On January 10-11, the National Educational Work Conference 2020 was convened in Beijing. Participants included officials from the MOE and representatives from local education authorities and universities directly affiliated to the MOE. Chen Baosheng, Minister of Education and Secretary of the MOE’s Party Leading Group, delivered a work report at the conference.

The conference underscored key areas of progress in 2019. Guided by Xi Jinping’s Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for the New Era and his important statements on education, the MOE maintained unwavering effort in implementing a battery of measures within its scope of action: it pursued work in reinforcing the comprehensive leadership role of Party in education, and overcame numerous challenges breaking through new frontiers of development in the course of realizing its different programs, yielding results that benefited the public at large.

The MOE developed its educational work to foster renewed commitment to the founding mission of the Party and awaken fresh patriotism across the education sector through the 70th anniversary celebrations, thereby raising awareness about the remarkable progress achieved since the founding of the PRC; it also realized its ambition to alleviate poverty through education, enacted people-centered development, persevered in prioritizing practical action, raised standards and quality in education and kept a stable, harmonious approach to managing risks and challenges.

The conference also emphasized the historical nature of 2020 as a landmark year during which China is expected to attain its centenary goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects. It was further underscored that at this juncture, the entire education system had to understand the challenges and stakes at play, and needed to focus on the following key directions in order to play its part in achieving these goals:

(1) Maintain momentum in reinforcing the comprehensive leadership role of the CPC across the board in education;

(2) Narrow the focus on moral education to ensure it was more targeted and effective;

(3) Persevere in efforts to implement compulsory education and deploy education in China’s most deprived regions to achieve victory in the fight against poverty;

(4) Establish a system that offers lifelong education for all;

(5) Make breakthroughs at new frontiers in the educational reform and persist in making China’s education sector more open to the world at large;

(6) Reinforce teacher workforce capacity building and raise the socioeconomic status of teachers; and

(7) Press on with the development of education as a strategic priority by ensuring strict, rule-based management and supply of funds.

The conference requested that, the MOE needed to improve its capabilities of planning, implementation, law-based governance and mobilization, with a view to fulfilling the central government’s requirements while meeting the 2020 deadline for long-term goals.