Read in Chinese

Speakers:

Mr. Huai Jinpeng, minister of education

Mr. Wu Yan, vice minister of education

Mr. Deng Chuanhuai, director general of the Department of Policies and Regulations of the Ministry of Education (MOE)

Mr. Liu Zicheng, director general of the Department of Comprehensive Reforms of the MOE

Chairperson:

Mr. Chen Wenjun, director general of the Press Bureau of the State Council Information Office (SCIO) and spokesperson of the SCIO

Date:

July 6, 2023

Chen Wenjun:

Ladies and gentlemen, good morning. Welcome to this press conference held by the State Council Information Office (SCIO). This is the 19th briefing in the series "Embarking on the New Journey — A Government Perspective." Today, we have invited Mr. Huai Jinpeng, minister of education, to brief you on speeding up work to build a strong education system and developing education that meets people's expectations. Also joining us today are Mr. Wu Yan, vice minister of education; Mr. Deng Chuanhuai, director general of the Department of Policies and Regulations of the Ministry of Education (MOE); and Mr. Liu Zicheng, director general of the Department of Comprehensive Reforms of the MOE.

Now, I'll give the floor to Mr. Huai for a brief introduction.

Huai Jinpeng:

Ladies and gentlemen, friends from the media, good morning. It is a great pleasure to meet you here. I would like to express my gratitude for your long-term concern, understanding, support and assistance in the field of education.

First of all, I would like to introduce the progress in the education sector regarding the implementation of the guiding principles of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), which aims to accelerate the development of a strong education system that meets the expectations of our people.

As we all know, a prosperous education system leads to a prosperous nation, and the strength of education contributes to a strong country. Emphasizing the importance of education is a cherished tradition of the Chinese nation. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, the CPC Central Committee, with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, has prioritized education as a major national undertaking and a key focus of the Party. Significant decisions have been made to expedite the modernization of education and build China's strength in education, resulting in historic achievements and transformative changes in the field. Currently, China has established the most extensive education system in the world, and its level of education modernization has reached the upper-middle tier worldwide, laying a solid foundation for the construction of a country that is strong in education.

The 20th CPC National Congress has provided clear guidelines for building a strong education system by 2035. On May 29, General Secretary Xi Jinping delivered an important speech during the fifth study session of the Political Bureau of the 20th CPC Central Committee, outlining the direction and fundamental principles for building a strong education system. The MOE's leading Party members group has acquired a deep understanding of the decisive significance of the establishment of both Comrade Xi Jinping's core position on the Party Central Committee and in the Party as a whole and the guiding role of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, and firmly upheld Comrade Xi Jinping's core position on the Party Central Committee and in the Party as a whole and upheld the Central Committee's authority and its centralized, unified leadership. We have accurately grasped the essential characteristics, connotation requirements, and goals and paths of building a strong education system with Chinese socialist characteristics. We have started compiling the outline for the construction of an education powerhouse. By combining themed education, we will transform the directives of the Party Central Committee and the expectations of the people into vivid practices of high-quality development, effectively answering the major question of the era — "What is the role of education in building a strong country?"

First, it is essential to fulfill the fundamental tasks of education. The core issues of building China's strength i education revolve around who and how to train, and to what end. We must always bear in mind the original mission of educating people for the Party and the country. Through the comprehensive implementation of the Party's educational policies and the fulfillment of education's fundamental mission of nurturing moral character, we will ensure the cultivation of talents who will contribute to the Party's cause and facilitate the progress of a strong modern socialist nation. To this end, we will extensively incorporate Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era into textbooks, classrooms and the minds of students. We will integrate ideological and political education throughout colleges, secondary schools and primary schools, implementing projects such as fostering a new generation capable of shouldering the mission of national rejuvenation, implementing extensive ideological and political courses, and reinforcing the teaching of core socialist values. Additionally, we will enhance online education capabilities, employing the invisible influence of education to guide students in listening to and following the Party's leadership. We will comprehensively deepen quality education, develop plans for students' physical fitness and aesthetic education, implement plans to develop students' working habits, integrate labor education throughout the entire talent development process, encourage reading activities among young students, promote mental health among students, and strengthen science education to cultivate students' exploratory and innovative thinking while carrying out the "double reduction" policy, thereby establishing a solid foundation for their future growth and success.

Second, we will establish a high-quality education system. In the past decade, education at all levels and sectors in China has experienced a historic leap, gradually improving the open and flexible education system that serves over 1.4 billion people. Guided by a people-centered development philosophy, we will focus on high-quality development as the guiding principle of education at all levels and sectors. We will consolidate the foundation of basic education, enhance higher education, create a significant growth pole for vocational education, and accelerate the establishment of a lifelong learning-oriented society. Prioritizing developing competent teaching staff, we will strengthen teachers' moral standards and improve the teacher education system with Chinese characteristics. We will guide teachers to embrace the ambition of devoting themselves to the teaching profession and contributing to the country's strength, while fostering a social culture that respects teachers and values education. We will develop comprehensive plans for both "bringing in" and "going global" in education, with the aim of building China as an important center for education and innovation. China's doors to education will always remain open. On July 28, the 31st FISU World University Games will be held in Chengdu, Sichuan province. We warmly welcome young people from around the world to join us at this event and work together to make dreams come true.

Third, we will focus on core functions. It is the core function of a strong education system to support and lead Chinese modernization. Now, 240 million Chinese people are receiving higher education, and the new labor force receives 14 years of education on average. Higher education has significantly changed China's labor force quality mix. In recent years, universities and colleges have made a number of high-level scientific and technological achievements and indispensable contributions in original innovation and research on core technologies in key fields. We will comprehensively enhance our ability to develop high-quality education services, better support the building of world hubs for talent and innovation, and consolidate the foundation of people's happiness and national prosperity through education. We will launch a strategic program for comprehensive reforms in higher education and make pioneering moves to improve the quality of talent nurturing and produce first-class innovators, serving national strategies and regional economic and social development, while optimizing education layout and structure. We will give top priority to speeding up the development of world-class universities and superior disciplines with Chinese characteristics, vigorously develop basic disciplines, emerging disciplines, and interdisciplinary subjects and implement major programs training first-class talents in basic disciplines, outstanding engineers, and outstanding physicians, as well as form synergies to address inadequacies in training high-level, first-class innovators. We will step up organized scientific research in universities and colleges, concentrate resources on original and leading scientific and technological breakthroughs, and move faster to build an independent knowledge system in philosophy and social sciences. We will facilitate the construction of provincial-level modern vocational education systems and municipal industry-education consortiums, as well as industry-education consortiums for various sectors to cultivate high-quality technological and technical talents.

Fourth, we will stimulate impetus and vitality. We are well aware that it takes systematic leaps and qualitative changes for an education system to go from big to strong. We will use policies, systems, and mechanisms to offer motivation and guidance, and use educational assessments to further education reforms and innovation and abate utilitarianism in education. We will promote education fairness in comprehensive education reforms in an all-around manner and move faster to build a high-quality and balanced basic public education service system. We will promote the exchange and rotation of outstanding backbone teachers and offer more convenient access to education, as well as care for every student. The plan to improve the nutrition of students in compulsory education benefits over 37 million rural students every year, and the average height of male and female students in these areas has increased by 4.2 centimeters and 4.1 centimeters since 2012, respectively. We will further improve the financial aid system so that it covers students at all stages of schooling, and narrow the gap between urban and rural areas and among different regions, schools, and groups. We'll also give every child access to fair and quality education, and better meet their needs for sound education. We will further implement national education digitalization strategic action, upgrade the smart education platform system, build and make good use of the world's largest education and teaching resource repository, and upgrade the national digitalized big data center. We will consider digitalization in education as a crucial breakthrough to explore new avenues of development and foster new competitive advantages, so as to provide strong support for the modernization of education and the construction of a leading country in education. 

That's what I have for now. Next, my colleagues and I would be very glad to take your questions. Thank you.

Chen Wenjun:

The floor is now open to questions. Please identify the media outlet you represent before raising your questions.