Key practical points:
• Teaching requires a 'teacher-qualification certificate' matching the education level.
• Teachers have rights: timely pay, training, promotion and protection from insult or assault.
• Teachers have duties: respecting students, no discrimination, and no fee-charging private tutoring in breach of rules.
• Corporal punishment or insulting students is absolutely forbidden.
• Public-school teachers' pay must not be lower than that of local civil servants.
• Foreign teachers need a work permit and recognised qualifications on top of hiring rules.
Teachers Law · Yalla China
中华人民共和国教师法 / Teachers Law
Enacted: 1993-10-31 ✅ Effective: 1994-01-01
📝 Overview
A law setting teachers' status, rights, duties, qualifications, pay and protection. It requires a teacher-qualification certificate to teach. It concerns everyone working in teaching, including foreigners in some contexts.
This is general information only, not legal advice. For your specific case, consult a licensed lawyer.
📜 The law text / key provisions
💬 Practical reading
💬 This is a general reading/opinion for orientation — not the official legal text nor legal advice.
If you work as a teacher in China, you need a teacher-qualification certificate, and as a foreigner also a work permit and recognised qualification. You have rights to timely pay and protection, and any corporal punishment of students is absolutely banned. General orientation, not legal advice.
📎 Official source
Ministry of Education / moe.gov.cn
🕒 Updated: 16 March 2026