China issues guidelines on senior high school education reform

BEIJING -- The General Office of the State Council has unveiled guidelines on advancing reform in senior high school education amid efforts to put an end to exam-oriented education and nurture capable young people with all-round grounding.

Revolving around the central task of fostering virtue through education, the guidelines called for further reform in key areas to well prepare students for future social life, higher education and career development.

Reform goals by 2022 include the establishment of improved systems for nurturing students with an all-round moral, intellectual, physical and aesthetical grounding in addition to hard-working spirit.

The government also aims to improve supporting mechanisms for fostering students' virtue through education, as well as the introduction of a new syllabus and corresponding textbooks nationwide by 2022, according to the document.

The guidelines required reform in teaching methods to bring out the special potential of individual students, basic management mechanism for optional and tailored courses, sound evaluation and enrollment systems, potent support of teaching personnel and facilities, and a diversified landscape of senior high school education.

Correspondingly, priority tasks in six areas were specified in the guidelines.

The document instructed provincial-level governments to coordinate the reform and held municipal and county-level governments accountable for its implementation.