China stresses quality over quantity in future education reform

China will focus on improving the quality of instead of the quantity of school courses as an effort to promote universal education for high school students, said the Ministry of Education Wednesday.

Moral education for students must be put in first place and China should popularize and improve high school education at the same time, Liu Limin, deputy head of the ministry, made the remarks on a seminar held on Wednesday in Beijing.

The Communist Party of China (CPC) aimed to promote high school education in the proposal for the country's 13th Five-year Plan (2016-2020) during a key Party meeting held in late October.

Liu called for sound mechanisms for funding education and attracting teachers as well as balanced development of senior high schools and secondary vocational schools, both of which have been crucial parts in China's high school education.

Official statistics indicate high school education in China is basically universal, with the gross enrollment ratio in 2014 reaching 86.5 percent, an increase of 7.3 percent from 2009 and 43.7 percent from 2000.

The ministry will further support the development of high school resources in poverty-stricken areas in central and western China and build a database recording the basic information of students from poor families. Endite