State Council Issues Decision of Basic Education ReformThe State Council issued a decision Thursday via Xinhua News Agency about reform of basic education.According to the decision, China's basic education sector has achieved great development since the country carried out the reform and opening up policies in late 1970s. The nine-year compulsory education system has been implemented in most parts across the country, while at the same time, the goal to eliminate illiteracy among young and middle-aged people has been realized. But the general standard of the country's basic education development is still low, the decision says, in the new century, the sector will meet with new challenges and is in urgent need of further reform and development. The decision includes six parts with the themes of promoting reform and development of basic education and fully carrying out China's education law, compulsory education law, teachers' law, and the country's Tenth Five-Year Plan. The decision emphasized that basic education is of strategic priority in socialist modernization construction. Meanwhile, the educational departments should establish a comprehensive management system and put in sufficient funds to improve compulsory education in the rural areas. In addition, the decision also highlights reform of teaching methods, personnel systems, teachers' training programs and development of non-governmental schools. |
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