Federation of Teachers Unions held a press conference today (23rd) to put forward the "Educational Policies for County and Mayor Elections" and appealed to 81 candidates in 22 counties and cities across the country. It called for the number of primary and secondary school students to be reduced to 24 to 25 people and the number of special education assistants. It also advocated that kindergartens across the country extend care to 6 p.m. at the latest, emphasizing that "children should not stay in kindergartens for more than 10 hours a day."

Ye Qingqi, chairman of the National Education Federation, said that the local government is responsible for K-12 education from pre-school to high school, covering more than 70% of the country's students. It is a critical period for children's physical and mental development, character behavior and basic academic ability construction. He called on candidates to incorporate the 10 demands put forward by the National Education Federation into their political opinions and commit to their implementation. Among them, the declining birthrate should not only consider cutting teachers, but should also reduce the number of small classes in junior high schools to 24 to 25 people to improve the quality of education.

Guo Fengshan, chairman of the Nantou County Teachers Union, pointed out that after the promotion of integrated education, the number of special education students in regular classes has increased, but the service hours of special education assistants are few and fragmented, and their salaries are not high, making it difficult to recruit more. He called on the central and local governments to supplement funds.

Zeng Ningyong, deputy director of the Taipei City Teachers Union, said that extended care in kindergartens should be extended to 6 p.m. at the latest. If children are in school for more than 10 hours a day, they have experienced a long group life. The policy should not only consider the working hours of parents, but also take into account the physical and mental development of children and the load of education and care personnel.

Lin Peixuan, chairman of the Lianjiang County Teachers' Professional Union, said that most general affairs directors of primary and secondary schools are part-time teachers, but they have to deal with multi-million or tens of millions of school building projects, government procurement laws, manufacturers' contract performance and audit inspections. The huge legal responsibilities have caused an "administrative flight", calling for the priority of general administration to become full-time. "Wearing an engineering hat is not a teacher's profession, and campus safety cannot rely on teachers to gamble on luck."

Tong Wenni, secretary-general of the Taichung City Teachers Professional Union, pointed out that communication software allows teachers to still face parents and administrative messages after get off work, resulting in a large number of "invisible working hours." Teachers' right to go offline should be protected. If teachers are required to deal with urgent matters after get off work, an overtime system should be established. "Being offline is not inaction, but a basic human right of teachers."

Chen Junyu, chairman of the professional unions of schools at all levels in Taoyuan City, said that the National Federation of Education advocates the abolition of school meetings, and that a "mediation first" mechanism should be established at the local level to allow small cases such as poor communication to be mediated first, rather than directly entering into investigations, and to implement "small cases will not be investigated, abuses will be held accountable, and unjust cases will be compensated." For example, he gave an example: On the first day of school, a teacher was complained about "not teaching in a normalized manner" because he distributed textbooks. The large number of complaints made teachers exhausted and made teaching more defensive. He hoped to protect teachers' professional autonomy and work dignity while taking into account students' right to receive education.