China will incorporate more ethical education contents for students in its national curriculum, and seek to develop more innovative minds, according to a new education reform document.[Special Coverage]
The document, jointly released by the General Office of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council, said an ethical education system guided by socialist core values must be put in place in all primary and middle schools, as well as higher education institutions.
Students must be "guided to firmly support the CPC leadership," said the document, which also highlighted social responsibility, rule of law, and Chinese traditional and socialist culture.
Patriotic education and ethnic unity must be found "in textbooks, in classrooms and in students' heads," it said.
The document promised to allocate more education resources to ethnic minority groups.
Higher education institutions, meanwhile, must strive to cultivate innovative, inter-disciplinary and application-oriented talent, the document read. Support for research into basic sciences will also be increased.
It said the country would spend no less than four percent of its annual GDP in education-related fiscal expenditure, and promised to raise pay for teachers.
