All individuals and social organizations -- except organizations of State legislative, administrative, judicial, military and police bodies -- are eligible to sponsor non-public schools, according to the draft law.

It states that these schools offer education services to the public. It includes short-term professional training institutions that are open to the public, saying these organizations make great contributions to the training of laid-off workers and aid lifelong learning.

But it makes no stipulations on Chinese and foreign educational institutions as the State Council is working on related regulations.

Legislator Zhang Guoxiang said the legislation should pay more attention to non-public schools catering for the children of migrant workers to ensure they enjoy equal education rights.

The draft law stipulates non-public schools enjoy the same preferential policies in taxation, financial loans, land purchase and renovations of buildings as public schools.

Teachers and students will also enjoy the same legal status, rights and treatment as their counterparts in government-funded schools.

Lawmaker Gu Jianfen said this was "a core issue" of the legislation.

Teachers in non-public schools are often in disadvantageous positions in such fields as getting professional posts, job transfers, housing and insurance. Some school graduates are reluctant to work for non-public schools, said legislator Liu Bin.

But Liu said China, a country with a population of more than 1.3 billion, strongly needs non-governmental funding to help develop its voluntary education sector.

He added current limited educational resources, especially high quality resources, hardly meet the needs of the public.

Statistics reveal China has around 60,000 non-public schools, including 44,000 kindergartens, 4,300 primary schools, 7,316 ordinary high schools and 999 vocational high schools.

This only accounts for 4.1 percent of public schools of all kinds, according to figures of the NPC Education, Science, Culture and Public Health Committee.

The draft law allows the owners of non-public schools to make a "reasonable profit," preventing them from reaping exorbitant financial yields.

These schools will be given a high level of autonomy in asset management, tuition, administration, course selection and student evaluation, the draft law states.

The draft law is to ensure the interests of the non-public schools, while at the same time, to regulate their operations.

(China Daily June 29, 2002)