For primary school students who start the first day of the new semester today, nothing is more important than the pending decision of the Ministry of Education to alleviate the workload of schoolchildren.

The regulations, which stipulate that first- to third-year primary school children will not have unified exams and pupils will not have written homework throughout their primary school years, received 90 percent of respondents' support when public opinions were solicited, and it seems beyond doubt that the new rules will come into effect soon.

Actually, alleviation of schoolwork, especially for primary school pupils, has been a major part of education reform in the past several years, but to little avail. In recent years, textbooks and teaching methods have been so designed to make students interact with teachers and provoke their own ideas rather than thrusting down their throats what they need to learn.