SCIO briefing on National Constitution Publicity Week

China News Service:

We are concerned about the legal education among young Chinese as you just mentioned. Young people, who are supposed to steer the future course of the nation, will play a decisive role in advancing the rule of law based on their knowledge and comprehension on the Constitution. Therefore, I have a question for the Ministry of Education about what actions you are taking to promote awareness of the Constitution among young people in schools and on the campuses. Thank you.

Deng Chuanhuai:

Thank you for your question. Now, I would like to give a brief introduction. As you say, young people, who will decide the future destiny of the nation, have been targeted as an important group to gain full understanding of the Constitution and knowledge of the rule of law. From primary schools to institutes of higher education, Chinese students form a huge population of 270 million. Therefore, it is responsible and highly significant to arm them with knowledge of the essence of the Constitution as well as the principles of the rule of law. General Secretary Xi has often stated that education in regard to the Constitution should start from young children, who should grow up under its influence and ingrained principles. Over the past few years, led by the national legal knowledge popularization office and the Ministry of the Justice, the Ministry of Education has intensified its efforts to promote educational campaigns focusing on the Constitution among young people, bringing relevant knowledge into the classroom, so students in every school in the country can have opportunities to learn it by heart. We are seeking to achieve this through four general principles:

First, we emphasize the classroom as the major platform for teaching students knowledge of the Constitution. We have established a top-level design with the Ministry of Justice to jointly issue the Synopsis of Legal Education among Adolescents. Constitution-centered legal education is expected to be taught in classes on a regular basis. Besides, we have replaced the traditional ethical textbooks used for compulsory education with a new book entitled " Ethics and Laws". There are legal textbooks compiled especially for the first semester of grade six and second semester of the grade eight, accentuating the contents of the Constitution. Moreover, we have added knowledge of the Constitution to the politics curriculum among institutes of higher education, opening a class entitled "Ethical Education and Legal Basis", in particular, to be a common course for college students to learn about the Constitution in designated chapters.

Second, we have created pedagogic approaches to upgrade the effect of education on the Constitution. Every year, we organize a series of campaigns to encourage students across the country to learn and be able to speak on the Constitution through contests in forms of speeches or knowledge as well as video programs to enhance legal education on campuses. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education has contributed a program involving 3.7 billion collective visits of young individuals to the youth legal knowledge popularization website. Among the 100 million registered users, about 40.5 million have been honored with the title of "Little Defender of the Constitution" after gaining certain scores through the online tests. This award is designed to give those children a sense of pride. Meanwhile, we have opened classes on the webpage with 500 kinds of relevant knowledge through 121 episodes of video lessons designed for students across the country.

Third, we should boost awareness of respecting the Constitution through specific rites. Under the arrangement of the National Office for Law Popularization, we have carried out a morning reading activity on Constitution Day every year since 2014. This activity has now become a famous means of publicizing the Constitution within national education system, and won recognition from the law popularization office. This year of 2019 marks the sixth year the morning reading activity of the Constitution has been thus carried out. Tomorrow morning, a vice minister of education will lead the reading through the medium of the internet, and over 20 million students from elementary and high schools all over the country will read aloud some articles of the Constitution simultaneously. Apart from the morning reading activity, we have also instructed local schools to create a culture of honoring the Constitution by means of the national flag-raising ceremony, legal publicity-themed class-wide meeting and club activities.

Fourth, we should provide a guarantee and lay the foundations for the publicity of the Constitution. We have organized and launched a program of training outstanding teachers for legal education in elementary and high schools, cultivated "seed teachers," entered the special training programs of leading teachers for legal education into the list of demonstrated projects under the National Cultivation Plan. We have also built several platforms, including the Research Center of Education of the Constitution for Juveniles, brought into full play the advantages of human resources and recognized professional disciplines of the education system, and improved theoretical research, providing forceful support for education of the Constitution among the young.

Next, we will follow the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, and advance the legal education and education of the Constitution among our young people through "five combinations." The tasks of this form of legal education should be combined with the efforts in studying and implementing General Secretary Xi Jinping's major expositions on education. The tasks should be combined with the efforts in implementing the outline on conducting patriotic education in the new era, and promoting and practicing core socialist values. Also, we should combine the education of the Constitution among young people with enhancing education concerning China's history, national conditions and fine cultural traditions, making it more targeted and effective, so as to form a solid foundation for the modernization of the country's system and capacity for governance.