At the first Young Chinese Jurists Forum on January 16, Mo Jihong, recently named one of the country's top ten young jurists, proposed that primary and middle school teachers be given the status of civil servants.

Mo's argument was that, as their role is central in implementing fundamental national policy, they should have civil servants status to "better protect and promote the welfare of teachers who are helping realize nine-year compulsory education, especially in poor areas."

The idea has provoked a mixed response, with Rednet.com.cn welcoming it with open arms. Rednet is an official Hunan-based website, the name of which alludes to patriotism.

It said teachers are involved in a grand project to enlighten the younger generation -- work stipulated by the government. Because of this they should also be managed by the government as civil servants are. Their counterparts in France, Germany, Sweden, Italy, Finland and Portugal enjoy this status, and their jobs are regulated as civil servants' at national and local levels.

In Japan, primary and middle school teachers fall into a special category of civil servant, with their own specific regulations.

According to these laws, candidates compete openly for vacancies and, once employed, enjoy civil servants' benefits. On the other hand, they are also required to fulfill related duties.

Rednet said this system would guarantee a relatively high social status for teachers, and help promote an ethos of respect for them.

The Shenzhen Economic Daily came out against the proposal, saying that China probably has more primary and middle school teachers -- 10 million -- than any other country in the world and that it would be inadvisable to add to the already growing number of civil servants.

There are currently more than 600,000 primary and middle schools in China, enrolling 200 million students.

The newspaper also pointed out that many different kinds of employees perform duties on behalf of the government in one way or another, yet there has been no talk of categorizing them as civil servants; to do so in the case of teachers would be unfair.

It also said that, in many areas, particularly impoverished ones, the salaries and welfare of teachers do catch people's attention. But few are aware that the Teachers' Law stipulates that their average salary should be "equal to, or above that of civil servants, and should be increased incrementally."

As long as this is the case, giving them civil servant status may be a redundant move, the paper said.

(China.org.cn by Wind Gu, January 26, 2005)