The 2025 World Digital Education Conference (WDEC) opened in Wuhan on May 14. Minister of Education Huai Jinpeng delivered a keynote speech titled “Jointly Advancing into the Intelligent Era and Promoting Educational Development and Transformation” at the opening ceremony.
Huai noted that the Chinese government places a high priority on the digitalization of education. In recent years, a growing number of countries have actively embraced the digital transformation of education, engaging in sustained efforts to implement digital education and exploring the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into education. China has pursued coordinated efforts with other countries around the world to further digital transformation, intelligent upgrading, and integrated innovation in education. By leveraging AI-empowered teaching and learning reforms, China has advanced international cooperation and achieved innovative outcomes in educational digitalization.
Huai stressed that a new wave of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation is gaining momentum, with AI technologies evolving rapidly and poised for explosive growth. These developments are profoundly reshaping the way people live and work, modes of knowledge dissemination, and paradigms of scientific research and innovation, thereby changing people’s mindsets. Education has now entered an intelligent era - one where resources are co-created and shared to eliminate the digital divide; where competencies are restructured to promote all-round development; and where openness and collaboration drive mutual learning across cultures. He called for joint efforts to build a value system for AI, share the benefits of AI development, and safeguard AI ethics and safety. Together, the global community will create an open, inclusive, and mutually beneficial ecosystem for smart education.
Huai highlighted the question “What role should education play in the intelligent era?” as a defining issue of our time—one that requires collective reflection and action. He also mentioned China’s newly released National Master Plan for Building a Leading Country in Education, which outlines key measures to promote AI-enabled educational reforms. He said that China will use digital education as a bridge to engage with other countries in identifying and responding to changes quickly and wisely. Specifically, China will work to set new benchmarks for educational development and explore new pathways for digital education through the following practices:
1) Adhering to the people-first principle. Greater emphasis will be put on intellectual nourishment and all-round development for students by enhancing synergies across science, Technology, and the humanities.
2) Focusing on practical application. More efforts will be made to strengthen the integration of intelligent technologies with education, cultivate future-oriented teachers, and design future-oriented classrooms and schools.
3) Optimizing the educational environment. Institutional foundations for the development of “AI+ education”will be reinforced, including improving various mechanisms and systems.
4) Upholding AI ethics. Ethical norms will be established to effectively address potential risks, guiding students in the responsible use of AI and creating AI-friendly educational settings.
5) Promoting openness and collaboration. Global exchanges in smart education will be deepened to facilitate sharing high-quality digital education resources and jointly advancing the governance of digital education.
