Education reform pushed forward

Students work on their assignments earlier this month during class at Changjiang Primary School in Badong, a county in Hubei province, where no homework is assigned to the students.[Liang Bin / for China Daily]

Changes 'will be in vain' if new policies are not implemented: official

While learning that the English test will be moved from the gaokao, the national college entrance exam, Chen Xuemei no loner pushed her son, who is a grade one student in senior middle school in Beijing, to attend English classes after school. Instead, she hopes Harry Potter can cast his magic and help her son with English.

Described as "a year of comprehensive reform for education" by Xu Mei, the Ministry of Education spokeswoman, 2013 saw a series of education reforms unveiled.

"I asked my son to learn English to take the exam, but he didn't get too much from those extra training classes but got enough to take the test," Chen said.

"Now I pay more attention to his language skills and hope that it will spark an interest. I don't have to push him to read Harry Potter after dinner. He likes it."

Chen's son won't be affected because he will take the gaokao in 2015, and the reform takes effect in 2016 in Beijing. However, she is one of many parents who since the reform was announced is beginning to think that listening and speaking skills are more important than the test itself.

The reform echoed the Communist Party of China Central Committee's Decision on Major Issues Concerning Comprehensively Deepening Reforms, released after its Third Plenary Session in November.

The decision made it clear that China will balance the allocation of resources in urban and rural areas.

According to the document, educational authorities were told to no longer classify schools as key or non-key institutions, which led to imbalanced resources. Key classes will no longer be allowed.

Concerning the college examination system, used to evaluate students over the past 30-plus years, China will consider a multi-evaluation system so schools do not just enroll students based on test performance.

"The education reform has stepped into a key period," said spokeswoman Xu.

"The problems facing education also concern many social aspects. The reform plan will be in vain if there is no real implementation. We hope all local education authorities and schools will take solid measurements to implement the reform plan.

"The ministry will pay more attention to supervision and push all local authorities to carry out the new policies to benefit the public"

As introduced by Liu Limin, vice-minister of education, the final reform plan will be released after collecting public opinion. The reform will be piloted in some provinces from 2014 and expanded in 2017. By 2020, a new testing and recruiting system will be formed and promoted nationwide, according to the plan.