China to further deepen comprehensive education reform: minister

China will continue deepening comprehensive reform to achieve a high-quality educational system, according to Minister of Education Huai Jinpeng.

China has established the world's largest education system with high quality. Compulsory education has been achieved in 2,895 counties across the country, and the accessibility to education at all levels has reached or exceeded the average levels in middle- and high-income countries.

The minister pointed out that from meeting the demand of "quantity" to improving "quality" is one of the key directions for deepening the comprehensive education reform going forward.

"Now that the issue of schooling has been basically resolved, what the public expect the most quality education. Amid a changing demographic and social structure, issues such as overcrowded urban schools and inadequate rural schools have become outstanding. To address the problems, we are exploring to gradually expand the scope of free education, promoting universal access to preschool education, do well in boarding school and small-size rural school. basic education. and enhancing the quality of basic education. Additionally, we will expedite the development of a modern vocational education system to nurture talent across different aptitudes and interests. Concurrently, we aim to leverage advancements in modern science and digital technology to enrich lifelong learning resources," Huai said.

Huai stressed that education, science and technology, and talent function as a basic and strategic underpinning for Chinese modernization. He noted that this is also the requirement of the reforms outlined in the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, which was held in Beijing from July 15 to 18.

"The interaction of talents from the education and sci-tech sectors are well-documented in higher education, which not only aligns with our national strategy but also meets the expectations and demands of people. Therefore, our goal is to ensure that higher education plays a pivotal role in China's modernization and effectively reflects the mandates of the reforms outlined in the third plenary session," he said.

He pointed out that in the next steps, the focus will be on comprehensively improving the ability to nurture talent domestically, supporting high-level independent development in science and technology, and emphasizing how the commercialization and application of scientific and technological advancements can align with national economic and social development priorities. These will be the three most important aspects of China's higher education reform.

"Focusing on the laws of scientific and technological development and the urgent needs of national economic and social progress, we will dynamically adjust our discipline settings and talent training mechanisms, strengthen the integration of scientific and technological education with humanities education, enhance the training of young scientific and technological talents, and advocate long-term policy support and resource allocation," the minister said.

China to further deepen comprehensive education reform: minister

Chinese President Xi Jinping's keynote speech at the 2024 Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) summit resonated with the common aspiration of more than 2.8 billion Chinese and African people and demonstrated China's firm will of moving forward hand-in-hand with Africa along the path of development, revitalization and modernization, several participants at the event have said.

In his speech on Thursday, Xi proposed that bilateral relations between China and all African countries having diplomatic ties with China be elevated to the level of strategic relations, and that the overall characterization of China-Africa relations be elevated to an all-weather China-Africa community with a shared future for the new era.

He also announced that the Chinese government will provide 360 billion yuan (about 50.8 billion U.S. dollars) of financial support to Africa over the next three years.

"Everyone was happy to hear those news, so everyone was clapping. So now we are going to a higher level of relations between China and Africa," said Hamidou, a counselor at the Embassy of Comoros in Beijing.

"China understands Africa's urgent desire to advance modernization. We can learn a lot from China's development," said Foreign Minister of Burkina Faso Karamoko Jean Marie Traore.

Xi also suggested 10 partnership actions for modernization that China will take together with Africa in the next three years to deepen China-Africa cooperation and spearhead modernization in the Global South.

"President Xi, through his long vision of the needs of countries and his interest in supporting development, has offered this as a real vehicle to promote exports of Africa to China, which is a huge market," said Alaa Ezz, secretary general of the Union of African Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Agriculture, and Professions (UACCIAP).

"As he told this morning, we have many projects in digitalization, in capacity building, in health centers, support for health, for infrastructure, in the framework of the Belt and [Road]. And we think that we are very satisfied with this partnership. This is a win-win partnership," said Gabriel Mbairobe, Cameroon's Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Held in Beijing from Wednesday to Friday, the 2024 FOCAC summit brought together leaders from China and over 50 African countries, who highlighted the common pursuit of China and African countries in realizing modernization.

During the summit, both sides unanimously adopted two important documents -- a declaration on jointly building an all-weather China-Africa community with a shared future for the new era, and an action plan of the FOCAC for the next three years.

Xi's speech at FOCAC summit resonates with people's common aspiration: participants