07/30/2010 | Press release

Ministry pledges to raise rate of literacy

Beijing - Universal preschool education and a pledge to eliminate illiteracy are among the reforms of China's education system published in the country's national education plan for the next decade.

The pledges are among a host of promises listed in the Outline of China's National Plan for Medium and Long-Term Education Reform and Development (2010-20), which was published in full on Thursday.

"The strategic goals to be attained by 2020 are to basically modernize education, shape a learning society and turn China into a country rich in human resources," says the document, which contains 22 chapters and 27,000 words.

It says that preschool education should be almost universal by 2020 and the nine-year compulsory education policy should be consolidated.

The enrollment rate for senior middle school should be 90 percent of school age children, while the enrollment rate for higher education should be 40 percent of high school graduates.

It also sets the goal of eliminating illiteracy among the young and middle-aged by the end of the decade.

The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the State Council have issued a notice requiring local Party committees and governments to carefully implement the national education outline.

The outline vows to spare no effort in attempting to "run every school well and bring quality education to every student. No child shall be allowed to drop out due to family financial difficulties".

Minister of Education Yuan Guiren said the outline addressed major issues that confront China's education system, bottlenecks in the development of education and public concerns.

Work on drafting the outline began in August 2008 and it was posted on the Internet twice to solicit public feedback. Millions of suggestions were received and the draft was accordingly revised 40 times.

The outline says issues regarding the provision of equal opportunities for compulsory education for the children of migrant workers in cities will be addressed.

It also says that by 2020 the quality of compulsory education will be balanced in all regions, ensuring school-aged children and adolescents have equal access to quality compulsory education.

In a bid to ease the pressure on primary and secondary school students to complete assignments, the outline requires the establishment of an assignment burden monitoring and reporting mechanism.