At the opening ceremony of the first session of China’s 13th National People’s Congress on the morning of March 5, 2018, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang delivered a government work report that reviewed the achievements of the past five years and proposed future plans. Highlights of the work report concerning education are given below:

1. Review of the past five years

■ Priority has been given to education. Fiscal spending on education continued to account for over 4% of GDP.

■ Rural schools were better equipped to provide compulsory education. Salaries for rural teachers have been raised. More than 36 million rural students benefited from the national student nutrition programme.

■ Efforts were invested to develop more world-class universities and first-class academic disciplines.

■ The number of rural and economically disadvantaged students enrolled in China’s top universities increased from 10,000 to 100,000.

■ More financial aid programs for economically disadvantaged students were launched, and 430 million applications were handled.

■ Average schooling for the whole labor force reached 10.5 years.

2. Proposals for the 2018 government work plan

■ Rural and urban education will be further integrated. Priority will continue to be given to economically disadvantaged areas and weakest areas in the education system.

■ Efforts will be made to lower dropout rates among rural students, reduce class sizes in urban schools and alleviate the out-of-school academic burden on primary and middle school students.

■ Children embody the hopes of families and the future of the country.

■ Various new resources will be sought and provided to facilitate the development of preschool education. Modern tools such as Internet should be used to strengthen supervision over preschools, to reassure parents of their children's safety in these establishments.

■ The private sector will be encouraged to set up and operate vocational education institutions.

■ Wider access to senior high school education will be promoted.

■ The higher education system will be adjusted and improved to meet the demands of socioeconomic development. Efforts will be made to accelerate the development of world-class universities and first-class academic disciplines. Support will be provided to governments in the central and western regions of China, to develop high quality universities tailored to local needs.

■ Measures will continue to be taken to increase the number of rural and economically disadvantaged students enrolled in China’s top universities.

■ Work will be done to develop education for ethnic minorities, special education, lifelong education and online education.

■ Efforts will be made to improve teacher performance and adherence to professional ethics.

■ Education will be further promoted to satisfy the needs of our people, to provide every person equal opportunities to improve their life and realize their dreams through education.

■ This year, there will be over 8.20 million higher education graduates, the highest number on record. Appropriate measures will be adopted to help graduates step onto the job market, including incentives for them to start their own businesses.