Full Text: Assessment Report on the Implementation of the National Human Rights Action Plan of China (2012-2015) (5)

The NPC Standing Committee authorized the State Council to launch pilot schemes in certain regions aiming to establish a system of permit-holders for the sale of pharmaceuticals. The State Council also revised the Regulations for the Supervision and Administration of Medical Devices. The China Food and Drug Administration has reviewed and issued a series of regulations including the Provisions for the Supervision and Management of Medical Device Production, the Provisions for the Supervision and Management of Medical Device Operation, the Regulations on the Quality of Operation of Pharmaceutical Products and the Provisions for the Flight Check of Pharmaceutical Products and Medical Devices. An action plan was carried out to raise the national standards for drugs and medical devices, which led to the formulation of 4,368 criteria for pharmaceuticals and 562 criteria for medical devices. From 2011 to 2015, more than 720,000 cases in violation of drug administration provisions were handled. About 36,000 criminal cases involving pharmaceuticals were resolved.

Public sports facilities for national fitness have been improved. The National Fitness Program (2011-2015) has been carried out in full. The number of sports venues of various kinds exceeded 1.69 million, with a per-capita sports area reaching 1.57 square meters, which is bigger than the target size. By the end of 2014, national fitness centers had been built in over 50 percent of the country's cities and counties (districts); practical fitness equipment had been installed in over 50 percent of neighborhoods (townships), urban communities and rural administrative villages. Both goals were achieved ahead of schedule.

(5) Right to education

Figure 6: The Growth of Enrollment Rate at the Various Stages of Basic Education between 2012 and 2015

The Outline of the State Medium- and Long-term Program on Education Reform and Development (2010-2020) has been steadily implemented. In 2015, the NPC Standing Committee amended and promulgated the Education Law and the Higher Education Law. During the year, the net enrollment rate in primary schools was 99.88 percent, gross enrollment rate in junior high schools reached 104 percent, and 93 percent of the students enrolled eventually completed their nine-year compulsory education.

Pre-school education has been further developed. A 3-year action plan was implemented for the first and second stage pre-school education. Between 2012 and 2015, the central government appropriated 62.1 billion yuan for pre-school education development mainly in rural areas of central and western China to accelerate the construction of pre-school education networks in counties, townships and villages, and award and subsidize local governments in helping preschoolers, orphans and disabled children of poverty-stricken families enroll in kindergartens. In 2015, there were 223,700 kindergartens throughout the country serving 42.6483 million children. As a result, 75 percent of the children who would be starting school in three years were enrolled in kindergartens. The planned goal of having 65 percent of such children enrolled in kindergartens was achieved ahead of schedule.

An equal right to education for relocated children of migrant workers has been safeguarded. Between 2012 and 2015, the central government appropriated 34.6 billion yuan cumulatively to enable nearly 90 percent of relocated children of migrant workers in cities to obtain government financial support. For children of those migrant workers who meet the conditions of the local governments receiving them, tuition fees for public schools in cities they migrate to and additional charges for transient schooling were abolished. In 2015, there were 13.671 million children eligible for compulsory education who had relocated with their migrant worker parents to cities. 80 percent of them studied at public schools. Various local governments also actively arranged for these children to study at inclusive non-government funded schools through service purchase and other means. By the end of 2015, 29 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government) had begun to make their college entrance exams open to the children of migrant workers from other regions. Altogether, nearly 80,000 children of migrant workers took the college entrance exams in cities they had migrated to.

The conditions for running schools in poverty-stricken regions have improved. Between 2012 and 2015, the central government appropriated 102 billion yuan cumulatively to support schools deficient in compulsory education. In November 2014, the government departments concerned jointly issued a circular on unifying the standards of staffing in urban and rural primary and secondary schools, which made the standards of staffing for primary and secondary schools in rural counties and townships accord with those of their counterparts in cities, with a preferential treatment given to remote and poor regions. Between 2012 and 2015, the central government invested 14.04 billion yuan in constructing 244,000 dormitory rooms for rural teachers, which could accommodate 300,000 teachers. Between 2013 and 2015, the central government (as well as Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps) appropriated 4.392 billion yuan cumulatively for living subsidies for rural teachers in contiguous areas of extreme poverty, benefiting more than 1 million people.

The development of education in central and western regions has accelerated. The central government allocated 10 billion yuan to support the enhancement of basic capabilities for about 100 local colleges in 24 provinces and autonomous regions of central and western China (including the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps). Another 5.6 billion yuan was set aside to support the establishment of one local institution of higher learning in each of the 13 provinces and autonomous regions and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps where there was not a single college affiliated to the Ministry of Education. Efforts were made to implement a collaborative plan to pair-up support for college enrollment in central and western regions. In this way, regions with rich education resources shifted part of their enrollment quota to central and western regions where the enrollment rate was low, and also to densely populated provinces. Between 2012 and 2015, a total of 755,000 students were enrolled into colleges through quota reallocation under the collaborative plan. The provincial gap in college enrollment has narrowed year on year.

The education conditions in senior high schools and vocational schools have improved steadily. Between 2012 and 2015, the central government appropriated 12 billion yuan as subsidies for standard senior high schools in central and western China and 1,542 schools in contiguous areas of extreme poverty to improve the conditions for running schools, benefiting more than 6 million students at school. The central and local governments have jointly allocated funds to establish state grants for standard senior high schools, which averaged 1,500 yuan for each recipient annually and increased to 2,000 yuan at the start of the spring term in 2015.

Between 2012 and 2013, the central government appropriated 1.4 billion yuan in special funds annually to support the building of 1,500 training bases for vocational education. During the 2012-2015 period, the National Development and Reform Commission arranged more than 17 billion yuan in special funds to support the enhancement of basic capabilities in 1,814 secondary vocational schools. The state also invested 2.3 billion yuan in carrying out a plan aimed at raising the quality of teachers in vocational colleges and schools. By the end of 2015, the state had arranged for more than 340,000 teachers in vocational colleges and schools to attend systematic training; succeeded in having 580 large and medium-sized enterprises participate in the training of teachers; and completed the construction of 300 sites providing specially-designed courses to train vocational teachers. Between 2012 and 2015, the central government appropriated 41.7 billion yuan as subsidies for the implementation of a tuition fee waiver program in secondary vocational schools, under which the tuition fees for all rural students, urban students who major in agriculture and those poverty-stricken students at full-time secondary vocational schools were abolished. State grant scholarships were also given to first and second-year students of full-time colleges majoring in agriculture and those not majoring in agriculture, but who come from poverty-stricken families. The annual subsidy for each recipient was 1,500 yuan in 2013, which was raised to 2,000 yuan in 2015, covering nearly 40 percent of the students.

The financial support policies in general institutions of higher learning for students from poor families have been strengthened. Since July 2014, student loans offered by the state have been adjusted to a maximum of 8,000 yuan annually for each full-time undergraduate or college student and up to 12,000 yuan annually for each full-time graduate student. Since July 2015, all interest on loans for students has been paid through financial subsidies with a maximum term extended to 20 years. Since the autumn term of 2014, a new state grant policy for full-time graduate students has been implemented, with no less than 10,000 yuan for each doctor degree candidate annually and no less than 6,000 yuan for each master degree candidate. (mo