Several ministry-level departments, including the ministries of agriculture and rural affairs, education, and public security, have responded recently to issues of public concern.
'Toilet revolution' to be stepped up in the countryside
China will step up efforts to renovate toilets in rural areas, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs said on Oct 9. It said it will prioritize work in areas including planning, selecting products, setting standards and refining the maintenance mechanism.
Han Changfu, the minister of agriculture and rural affairs, said it is important to promote the renovation of toilets suitable for farming communities. Such facilities must be simple and cheap to maintain, he said.
China launched its "toilet revolution" campaign nationwide in 2015, with the aim to renovate toilets in rural households, which are still often makeshift outdoor shelters.
Han said the ministry will encourage research and development of toilet models that can be applied in extremely cold areas or areas faced with water shortages.
Warning over commercial activities on school grounds
School and kindergartens nationwide have been ordered to stay away from any form of commercial advertisements and activities, the Ministry of Education said on Friday.
The comment came after an incident in Heze, Shandong province, where students at a primary school were handed yellow caps and Young Pioneers' red scarves carrying ads for a shopping mall during an activity to promote traffic safety.
The ministry said the incident was "very bad in nature". It urged local authorities to draw lessons from it and take measures to prevent such ads and activities from entering schools and kindergartens.
It also called on local education departments to carry out inspections at schools and kindergartens to check for ads on students' textbooks, stationery, school buses and other objects.
The authorities should also set up systems that record and examine activities that allow organizations into schools, collecting information on the activity's subject, organizer and participants, and stopping those that are not related to the schools' educational functions, the ministry said.
