英闻天下——405 NPC Deputies Improving China's Legal System

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　　CRI's Zhang Ru takes a closer look on how their motions and suggestions will contribute to China's legal system.

 

　　NPC deputy Pang¹ Lijuan is an expert on preschool education. She has been calling for the legalization of preschool education for many years.

 

　　Last year, China's Ministry² of Education designated preschool education as its key legislative³ program.

 

　　Pang Lijuan says submitting motions is a major duty of NPC deputies.

 

　　"In recent years, the National People's Congress has put special emphasis on the quality of legalization. For example, it says deputies had better include a draft framework of the new law in their motions. If you want to amend⁴ a law, you should also elaborate on how to amend it. So in my motion on preschool education, I drew up a framework that sheds light on the key items."

 

　　A motion must get the signatures of at least 30 NPC deputies before the NPC presidium accepts it.

 

　　This year, the presidium has decided⁵ that none of these motions is urgent enough to be deliberated at the ongoing⁶ session. They, therefore, will be passed on to special committees for further discussion.

 

　　Every year, the deputies will also hand over thousands of suggestions and criticisms on major political and social issues of the government.

 

　　For the presentation of suggestions and criticisms, there is no restriction⁷ on the timing⁸, scope and the number of sponsoring members.

 

　　NPC deputy Zhou Hongyu is known for advocating free compulsory⁹ education in China's rural areas.

 

　　"Why had some lawmakers called for free compulsory education before, but to no avail? I thought it was because none of them worked out a calculating standard."

 

　　Zhou first put forward his suggestion at the NPC session of 2003. But the Ministry of Finance sent him a response three months later, saying that as a developing country, China's education investment was not able to cover a free education program.

 

　　Then Zhou calculated how much the government would need to spend each year if free education was implemented¹⁰.

 

　　Zhou raised the suggestion again in 2004, emphasizing the feasibility and urgency of the move.

 

　　The suggestion became reality in 2005.

 

　　Many people are curious about what exactly the NPC deputies will do after the session ends when they go back to continue their routine daily work as government officials, professors, workers or farmers.

 

　　He Yehui, deputy secretary-general of the NPC Standing¹¹ Committee, says lawmakers take part in training and conduct surveys when the NPC is not in session to ensure the quality of their motions and suggestions.

 

　　"The deputies' political awareness¹², professional quality and ability to perform their duties vary greatly. The training will help deputies broaden their horizons and better take up their duties. Plus, according to the law, the deputies' survey consists of two parts. First, during their leisure time they can conduct investigations¹³ related to their profession. Second, every year, they should spend one week investigating a specific field and another week making inspections¹⁴."

 

　　For CRI, I am Zhang Ru.

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