Liu Wei: Sticking to people-centered development of education

Sticking to the people-centered development of education is the main content of President Xi Jinping's important remarks on education. It is not only the original aspiration and mission of the Communist Party of China (CPC), but also the fundamental characteristic of socialist education; not only the intrinsic requirement for the Party's governance of the people, but also the essential principle of China’s educational reform and development.

Sticking to the people-centered development of education is the original aspiration and mission of the CPC. Since its founding, the CPC has been closely combining the people-centered development of education with its goals in various historical periods. In a new era of socialism with Chinese characteristics, President Xi Jinping’s important remarks on education have indicated the direction for the people-centered development of education. Education reform and development must firmly serve the people, the CPC’s ruling, the improvement and development of socialist system with Chinese characteristics, as well as the reform and opening-up and the construction of socialist modernization, try to adapt to the requirements for the development of the cause of the Party and the country, and continuously live up to people's expectations, thus elevating the education cause to higher levels, and truly making it become a pioneer and beneficiary of the Party’s serving the people wholeheartedly.

Sticking to the people-centered development of education is the fundamental characteristic of socialist education. Since the reform and opening-up, the CPC proposed a strategy which gives the priority to educational development, in an effort to maximally satisfy people’s demand for receiving education, and safeguard their right of receiving education. Xi’s important remarks on education since the 18th CPC National Congress have symbolized that the CPC’s understanding of the law of education has reached a new height, providing the direction, path and approach for the people-centered development of education.

Sticking to the people-centered development of education is to address people’s needs for a beautiful life. Education is put on the first place of people's livelihood concerning the vital interests of the people, as well as a key content of serving the people. The report at the 16th CPC National Congress included “serving people with education” in the Party's educational principles, while that at the 19th CPC National Congress put forward a goal of “developing education that satisfies people”. The report at the 19th CPC National Congress pointed out new changes of the principal contradiction of Chinese society, and developing education that satisfies people is a specific embodiment of the Party's goal of serving the people wholeheartedly, people's new expectation of a beautiful life, as well as the impetus and mission of educational reform and development in China in a new era.

Sticking to the people-centered development of education must continuously make more educational achievements benefit all the people in a fairer way. The CPC values educational fairness very much, and has made unremitting efforts to promote and achieve educational fairness. Educational fairness we are pursuing today is no longer the simple education popularization, but the realization of higher-level fairness through economic and social development and educational reform. Superior and fair education, and fair and quality education have become a new goal of the people-centered development of education. It is of great significance to allowing each individual to have a chance to enjoy superior education resources, obtain development opportunities, and become a useful talent. To speed up the development of higher education in a fairer and higher-quality way, China must achieve connotative development, accelerate the construction of first-class universities and disciplines, and consciously clarify the positioning and development strategy of schools in the historical process of advancing the great cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics and realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

Sticking to the people-centered development of education must be dedicated to promoting people's all-around development. Marxism has combined fairness and justice with people's liberation and all-around development, and made clear that people’s development signals the realization of social fairness and justice, and their free and comprehensive development is the principle and cornerstone for the building of a future society. Talent cultivation is the essential requirement and fundamental mission of higher education, as well as the first standard to measure the quality of higher education. More efforts should be made to establish a high-level talent cultivation system, firmly establish the central position of talent cultivation in the work of colleges and universities, with all the work required to obey and serve students’ growth and development, and insist on cultivating people with morality. More emphasis should be placed on improving students’ sense of social responsibility in serving the country and the people, developing their spirit of innovation in brave exploration and practical ability of solving problems, and truly fostering socialist builders and successors with all-around development of morality, intelligence, physique, aesthetics and labor.