The Chinese Ministry of Education will be requiring teachers to have more professional training and undergo vigorous job evaluation in a bid to improve quality of teaching in the country.

When the new school term begins later this month, education officials will launch a nationwide inquiry into the competence of China's teachers.

The evaluation will be a factor in determining whether teachers get promoted. And a competitive system will be introduced to employ teachers. Those deemed incompetent will be dismissed.

The move is meant to spur educators to develop better teaching methods and to help resolve long-standing concerns that students are given too much homework.

Reducing students' homework so that they are under less stress is one of the ministry's major goals this year.

For years, China's primary and middle schools have been criticized fro emphasizing rote learning and for piling homework on students. Teachers believe that more homework would mean higher scores in examinations.

The higher marks benefited not just students. Teachers could also get raises or promotions if their students did well.

A recent survey found that more than 67 percent of urban students and 45 percent of rural students spend more than an hour on homework per day, exceeding the State-set standard of 30 minutes.