On March 29, Sun Chunlan, Chinese Vice-premier and Member of Political Bureau of CPC Central Committee, when visiting the MOE, stressed the need to further the study of XI Jinping’s Thought on the Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and implement on all fronts the guidance from the 19th CPC National Congress, the 2nd and 3rd Plenary Sessions of the 19th CPC Central Committee, and the 2018 Annual Plenary Sessions of NPC and CPPCC. She emphasized that educational development should be a government agenda priority whilst efforts had to be maintained to deepen educational reform, accelerate the modernization of education, and build an education system capable of meeting people’s expectations and laying solid foundations for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
Sun pointed out the great importance the CPC Central Committee and the State Council attached to work on education. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, China has witnessed historic achievements in education that have served to boost socioeconomic advancement: the overall performance of the education system has surpassed global averages; equity in education has improved significantly; and the education sector has benefited from ongoing capacity building which will equip it to fulfill the national strategic vision.
She also highlighted the role of education in securing not only the people’s livelihoods but also the state’s economic growth. Therefore, educational reform had to be planned and implemented following a new set of objectives according to a top-level masterplan. Specifically, core socialist values had to be mainstreamed into moral education whilst the all-round development of students had to be reinforced. A broad raft of measures are to be adopted to support greater accessibility to preschool education resources and solve key matters of public concern, such as reducing dropout rates in rural areas, eliminating oversized classes, and alleviating extra-curricular burden of primary and secondary school students. By improving the quality of vocational education and higher education, sustainable provision of high quality human resources will be ensured to support sound economic development. In addition, a series of measures will be taken to further propel educational development, namely, fostering a high-performing body of teaching professionals, optimizing resource efficiency in education spending, promoting enrollment examination mechanism reforms, and more.
Sun added that the MOE had a duty to roll out the Party’s strategic guidelines for institutional reform, through optimizing functional deployment and fine-tuning institutional mechanisms, whilst enhancing the Party’s leadership in education. Following the principle of a people-centered approach, the MOE will make practical moves to overcome outstanding issues in education and explore new channels for national empowerment through education.
