Teachers employed by foreign-funded language training institutions must hold corresponding teaching qualifications, according to a circular issued by three departments.

Foreign teachers recruited by such institutions should have professional ethics and competence as well as good credit records, said the circular jointly released by the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Commerce and the State Administration for Market Regulation.

In addition, foreign teachers must have corresponding teachers' qualifications and work permits for foreigners in China, according to the circular.

Chinese teachers at foreign-funded language training institutions should have moral integrity as well as teachers' qualifications, it read.

The circular also stipulated that headmasters and principal administrators with foreign-funded language training institutions must meet relevant requirements. Online training should operate in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Last month, police in east China's Jiangsu Province cracked down on a drug case and arrested 19 people, including 16 foreigners.

According to the police in Xuzhou City, the detainees included seven foreign teachers employed by an education agency. Nine others were foreign students.

Multiple Chinese outlets later reported that the teachers were employed by the Education First (EF) center, a Switzerland-based international education company that set up its subsidiary EF English First in China in 1994.

The company, which currently operates over 300 English schools across China, published a statement of apology on its official Weibo account on July 10, saying that it was deeply regretful that some teachers of its Xuzhou branch were involved in the drug-related incident during non-work time.

The company said it will immediately terminate employment contracts with employees once they were confirmed to have possessed or used narcotics in China.

(With input from Xinhua)