Ministries respond on education, food safety

Advanced modern education system to be established

The State Council has issued a guideline on expanding the reform of the education system, calling for coordinated efforts by governments, schools and social forces toward developing a world-advanced modern education system.

The guideline sets a target of establishing a dynamic, efficient and more open basic education system by 2020, with education issues that are of the most public concern being resolved or to a certain extent addressed.

The State Council stressed establishing an integrated moral education system.

It also urged innovating the preschool education system, encouraging social forces to open kindergartens in various forms, with efforts to effectively solve the difficulty of kindergarten admissions.

Food safety improved but challenges still remain

Official from the Food Safety Commission under the State Council said on Sept 22 that a nationwide supervision campaign on food safety has recently came to an end, and results show that food safety has greatly improved across the country but there are still problems that require attention.

The findings show that central government requirements and efforts on improving food safety have been implemented across the country, yet there are still certain gaps regarding public expectations. The problem of a weak and vulnerable base of food safety in some areas still exists, while some local governments still lack strong supervision on food safety.

Bi Jingquan, chief of the China Food and Drug Administration, said in a meeting that reviews of the results of the supervision should be carried out targeting problems existing in different areas.

The supervision, conducted since late August, lasted for three weeks. The Food Safety Commission has sent 14 supervision teams to 31 provinces and regions. The supervision was conducted using local government reports, random investigations, visiting sites and hearing ideas from the public.

Alerts to highlight where environment is endangered

Officials from the National Development and Reform Commission recently spoke to the media on a guideline establishing a long-term warning mechanism on environmental capacity.

The guideline was jointly issued by the General Office under the CPC Central Committee.

The official said that the purpose of building a long-term mechanism on environmental capacity is that, along with China’s social and economic development, the environment in some areas in China could be damaged by further development.

The mechanism will help to carry out a comprehensive evaluation on land exploration and planning, and to learn about the features of land in different areas as well as capacity, to accurately register environmental limits and their problems in different areas for diversity management.

The NDRC official said that the guideline will be implemented in several aspects. Database and information platforms will be built to better monitor and warn about the environmental situation and also introduce restrictive policies targeting different situations.

A nationwide supervision and monitoring system will also be built to synergize efforts across departments, and to conduct a different degree of supervision and warnings targeting different areas.