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"What do we cultivate, how do we cultivate and who do we cultivate for" are the fundamental questions in education. Fostering noble minds is crucial to building a socialist education powerhouse with Chinese characteristics. What is your latest thinking over this and what news measures are taken? Thank you.

Huai Jinpeng:

Thank you for the excellent questions. Recently, we have been implementing the important instructions of General Secretary Xi Jinping and the decisions and arrangements made by the CPC Central Committee, and formulating an outline for building China's strength in education. As we pursue the grand goal of advancing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation through Chinese-style modernization, we study and contemplate the role and direction of education, and we don't consider education issues just as education issues. We look at education related issues from the perspective of people's general wellbeing and the country's socioeconomic development. We also explore the important connotations of building China's strength in education by examining the inherent principles of education, talent development, and scientific and technological advancement. We contemplate how to build China's strength in education while keeping in mind the grand goal of great rejuvenation, people's general wellbeing, and the principles guiding the development of education and related areas, and we always know that the fundamental issue is to foster talents with lofty thoughts. This fundamental task is the most crucial issue in building China's strength in education.

Educational philosophy has always taken an extremely important position in traditional Chinese culture. As is known to all, Confucius put forward the concept of "education for all without discrimination" and "learning to be human." Fostering virtue and cultivating people is a crucial part of our traditional educational philosophy. The role of education in shaping social values is much more emphasized than its role in imparting knowledge and developing vocational skills. "The teacher is the one who can propagate the doctrine, impart professional knowledge, and resolve doubts." As an old saying goes about traditional culture, "it is easier to find a teacher who can impart knowledge but it is difficult to get a teacher who can teach you how to be human." The latter part of the saying illustrates the important role of teachers in cultivating students' morality and good conduct. There are also other sayings, such as, ", we can understand how we should conduct ourselves through our contact with things," "the pursuit of moral principles in daily life should be true and sincere," and, "we should rectify our mind so as to follow moral principles in daily life." All these have demonstrated the importance of educational philosophy in traditional Chinese culture. Education worldwide attaches importance to the cultivation of morality and decent values, which is also a universal principle of education. Fostering virtue and decent values has been taken as a crucial part of education throughout history and across the world. That is a significant element of Chinese culture and Chinese spirit.

We all have expectations for education; what kind of society and world we hope to live in determines the education we will choose. The core objective of China's education in the new era is to carry out the most basic task of fostering virtue through education, which is also the core issue of building a leading country in education. Our education aims to cultivate young people into those who strive to be new-era exemplary youths with ideals, a sense of responsibility, grit, and dedication. That is the call of the times and a requirement for realizing the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. At the same time, we have also seen that society and the economy are constantly evolving and we are confronted with some problems such as imbalances and inadequacies in development. This requires education to fully carry out the most fundamental task of fostering virtue through education. Not only should we teach students how to learn and enable them to acquire knowledge but we should also help them to develop abilities and prepare them for their future life in society so that they can integrate their personal abilities with the development of society.

Huai Jinpeng:

Meanwhile, we should also teach students how to coordinate with others to resolve conflicts and problems, how to interact with other students and society, and how to coexist with their natural environment. Therefore, we see that people have many expectations for the future and are reflecting on reality and future development when faced with the changes in our times, rapid growth in knowledge, and especially the accelerating evolution of the technological revolution and industrial transformation. As a result, the task of fostering virtue and education is to enable students to understand society, themselves, and communication among people. At the same time, it is also very important to achieve inclusiveness, understanding, and development through exchanges and cooperation among different cultures in contemporary society. Thus, there are more tasks for education nowadays than ever before. However, fostering virtue and decent values is the core tasks among them, which is also what General Secretary Xi Jinping has repeatedly stressed. That is, we should take nurturing a new generation of capable young people who will fully develop socialism and carry forward the socialist cause as the core issue of education. From this perspective, education is of critical importance to the future of our country and our Party.

The MOE has all along taken every effort to carry out the basic task of fostering virtue through education and has for the first time this year set up major projects and special actions in research and practice. Just now, Mr. Wu talked about the "9+9" projects of the MOE, among which are the "project for developing grand ideological and political courses" and the "project for forging the inner strength of the new generation of young people." They are two systematic practices with distinctions and interconnections. In the development of the "grand ideological and political courses," we will focus on the design and teaching of the course "Introduction to Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era." We will deepen the comprehensive reform of different types at different levels and integrate the political education curriculum across all levels, from elementary schools to universities. We will continue to upgrade the teaching and research system for ideological and political courses and carry out actions to enhance the abilities of teachers. With all these efforts, we will make an effective improvement in work systems, competences, and the quality of the "grand ideological and political courses." 

The "project for forging the inner strength of the new generation of young people" is to launch 10 special campaigns focusing on raising students' level of understanding of thoughts and theories and improve their mental health and personality. Due to time limits, I will not introduce them one by one. We hope to establish a batch of major leading platforms and demonstration bases and launch a group of quality projects. We will guide officials and teachers to closely connect and fully interact with students and jointly analyze the laws of growth of students and the development of education as well as better integrate them in practice. We will address the major topic of integration and integrate fostering virtue through education into practice. Education should not only have theories and methods. More importantly, it should give priority to action. Through the effective integration of knowledge and action, we will teach students based on practices so as to achieve the cultivation of virtue and decent personality in students. That is our greatest aim.

We will give priority to promoting these two projects in the education system. However, education is a complete process and it is a system. We will pursue an education system that will foster sound moral grounding, intellectual ability, physical vigor, aesthetic sensibility, and the work skills of students. We'll also launch the program to strengthen students' physical health, improve their aesthetic abilities, and cultivate their habits for physical work. And we will integrate moral education into physical and aesthetic education and physical work in practice to enable students to learn about society and practice through personal experience. For instance, the MOE has organized social practices for students to engage in and experience the three-year fight against COVID-19. We have advanced medical students who are participating in social practice programs at the community level in areas, such as old revolutionary base areas. After graduation, these students go to mountainous areas to experience the environment and future development and combine their work with social practices. The social practice program has been organized relating to poverty alleviation, enabling students to learn from social practice so that they can feel the changes and the needs of social development and realize the importance of contributing to society and improving their abilities. Therefore, by developing an education system that will foster sound moral grounding, intellectual ability, physical vigor, aesthetic sensibility, and the work skills of students, we hope to carry out the fundamental mission of fostering virtue and better accomplish the critical goal of cultivating people. 

Just now, Mr. Deng mentioned that we should strengthen the ranks of teachers in education and make teachers one of the most respectable occupations. In prioritizing the development of education, China will not only give priorities to education in terms of resource allocation and policies but also foster public respect for teachers and public support for education so as to enable teachers to better serve the mission of cultivating people and address the eternal topic of fostering virtue through education. I believe that with the changes of the times and the development of education, in response to the eternal question of fostering virtue and decent personality which concerns people's growth and development, we will continue to improve our work and abilities and work together to give full play to the role of learning in cultivating people and serving practical purposes. With all these efforts, we will develop education that meets people's expectations and make the whole of society respect teachers and support education so as to shoulder the great mission of Chinese modernization and the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Thank you for your questions.

Chen Wenjun:

Thank you, Mr. Huai. Thanks to all the speakers and friends from the media. Today's briefing is now concluded. Goodbye!

Huai Jinpeng:

Thanks to friends from the media. We are inspired by your attention, understanding, and support for education, and we are driven forward by your expectations for the future development of education. Thank you all.

Translated and edited by Wang Yiming, Wang Qian, Zhang Jiaqi, Zhang Rui, Lin Liyao, Li Xiao, Zhu Bochen, Yuan Fang, Liu Caiyi, Huang Shan, Zhang Tingting, Yang Xi, Yan Bin, Qin Qi, Liu Sitong, Ma Yujia, Xu Xiaoxuan, Wang Yanfang, Xu Kailin, Li Huiru, Tom Arnsten, and Jay Birbeck. In case of any discrepancy between the English and Chinese texts, the Chinese version is deemed to prevail.