The Ministry of Education Explains in Detail the Key Tasks for Building a Leading Education System during the "15th Five-Year Plan"

On July 23 in Beijing, Minister of Education Huai Jinpeng attended a series of briefing sessions on the current situation and policies, where he explained how to accelerate the building of China into a leading country in education during the 15th FiveYear Plan period. He said that since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, China's education sector has made significant progress, and the level of educational modernization has entered the ranks of uppermiddleincome countries in the world. At present, there are about 440,000 schools of all types and levels across the country, with 280 million students enrolled and 18.7 million teachers. The popularity of preschool education, compulsory education, and senior secondary education has continued to rise, and the gross enrollment rate in higher education has also kept increasing. Huai Jinpeng introduced that during the 14th FiveYear Plan period, public education services, higher education, and vocational education all made new progress, including the policy of exempting preschool education fees for one year, the full realization of basic balanced development in compulsory education, and the expansion of enrollment in universities and vocational undergraduate programs. The education system has also continued to make efforts in cultivating top innovative talent, developing basic and interdisciplinary subjects, and transforming scientific and technological achievements. Looking ahead, the Ministry of Education will focus on advancing work in six areas, including implementing the fundamental task of fostering virtue through education, improving fairness and quality in basic education, strengthening the role of higher education in supporting science, technology, and talent, building a highlevel teaching workforce, expanding openingup in education, and deepening comprehensive reform in education, so as to further enhance education's ability to serve national development and people's livelihood needs.