According to reports, in recent years, with the decline of the number of new students, rural primary and junior high schools have faced a serious shortage of students and have had to be forced to close or merge. In one place, it is planned to withdraw and merge elementary schools with less than 100 students and junior high schools with less than 500 students within two years. However, after the implementation of the withdrawal and merger, a large number of redundant teachers will appear. So, these teachers are going to **?Will they be unemployed?This article will delve into the fate of teachers after the withdrawal of primary schools, and analyze the causes, impacts and challenges of the withdrawal and merger policy.
Since the end of the 90s of the last century, China has launched an educational reform called "withdrawing points and merging schools", with the goal of integrating rural educational resources and optimizing the allocation of educational resources. The original intention of the reform was to rationally plan and adjust the layout of schools in accordance with the principles of nearby enrollment in primary schools, relative concentration of junior high schools, and optimization of the allocation of educational resources. After 20 years of implementation, the number of primary schools in the country has decreased from 491,273 to 162,601, and 328,672 primary schools have disappeared, an average of 45 elementary schools per day.
However, the reform of "withdrawing points and merging schools" has also caused a series of problems. The difficulty of remote students in going to school, the mental health problems caused by premature boarding life, and the increased financial burden on families have plagued the development of rural education. In response to these problems, since 2012, the Ministry of Education has explicitly proposed to suspend the withdrawal and merger of rural compulsory education schools, and has taken a cautious approach. However, in recent years, due to the sudden decline in the number of new students, rural education has fallen into a serious dilemma, and the implementation of the withdrawal of elementary schools has been put on the agenda again.
At present, China's economy is in a recession, and local governments are facing pressure to protect wages, and the economic recession has also accelerated the implementation of the withdrawal and merger. There are reports that a primary school in a certain place was forced to cut off power by the power supply station due to the lack of public funds, which has aroused widespread concern. The reason why the local government is unable to allocate funds in a timely manner is mainly because the local economy is weak and cannot solve the funding problem.
At this time, the withdrawal and merger of schools has become an important means for the local government to solve economic pressure. The dismantling of schools with only one student also requires the allocation of funds for 100 students per year, which is undoubtedly a waste of resources. As a result, the closure of primary schools can save a lot of money and help localities** cope with economic hardship. At the same time, the withdrawal and merger of rural schools can also solve the problem of shortage of teachers in county schools and realize the optimal allocation of educational resources.
After the abolition and merger of primary schools, there will be a problem of how to place a large number of redundant teachers. At present, some localities have promulgated corresponding policies, that is, by promoting the construction of boarding systems in rural compulsory education schools, and implementing the principle of "double concentration" in the layout of urban and rural primary and secondary schools. Specifically, rural boarding primary schools are concentrated in the township location, and boarding middle schools are concentrated in the county seat.
The implementation of this policy can achieve the effect of large-scale schooling, save education expenses, be conducive to the high-quality development of urban and rural schools, and help the county's real estate industry achieve a soft landing. However, there is still some uncertainty about the whereabouts of the surplus teachers after the withdrawal of primary schools.
In some areas, redundant teachers will be transferred to county schools to fill the vacancies. However, in the case of an overall shortage of teachers, there are not enough posts to accommodate all teachers. For example, in Zhejiang Province, 155 teachers were terminated from their employment contracts when the county-run school employment system was introduced. This also means that the possibility of teachers losing their jobs cannot be ignored.
For teachers, only by constantly working hard and improving themselves can they be invincible in the highly competitive field of education. Choosing to pursue postgraduate studies, attend training, change careers, or pursue other education-related careers are all options for teachers to consider. At the same time, we should also increase the training of teachers, provide more training opportunities and transfer opportunities, and ensure the career development and employment stability of teachers.
The abolition and merger of primary schools is an educational reform measure to integrate rural educational resources and optimize the allocation of educational resources. However, in the process of implementation, a series of problems have arisen, and the decline in the number of new students has also exacerbated the pace of the withdrawal of elementary schools. This has made the fate of teachers after the dismantling of primary schools a focus of attention. Although some policies have been introduced to house redundant teachers, teachers are still at risk of losing their jobs. Therefore, teachers need to continuously improve their professional quality and actively adapt to the needs of education reform in order to be invincible in the workplace. At the same time, we should also increase the training and support for teachers, and provide them with more opportunities for transfer and career development.