The Ministry of Education ("MOE") has recently issued the Implementing Regulations of the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Promotion of Privately-run Schools (Revised Draft) (Draft for Comment) (the "Draft for Comment") for public consultation by May 20, 2018.
The Draft for Comment introduces major amendments as follows to the original 31 articles, adding 19 new articles, removing eight articles and also adjusting the chapter structure. The first is strengthening party construction in privately-run schools. The second is improving and clarifying supporting measures. The third is optimizing the regime on establishing, examining and approving privately-run schools. The fourth is regularizing the school running behavior and internal governance of privately-run schools. The fifth is standardizing education and training organizations. The sixth is safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of founders. The seventh is better guaranteeing rights and interests of teachers. The eighth is improving the supervision and administration mechanism. The Draft for Comment notes that financing channels available to private-run schools will be relaxed to a limited extent, allowing founders to legally raise funds from the general public to establish privately-run schools and requiring them to clearly specify the uses of funds they have raised and accept the oversight; additionally, financial institutions are allowed to develop financial products suitable for privately-run schools, as long as risks are under control.