Chinese officials fired the very unpopular education minister, Zhou Ji, on Saturday. It comes amid corruption allegations connected to shady building contracts at Wuhan University.

The quality of education in China—especially higher education—has declined notably during Zhou’s six-year tenure, and public opinion is stacked heavily against him.

An ongoing investigation into corruption at Wuhan University that has brought down two CCP officials on bribery charges has also helped to sully his image. While Zhou has not been officially linked to the investigation, he spent much of his career working in the education system in Wuhan and served a two-year term as mayor there.

It is not uncommon for the CCP leadership to remove a senior official who is garnering negative public opinion. Once the storm passes these officials may be assigned to new high posts.