Recently, hundreds of teachers gathered in front of the Education Department of Shanxi Province, demanding to be included in the social insurance scheme and to receive equal treatment and benefits as full-time teachers. The participants of the assembly included private teachers, substitute teachers, and kindergarten teachers.
On August 31, a video was shared on the overseas social media platform X showing over a thousand laid-off teachers assembling in front of the Education Department of Shanxi Province on August 29. In the video, a participant with a small loudspeaker addressed the crowd, saying, “We are all eligible to retroactively pay social insurance. There is no age limit for paying social insurance. Therefore, Director Li of the Education Department will communicate with the social insurance department again, and we can only wait for the outcome of the next communication. Director Li promised to give us a response by September 11 at the latest.”
Many of the teachers present were middle-aged or elderly, with some already over sixty years old. The petitioners chanted slogans such as “pay social insurance, equal pay for equal work,” maintaining overall order at the scene. Some teachers explained that they entered the education system in the 1980s and 1990s, working in rural or urban schools for an extended period without getting formal positions. Eventually, they were dismissed during the process of educational system reform.
A former substitute teacher at a primary school in Linfen, Shanxi, who went by the pseudonym Ms. Hua for safety reasons, stated that she had been teaching at a village school since 1986 without being converted to a regular teaching position. She said, “Starting from September 1, employees can demand companies to pay social insurance. We have been lacking social insurance benefits for a long time and are now asking for the promises to be fulfilled. Currently, we are negotiating with the Provincial Education Department to get a response from them.”
It is understood that there is a special historical background for the group of “private teachers” and “substitute teachers” in mainland China. During the 1950s and 1960s, when educational resources in rural areas were scarce, a large number of individuals with medium-level education were recruited as private teachers, becoming an essential part of rural compulsory education. After the reform and opening up, they continued to undertake a significant amount of teaching tasks but remained outside the formal system.
Ms. Fan, a teacher at a school in Qianjiang, Hubei, recalled that after the 1990s, authorities started pushing for the dismissal of substitute teachers and the abolition of formal positions for private teachers, resulting in numerous teachers losing their jobs and receiving only one-time compensation without being included in the social insurance system.
She said, “Around 2000, Shanxi conducted a large-scale dismissal, leading to many teachers being laid off. I remember around 2012, private teachers from Hubei and other places frequently went to the Provincial Education Department or local education bureaus to petition, even going to Beijing to petition at the National Bureau of Letters and Calls (Xinfang). Some requested to be converted to regular teachers, others asked for compensation, but they were ultimately sent back, with the authorities stating that ‘this is a national policy, and there is no budget for this expense.'”
As these teachers gradually approach retirement age, their pension issues are becoming increasingly pressing. As early as 2018, hundreds of private and substitute teachers from Shanxi collectively went to Taiyuan to petition, seeking solutions to their pension issues but the problem was not fundamentally resolved. The recent assembly in front of the Provincial Education Department is seen as a continuation of the historical legacy issues.
It was observed through media analysis that the teachers petitioning this time mainly focused on two demands: firstly, the government should retroactively pay the previously unpaid pension insurance fees, and secondly, the government should recognize their years of service so they can enjoy retirement benefits equal to those of full-time teachers.
A former teacher from Jinzhong recalled that she had worked for nearly twenty-five years, with a salary consistently only half of that of regular teachers, despite bearing the same heavy teaching responsibilities. “We shared the worries for the country back then, but now we are forgotten. Without social insurance, how can we support ourselves in old age?” Another teacher mentioned that due to the lack of security, some people in their later years can only rely on their children for support or continue doing temporary manual labor. According to participants at the assembly, the Education Department stated that they would report the situation, but the final decision would need to come from higher authorities.
On that day, the Shanxi Provincial Education Department sent staff to dialogue with teacher representatives. According to several attendees, the staff said they would record the situation and report it but did not provide a clear commitment. As of now, neither the Shanxi Provincial Education Department nor the Department of Human Resources and Social Security has issued an official statement on the matter.
Some education observers believe that the longstanding issues of private and substitute teachers in mainland China have lacked proper resolution mechanisms. This group of teachers’ actions coinciding with the implementation of mandatory social insurance policies highlight the practical pressures faced by the authorities. It is cautioned that if these issues remain unresolved for an extended period, they could escalate into more significant societal conflicts.