On February 18, the MOE held a conference to review the achievements made in the reform of basic education in the 13th Five-Year Plan (FYP) period and call for sound efforts to achieve major targets in the 14th FYP (2021-2025) on basic education. Minister of Education Huai Jinpeng attended the meeting and delivered a speech, and Vice Minister of Education Zheng Fuzhi served as the moderator.
Huai noted that since the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012, the central government had prioritized basic education due to its essential role in talent cultivation and economic growth, and rolled out a series of strategic plans to enable leapfrog progress in its development. Through years of consistent efforts, basic education was broadly improved in terms of its coverage, quality, and supportive facilities and management, making significant contribution to poverty relief and the development of a well-off society.
As for how to further boost basic education in the current FYP period, Huai stressed four major targets and proposed relevant measures. First, quality and balanced compulsory education should be realized by improving school facilities in rural areas, and narrowing urban-rural gaps in the access to quality educational resources, through e.g. grouping of schools under the leadership of a well-established school and the help of digitalization of basic education. Second, preschool education should be made universal by developing a strong teaching workforce and guaranteeing adequate teacher compensation. Third, county-level senior high schools should be enhanced in general through the strict implementation of a robust enrollment policy designed to prevent the outflow of excellent students, and increasing support in both school facilities and teaching quality. Fourth, innovation should be made in special education, in terms of the integration of healthcare and education, and coordination among regular, special and vocational education.
Huai stressed that achieving these targets required careful planning, strong leadership and accountability, and cross-sectoral collaboration. He also underscored the importance of innovation in removing institutional hurdles as well as supervision, evaluation and replication of good practices.
The meeting was held online, with the main venue set in the Ministry of Education and other venues in local educational departments and relevant universities. The event was also attended by representatives from a wide range of ministerial departments and local government departments, and universities and high schools.
