Laws of the Guangdong Province

Rules of Shenzhen Municipality on Administration of Privately-run Schools

 (Adopted at the 43th Meeting of the Standing Committee of the fourth Shenzhen Municipal People' s Government on October 27, 2006, Promulgated by Decree No.159 of Shenzhen Municipal People' s Government on December 1, 2006.)

Chapter I   General Provisions

Article 1 These rules are enacted in accordance with the provisions of such laws, rules as Law of the People's Republic of China on the Promotion of Privately-run Schools and Implementation Regulations of Law of the People's Republic of China on the Promotion of Privately-run Schools and the practical conditions of Shenzhen municipality with a view to supporting and standardizing the development of privately-run schools.

Article 2 These rules shall be applicable to activities conducted by public organizations or individuals, other than State organs, to establish and run schools and other institutions of education (hereinafter referred to as Privately-run schools) with non-governmental financial funds, which are geared to the need of society.

Article 3 The administration of privately-run policy schools shall abide by the principle of scientific programming, standardizing criterion, optimizing structure, strict administration, and guaranteeing quality.

Article 4 The administrative department for education under Shenzhen municipal people' s government (hereinafter referred as to municipal administrative department for education) is the department in charge of all the privately-run schools within the whole municipality. The administrative department for education under district people' s government (hereinafter referred as to district administrative departments for education) is the department in charge of all the privately-run policy schools within the district. The main duties of administrative departments for education are:

1)      to implement the laws, rules, general and specific policies of privately-run schools and to formulate relevant administrative measures of privately-run schools;

2)      to organize the compilation and execution of development programming and working plan of the privately-run schools within Shenzhen municipality;

3)      to examine and approve, according to laws, the establishment of privately-run schools that provide education for academic credentials, pre-school education, training for preparing self-study examinations and other cultural education;

4)      to be in charge of the supervision and examination towards privately-run schools within the scope of Shenzhen municipality.

5)      to guide, supervise, and coordinate the work relating to privately-run schools.

The administrative department for labor and social security under Shenzhen municipal people' s government or the administrative department for labor under district people' s government (hereinafter referred as to the administrative department for labor) shall be responsible for the administration of privately-run schools that mainly provides training for vocational skills, including for vocational qualification.

The administrative departments for finance, programming, land and real estate, civil administration shall assist the administrative departments for education and the administrative departments for labor in the administration of privately-run schools within the scope of their respective duties.

Article 5 Municipal people' s government and district people' s government shall respectively set up a special fund for supporting the development of privately-run schools, the concrete scope of use and the administrative methods of which shall be formulated separately by municipal people' s government.

Article 6 The administrative department for education and the administrative department for labor shall make such matters relating to privately-run schools known to the general public as the establishment of privately-run schools, countermand, termination, great alteration, conditions relating to teachers and running schools, standards of collecting fees, limits of enrollment, safety accidents, integrity record about being investigated and affixed the lawful responsibility, and other basic conditions.

The administrative departments for education and the administrative departments for labor shall proclaim the establishment, countermand, termination and alteration of privately-run schools to the general public within 10 days from the date these decisions are approved.

Article 7 The administrative departments for education and the administrative departments for labor shall set up a financial risk prevention system and a campus security system for privately-run schools, and supervise and examine the conditions and quality of running privately-run schools, the financial situations, and the safety situations of such schools regularly or irregularly.

Article 8 The administrative departments for educational supervision shall regularly supervise the performance of duties for the administrative departments for education and the administrative departments for labor, and report the results of supervision to the people' s government at the same level.

Chapter II Establishment and Alteration

Article 9 The establishment of a privately-run school shall accord with the laws and rules, the program for urban education development of Shenzhen municipality, the establishment standard and security standard for privately-run schools of Shenzhen municipality.

Consulting relevant standards for the establishment of government-run schools, the administrative departments for education and the administrative departments for labor shall respectively formulate the establishment standard and security standard of privately-run schools jointly with other relevant departments within 1 year from the date these rules go into effect.

Article 10 Where an application for the establishment of a privately-run school that provides education at the level of senior high school, which consists of two forms of joint running, namely one form junior high school and senior high school, and the other primary school and junior high school and senior high school, or a privately-run school, run or jointly run by public organizations, which provides non-skillful training is made, municipal administrative department for education shall be in charge of its examination and approval.

Where an application for the establishment of a privately-run school that provides education at the level of junior high school or primary school or education for pre-school education, or a privately-run school, run by a single citizen, which provides non-skillful training is made, district administrative department for education shall be in charge of its examination and approval.

Where an application for the establishment of a privately-run school that provides training for vocational skills, including training for vocational qualification, is made, the administrative departments for labor shall be in charge of its examination and approval.

Where a government-run primary school, government-run junior high school, or government-run senior high school applies for the joint establishment of a privately-run school, municipal administrative department for education shall be in charge of the examination and approval of the application; where a government-run school that provides training for vocational skills apply for the joint establishment of a privately-run school that provides training for vocational skills, including training for vocational qualification, municipal administrative department for labor shall be in charge of the examination and approval.

Article 11 Where an application for the establishment of a privately-run school that provides education for academic credentials is made, the examination and approval authority, after accepting the application, shall organize a committee of experts to evaluate and provide consultation opinion.

The regulation for organizing the committee of experts and its evaluation shall be formulated jointly by municipal administrative department for education and municipal administrative department for labor.

Chapter III   Teaching and Educational Administration

Article 12 A privately-run school only has the right to recruit students after obtaining the license for establishment, the certificate for registration of privately-run non-enterprise unit, the organization registration card, and the taxation registration certificate.

Before recruiting students, privately-run schools that provide education for academic credentials shall obtain the approval document of collecting fee, and in this regard, privately-run schools that provide education for non-academic credentials shall send a duplicate of the standard of collecting fee to municipal department for price and the examination and approval authority for the record.

Privately-run schools shall recruit students in accordance with enrollment scale ratified by the examination and approval authority.

Article 13 The license for establishment of a privately-run school may not be forged, fabricated, transferred, leased, lent, donated, or mortgaged. Where the license for establishment of a privately-run school is lost, the privately-run school shall declare the license invalid in newspapers and apply for renewal of the license to the original examination and approval authorities within 1 month from the date its declaration published in newspapers.

Article 14 No privately-run school that provides education for pre-school education, primary school, junior high school, or senior high school may establish branch schools or branch teaching places. Where privately-run schools that provide training for cultural education or vocational skills, including for vocational qualification establish branch schools or branch teaching places, the formalities shall be conducted in accordance with relevant regulations.

Article 15 To print, broadcast, post, or distribute general regulations and advertisements for student enrollment, a privately-run school shall illustrate relevant matters clearly and completely, such as full title of the privately-run school, character of the school, the examination and approval authority, level of the school, conditions for establishing and running the school, specialities enrolled, scope of enrollment, content of study, form of study, time limit of study, items of collecting fees , standards of collecting fees , character of certificate issued, methods of signing up, and send a duplicate to the examination and approval authorities for the record.

Where it is necessary to add or delete some contents of the general regulations and advertisements for student enrollment of privately-run schools that has been sent to the examination and approval authorities for the record, the privately-run school shall anew send a duplicate to the examination and approval authority for the record.

Article 16 The privately-run schools that provide education for academic credentials shall give courses and implement teaching and education in accordance with laws and rules, and choose the teaching materials authorized by the administrative departments for education at or above the provincial level.

The privately-run schools that provide training for self-study examinations shall institute a teaching plan for specialties and a syllabus in accordance with the project for examination and the syllabus for examination formulated by the office of self-taught higher education examinations of Guangdong province and then implement teaching and education.

The privately-run schools that provide education for cultural studying after work or school, or training for vocational skills shall compile teaching or training project and then implement teaching activities in accordance with relevant requirements.

Article 17 The administrative department for educational supervision and guidance shall comprehensively evaluate the running conditions of privately-run schools per 3 years and form a report on the evaluation result.

Article 18 All the decisions of the executive council, board of directors or other decision-making bodies of a privately-run school shall be recorded in written form and preserved in accordance with laws.

Article 19 The principal of a privately-run school that provides education for academic credentials or pre-school education shall own the qualification certificate for teacher and more than 3 years' experience of teaching, and be no more than 70 years old, and accord with the following conditions for being appointed:

1)          The principal of a privately-run school that provides education for senior high school education or mechanic school education shall possess academic credentials at or above the level of university or college and appointment certificate for the post of professional skills at or above the intermediate level.

2)          The principal of a privately-run school that provides education at the level of junior high school shall possess academic credentials at or above the level of college for professional training and appointment certificate for the post of professional skills at or above the intermediate level.

3)          The principal of a privately-run school that provides education at the level of primary school shall possess academic credentials at or above the level of secondary specialized school and appointment certificate for the post of professional skills at or above the elementary level.

4)          The principal of a privately-run school that provides education for pre-school education shall graduated in the major of pre-school education or possess academic credentials at or above the level of pre-school normal school and appointment certificate for the post of professional skills at or above the elementary level.

5)          The principals of other privately-run schools shall possess the appointment certificate formulated by laws and rules.

   A principal can be appointed at only one privately-run school.

   Article 20 A Privately-run school shall sign appointment contract with the teachers and office clerks being appointed and sign labor contract with other staff members. The model for appointment contract, formulated unitedly by municipal administrative department for education, consists of such content as the appointments, the responsibilities, the wage treatment, welfare benefits, social insurance, the time limit of appointment, continuous education, the duties for breaking the contract and others.

   Jointly with municipal administrative department for education, municipal administrative department for labor may formulate minimum wage for the teachers appointed by the privately-run schools that provide education for academic credentials or pre-school education, which shall be executed after being examined and approved by Shenzhen municipal people' s government.

Article 21 Privately-run schools shall guarantee, in accordance with laws, that their teachers have the same time length for continuous education as those of government-run schools of the same grade and category.

Chapter IV Financial Management

Article 22 Privately-run schools shall set up bank accounts and account books independently, establish and amplify, in accordance with the laws in respect of finance and economy, tax, and accounting, financial management system and financial risk system and accept the supervision and examination of vocational authorities.

The finance of privately-run schools shall be independent and may not be mixed up with that of sponsors or the enterprise invested by the sponsors, as well as that of other privately-run schools established by the sponsors.

Article 23 The property of a privately-run school, protected by laws, may not be embezzled and possessed by any organization or individual.

A privately-run school may not provide guaranty for others as the guarantee, or offer its property to provide guaranty for others.

Article 24 The accounting system of a privately-run school that does not request reasonable financial repayment may be executed by consulting that of nongovernmental nonprofit-making organizations. The accounting system of the privately-run schools that request reasonable financial repayment may be executed by consulting that of enterprises.

Article 25 The withdrawal system is executed in all the privately-run schools where the executive directors of school, the principal, or their spouses' directly-related members and collateral relatives within 3 generations may not be appointed as financial clerks of the school.

A financial clerk of a privately-run school may not be appointed concurrently as the same post of sponsors of the school or the following enterprises such as:

1) the enterprise invested by the sponsors;

2) the enterprise where the executive directors or the principal of the school is appointed as a director of the enterprise, an executive director, or a manager.

Article 26 The items and standards of collecting fees of a privately-run school that provides education for academic credentials shall be examined and approved by municipal administrative department for price and the examination and approval authority. The items and standards of collecting fees of a privately-run school that provides education for non-academic credentials shall be send to municipal administrative department for price and the examination and approval authority for the record.

The items and standards of collecting fees of a privately-run school that provides education for academic credentials shall be examined and approved in accordance with education cost of the privately-run school and its conditions of enrollment.

Article 27 A privately-run school that provides education for pre-school education, deferring to desire of the parents of the students, may collect fees in semester or month; a privately-run school that provides education for academic credentials may collect fees in semester; a privately-run school that provides education for non-academic credentials may collect fees in the time limit of study.

Where a student transfers to another school or quits a school owing to some just reasons, the privately-run school shall execute in accordance with relevant regulations on refundment formulated by municipal administrative department for price and municipal administrative department for education.

Article 28 A privately-run school shall entrust intermediaries to audit its financial condition for revenue and expenditure of last year and proclaim the audit result to the public before April, 30 every year. The examination and approval authority shall provide privately-run schools with a free place for announcement of the audit result.

Where a privately-run school doesn' t, in accordance with the regulations, submit the audit result, the examination and approval authority shall order the school to submit within a time limit. If it fails to submit the audit result within the prescribed time limit, the examination and approval authority shall, by means of waving numbers for lottery or drawing lots, decide on an audit organization with relevant qualification to audit, and the audit expenses shall be paid by the privately-run school.

Chapter V   Termination and Settlement

Article 29 Where an application for termination of a privately-run school is made, the school shall apply to the examination and approval authority for approval at the time 6 months before a new academic year and submit the following materials:

1) an application for termination which consists of the reason of termination, date of termination, compensation project for staff members of the school, arrangement project for students in the school, the matters that need assistance of the examination and approval authority, etc;

2) the relevant decision on termination of the privately-run school made by the executive council, the board of directors or other policy-making bodies of the school;

3) the financial audit report of the privately-run school at the time the application of termination is submitted.

The compensation project for staff members of the school shall be adopted by the representative assembly of the teachers and staff members; the arrangement project for students in the school shall be formulated by soliciting opinions of the students and the parents of the students in advance.

The examination and approval authority shall give a reply within 20 working days.

Article 30 Where a privately-run school requests termination itself, it shall make arrangements for the settlement the execution of which shall begin at the time 3 months before a new academic year, and the procedure of which shall be executed in accordance with relevant laws and rules.

Article 31 For a privately-run school the license for running school of which is revoked, the examination and approval authority shall arrange the settlement. Where the settlement is arranged by the examination and approval authority, the settlement group shall be constituted by working officers of relevant State' s departments.

Article 32 The settlement group organized by the examination and approval authority (hereinafter referred to as the settlement group) shall implement the following duties:

1)          to take over the property of the privately-run school, account books, documents and files, seals, certificates and licenses, and other relevant materials;

2)          to register and clear up the property of the privately-run school, protect financial safety of the privately-run school, and organize evaluation, auction and transformation into cash of the property of the privately-run school;

3)          to manage, retrieve, and dispose the property of the privately-run school;

4)          to inform and proclaim the creditor;

5)          to retain or entrust intermediaries to undertake partial settlement after being approved by the examination and approval authority;

6)          to conduct and settle unfinished matters relating to the privately-run school;

7)          to pay the tax owed or found during the settlement;

8)          to clear off other creditor' s rights and debts;

9)          to attend civil lawsuits or arbitrations on behalf of the privately-run school;

10)      to conduct the cancellation of registration of the privately-run school;

11)      to fulfill other matters assigned, in accordance with laws, by the examination and approval authority.

   When the settlement group retains or entrusts an intermediary, the intermediary shall be chosen from those organizations with relevant qualification and ability which have signed up by means of waving numbers for lottery, drawing lots, or other fair methods; and when the settlement group retains a law office, opinions of the legal department under the people' s government shall be solicited first.

   Article 33 The settlement group shall notify the creditors of its establishment within 10 days from the date it' s established, and publish the settlement announcement in newspapers within 30 days from its establishment. The creditors who have received the notice shall declare their rights to the settlement group within 30 days from the date they received the notification, and the creditors who haven' t received the notification shall declare their rights within 45 days from the date the settlement announcement is published.

   A creditor who declares rights shall explain relevant matters of the rights and submit relevant proof materials. The settlement group shall register and record the creditor' s rights. During the period of declaring creditor' s rights, the settlement group may not liquidate the creditors separately.

   Article 34 The settlement group is responsible and accountable to the examination and approval authority, and shall receive the supervision of other relevant departments.

   After established, the settlement group shall formulate a working plan for settlement and a spending plan of settlement cost, and apply to the examination and approval authority for approval.

   The members of the settlement group shall draw their wage at the original units and may not draw extra reward for the work of settlement.

   Article 35 The settlement group shall formulate a settlement project, notify the organizer of settlement, hold a meeting for creditors, and vote on the settlement project after settling the property of a privately-run school and compiling a list of assets and liabilities and a detailed list of property.

   The volume of property represented by the settlement project, which shall been adopted by more than half of the creditors, attending the meeting, with the right to vote, must account for more than half of the total creditors' rights of non-property guaranty.

   The settlement project adopted by the meeting for creditors can bind all the creditors.

   The settlement group shall attend the meeting for creditors as a nonvoting delegate and receive the inquiry of creditors. A creditor has the right to consult relevant materials and inquire relevant matters, and the settlement group shall reply strictly by the facts.

   Article 36 If the property of a privately-run school that has been transformed into cash is not enough to repay all the debts, the settlement group shall, in accordance with laws or rules, formulate a distribution project of property and report to the meeting for creditors after applying to the examination and approval authority for approval.

   Article 37 All the members of the settlement group shall correctly and strictly perform the duties and safeguard the maximum rights and interests of the staff members, the student, and other creditors of privately-run school.

   Article 38 The settlement group shall make a working report for settlement and report to the examination and approval authority after the settlement finishes.

   Article 39 During the period of settlement, a privately-run school may not be engaged in such activities as releasing advertisement of enrollment, enrolling new students and others, except maintaining the activity of teaching until the students are arranged in accordance with the arrangement project.

Chapter VI   Administration of the Land to be Used

   Article 40 The land to be used for education obtained by a privately-run school may not be used for other purposes.

   The government shall recall the land the purpose of which have to be altered owing to the city planning, and sell the land that has altered into the land to be used for profit-making publicly.

   Article 41 Where a privately-run school transfers or leases the land used for education with the entire property right, the assignee or the lessee must, in accordance with the original level and category of establishing school, establish a privately-run school. The assignee or the lessee, if the level and category of establishing school need to be altered, must apply to the administrative department for city planning and the administrative department for education or the administrative department for labor to approve, and may not be issued the license for establishment if without the approval.

   A privately-run school may not transfer or lease the land used for education the entire property right of which hasn' t been obtained. The government shall recall the land of a privately-run school that has been terminated and bring the land into the land used for government education.

   Article 42 Where the government recalls land by giving compensation, the original user of land shall be compensated in accordance with the following regulations:

1) Where a privately-run school has obtained the entire property right of a land, the compensation fee for the land and buildings on the land shall be paid in accordance with the compensation standard for demolishing a house and moving its occupants elsewhere.

2) Where a privately-run school doesn' t obtain the entire property right of a land, the compensation fee for the land shall be paid in accordance with the land price for the surplus number of years of the original land sale contract, the compensation fee for the buildings on the land shall be paid in accordance with the cost price of the buildings minus the depreciation price

   Article 43 For the land used for education that accords with the condition of being recalled without compensation, the government shall recall the land and buildings on the land without compensation.

   Article 44 The state' s departments or government-run schools are forbidden to utilize the land used for education to establish privately-run school jointly with public organizations or individuals. For the privately-run schools that are established by using the land used for education and jointly with public organizations or individuals before the implementation of these measures, municipal administrative department for education shall organize to liquidate in accordance with Law of the People's Republic of China on the Promotion of Privately-run Schools and Implementation Regulations of Law of the People's Republic of China on the Promotion of Privately-run Schools within 2 years from the date these measures go into effect.

   Article 45 Where a privately-run school utilizes a governmental land used for education and the buildings on the land by means of leasing, the administrative department for education must sign up a leasehold contract with the sponsor of the privately-run school, the privately-run school must utilize the governmental land used for education and the buildings on the land in accordance with the following regulations:

1)      not to alter the use purpose;

2)      not to alter the level and category of running school without authorization;

3)      not to sublease to other privately-run schools;

4)      not to violate other agreements of the contract.

Chapter VII   Legal Responsibility

Article 46 Where a privately-run school violates the provision of article 12, section 3 of these measures to recruit students by exceeding the enrollment scale, the examination and approval authority shall give it a disciplinary warning and order it to rectify and confiscate the unlawful gains derived from recruiting students by exceeding the enrollment scale.

Article 47 Where a privately-run school violates the provision of article 15 of these measures to release general regulations and advertisements for student enrollment without sending a duplicate to the examination and approval authority for the record, the examination and approval authority shall order it to rectify and impose a fine of 5,000 RMB with the exception of the case that other punishment is stipulated by the provisions of laws.

   Article 48 Where a privately-run school violates the provision of article 19 of these measures to retain the principal, the examination and approval authority shall order it to rectify and impose a fine of 10,000 RMB.

   Article 49 Where a privately-run school violates the provision of article 22, section 2 of these measures not to execute the minimum standard of teacher' s wage in accordance with the regulations, the school shall fill the inadequate part and pay the teachers economic compensation fee that is 200% of the inadequate part, and is imposed a fine of no less than 30,000 RMB but no more than 50,000 RMB by the examination and approval authority.

   Article 50 Where a privately-run school violates the provision of article 21 of these measures not to guarantee the time length of teacher' s continuous education, the examination and approval authority shall impose a fine of 500 RMB per teacher according to the number of teachers the time length of teacher' s continuous education of whom hasn' t been attained.

Article 51 Where a privately-run school violates the provision of article 25 of these measures not to retain financial clerks in accordance with the regulation, the examination and approval authority shall order it to rectify and impose a fine of 20,000 RMB.

Article 52 Where a privately-run school violates the provision of article 28 of these measures not to proclaim the audit result to the public in accordance with the regulations, the examination and approval authority shall order it to rectify within a time limit, and impose the school a fine of 10,000 RMB if it fails to rectify within the prescribed time limit.

Article 53 Where the administrative department for education and the administrative department for labor commit one of the following acts, they shall be ordered by the authority in charge at the higher level to rectify; if the circumstances are serious, the persons directly in charge and the other persons directly responsible shall be given administrative sanctions according to law; if economic losses are caused, it shall bear the responsibility to pay compensation according to law; and if a crime is constituted, it shall be investigated for criminal responsibility according to law:

1) approving the application that doesn' t accord with the establishment standard;

2) causing serious consequences due to careless administration;

3) using the land used for education of government to establish a privately-run school jointly with public organizations and individuals in violation of the provision of article 44 of these measures;

4) abusing its powers or engaging in malpractices in other ways.

Article 54 Where a government-run school violates the provision of article 28 of these measures to make use of the land used for education of government to establish a privately-run school jointly with public organizations and individuals, the authority in charge shall order it to rectify; if the circumstances are serious, the persons directly in charge and the other persons directly responsible shall be given administrative sanctions according to law.

Article 55 Other unlawful activities violating these measures shall be punished in accordance with the provisions of relevant laws.

Chapter VIII  Supplementary Provisions

Article 56 These measures do not apply for profit-making privately-run training institutions and schools or institutions established and run cooperatively by overseas organizations or individuals within the administrative scope of Shenzhen municipality registered with the administrative department for industry and commerce.

Article 57 The privately-run schools that are established before the implementation of the establishment standard for privately-run school shall attain relevant standard within 2 years; otherwise the schools shall be revoked the license for running the school if they fail to attain relevant standard within the prescribed time limit.