The Office of the Education Supervision Committee (OESC) under the State Council issued a circular to the general offices of provincial-level governments demanding that progress in implementation of the 2020 teacher pay-rise reforms be monitored.

The general offices were required to inspect implementation of a plan to ensure that teachers in compulsory education were paid no less than civil servants by the end of 2020, focusing in particular on what had been achieved in the last three years. Local governments were also asked to establish long-term effective mechanisms to ensure teachers’ pay rose in tandem with that of local civil servants.

The circular required that the supervision be carried out in two stages: inspections by provincial government of progress at county (city and district) level between March and July, and joint inspections by the OESC, MOE, MOF and the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security between September and October.

The circular emphasized that counties failing to meet the goal would be held to account.