The Ministry of Education has published a series of professional standards for teachers in kindergartens, primary schools and middle schools, including a ban on harsh language and words that might belittle students.

The draft standards also ask teachers to effectively communicate with their students and establish positive teacher-student relationships.

The standards will attach a special emphasis on teachers' moral performance and ethics, according to a statement posted on the ministry's website on Tuesday.

According to the standards, the teachers should always be student-oriented, regard the lives and safety of their students as a top priority and acquire the necessary knowledge and skills to deal with possible emergencies.

The standards for primary school teachers require them to protect students' interests and encourage their curiosity.

For middle school teachers, the standards require them to encourage students to think independently and promote the students' ability to innovate.

Once put into effect, the standards will be used to educate teachers and provide a fundamental guideline for the teachers' professional development, the ministry's statement said.

The standards will also be used as a criterion for the teachers' professional admission, training and assessment, the statement said.

According to the statement, a draft of the standards was started in 2004. Drafters listened to the opinions of more than 1,000 experts, school and kindergarten principals and teachers and made multiple revisions.

The public is invited to comment on the standards and provide feedback via letters and e-mails, which will be accepted until Dec. 30 this year.

China issued a code of ethics for primary and middle school teachers in 2008, asking teachers to "take care of their students' safety."

The code was created after a heated public debate about teacher performance triggered by Fan Meizhong, a middle school teacher in southwest China's Sichuan province. The teacher ran to save his own life when an 8.0-magnitude earthquake struck Wenchuan county on May 12, 2008, leaving his students behind in the classroom.

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