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China has set out a concrete roadmap to build up its strength in education to support its modernization drive, with authorities issuing a sweeping plan guiding the country's educational reform for the coming decade.
The plan, jointly issued by the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council and made public on Jan 19, puts forward a two-phased objective, calling for the establishment of a high-quality educational system by 2027.
Covering basic, higher and vocational education, the plan reiterates China's goal to turn itself into a leading country in education by 2035.
Besides of giving the requirements on establishing the basic education system and enhancing the healthy and comprehensive development of students, the plan also called for establishing a system to monitor the changes in the school-age population for all grade levels and readjusting the number, scale and locations of schools and kindergartens accordingly.
Researchers have noticed how changes in the country's birthrate may challenge education. The annual population of newborns in China has dropped rapidly after the most recent peak at 18.83 million in 2016.
This led to the peaking of the number of children enrolled in elementary schools in 2023 and a drop afterward in some regions, said Liu Shanhuai, a distinguished professor at South China Normal University.
The drastic increase and decrease in student numbers risks straining and then idling educational resources at different grade levels in the coming years, Liu said.
On the other hand, schools in some big cities are under pressure from a continuous inflow of people, while those in some rural areas are receiving fewer and fewer students, according to Liu.
As a result, the measures laid out in the plan such as allocating educational resources promptly across different grade levels, promoting smaller class sizes and expanding educational resources for cities witnessing an increase in residents, are highly pertinent in addressing the demographic changes, Liu said.
This news article originally appeared with the headline Path laid out for education reform
Source: China Daily
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