BEIJING - China will explore the establishment of a third-party quality accreditation and evaluation system for private schools, according to the Ministry of Education.

Applying the evaluation results, private schools will be guided to better serve social needs and deepen reform, said a 2019 work plan for the sector unveiled by the ministry Tuesday.

The government supports high-level private schools with distinctive characteristics to cultivate their own disciplines, majors, courses, teachers, and management system to improve the overall quality of education, according to the plan.

Meanwhile, the country will promote the building of a social credit system for private education, it said.

Measures include improving the incentives and disciplinary mechanisms for education credit, exploring a credit archive system, enhancing information disclosure, and strengthening social supervision.

With nearly 54 million students on campus, China had 183,500 private schools in 2018, accounting for over 35 percent of the total number of schools nationwide.