Adopting a People-Centred Approach and Continuously Improving the Level of Public Education Services

At the National Conference on Education, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasised the need to adopt a people-centred approach and continuously improve the inclusiveness, accessibility and convenience of public education services so that more people can benefit from the results of education reform and development.

Chinese modernisation prioritises people’s well-being. At the National Conference on Education, General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasised the need to adopt a people-centred approach and continuously improve the inclusiveness, accessibility and convenience of public education services so that more people can benefit from the results of education reform and development. His important speech fully reflects the value pursuit of developing people-centred education that meets the people’s expectations, and points out the direction for us to deepen the promotion of the equity in education

It’s imperative to better allocate education resources across regions, with efforts to promote high-quality, balanced development of compulsory education, and to gradually narrow the gaps between urban and rural areas, different regions, schools, and groups. Education carries the dreams of millions of families in their pursuit of a better life. Historic accomplishments and structural changes have been achieved in educational cause in the new era. China has established the largest high-quality education system in the world. The popularisation of education at all levels have reached or surpassed the average in upper- and middle-income countries. However, people's aspirations have shifted from "having access to education" to “having access to quality education”. In the face of the development of new urbanisation and new industrialisation, trends towards birthrate decline, population aging, and differentiation in regional population growth, making it necessary to further optimise the allocation of education resources across regions and establish a public education service supply mechanism aligned with population changes. We must work harder to expand and improve the quality of basic education, ensuring that every child can enjoy equitable and high-quality education and gain the ability to develop themselves, contribute to society, and benefit the people.

It’s imperative to consolidate the achievements of "double reduction" in reducing the burden on students, with a focus on improving classroom teaching quality and enhancing after-school services. As a major educational reform to implement the central government decision, the implementation of the “double reduction” policy has eased unnecessary burdens on students and fostered positive shifts in educational mindsets… Basic education is returning to a healthier state, transforming the sincere expectations of the public into reality. However, the work of “double reduction” is a long-term, complex, and challenging endeavour, and we must never slacken our efforts. It is essential to focus on improving classroom teaching quality by optimising teaching methods, strengthening teaching management, promoting empowerment through science and technology, enhancing homework design, and establishing sound quality monitoring and evaluation systems. This ensures that teachers teach well all that they should teach, and students learn well all that they should learn. Additionally, the quality of after-school services must be enhanced by building a system that combines basic and extended services, along with the improvement of support mechanisms. This will truly enable after-school services to meet the individualised learning needs of students.

It’s imperative to fully implement the national education digitisation initiative, with efforts to expand the coverage of high-quality education resources and improve public services for lifelong learning. Digitalisation of education is a crucial breakthrough for China to open new arenas in educational development and foster new strengths for it. It provides effective support for personalised learning, lifelong learning, expanding access to high-quality educational resources, and advancing the modernisation of education. Promoting the digitalisation of education is an urgent requirement for delivering education that satisfies the people and a major pathway to promoting educational equity. Technology empowers education, and education shapes the future. We must fully recognise that the digitalisation of education is an inevitable trend, a necessity for development, and a direction for reform. It is also the due ambition, responsibility, and achievement that every educator should strive for. We must strengthen and build a robust national smart education platform, gathering high-quality resources for sharing, and promoting it as an integrated effort to advance the digital resources, intelligent management, personalised growth, and socialised learning. This will make quality resources replicable, transmissible, and shareable, making large-scale personalised education possible. In this way, we will make new headway in advancing the creation of a society and country of learning with the digitalisation of education.

Building a leading country in education has been a long-cherished aspiration of the Chinese nation since the advent of modern times. We must thoroughly study and implement the guiding principles of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important speech at the National Conference on Education, gain a good command of the value orientation of building a leading country in education, work hard to resolve the pressing difficulties and problems that concern them most in education. In this way, we will consolidate the foundation of the people's well-being with the power of education.

Source: China Education Daily, 17 September 2024