Young civil servants in Chongqing municipality who do not have a higher education degree have been told: obtain one by 2016 or lose your job.Any municipality worker aged 35 and under must obtain at least an associate degree in seven years or risk losing their job for being "incapable of completing assignments".
A director from the local human resources and social security bureau who did not want to give his full name, said, "The move is to encourage young employees to develop skills especially at the grassroots level."
"About 30 percent of all 100,000 Chongqing’s government workers, who are mostly from the countryside, might be covered under the program." Employees would not lose their jobs during their studies. For which relief, much thanks.
To obtain an associate degree in China, students on average pay direct costs of about RMB3,000 a year and study takes two and a half years. An associate degree in a technology field can take up to four years.
China Daily reported Yang Chenfan, a professor of law at Renmin University of China, as saying, "This is a desperate resort that the municipality has undertaken to plug up holes and uphold service levels. The government workers’ know-how and capabilities must be updated to meet requirements of the fast-changing new age.
The key to their successful education is to frame out a sound appraisal system that rewards academic achievements and encourage them to keep learning."
The illustration is of present day Chongqing students who will not have this problem.