Basic Task of Fostering Virtue Through Education

An article by the CPC Leadership Group of the Ministry of Education on fostering a new generation of young people to shoulder the mission of realizing national rejuvenation was published in this year's 17th issue of Qiushi Journal.

In his speech delivered at the National Education Conference in September 2018, President Xi Jinping remarked, "What kind of people we should cultivate—it is one of the most fundamental issues that education must address. China is a socialist country under the leadership of the CPC. This mandates an essential mission for education: to prepare youth for joining and advancing the socialist cause, i.e., to nurture generations of capable people who uphold the Party's leadership and our socialist system, and are dedicated to the socialism with Chinese characteristics." He also attached importance to the basic task of fostering virtue through education.

It is crucial to cultivate qualified younger generations to carry forward our endeavor to build a great country and move toward national rejuvenation. Therefore, taking the development of the Party and the country into consideration, President Xi has elaborated on primary questions of education and core issues for building a strong educational system, namely, what kind of people we should cultivate, how and for whom, since the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012.

He has stressed the need to nurture a new generation of capable young people with sound moral grounding, intellectual ability, physical vigor, aesthetic sensibility, and work skills who will fully develop socialism, carry forward the socialist cause and shoulder the mission of realizing national rejuvenation.

This requirement has defined foundational guidelines for the education sector to build strong moral character in students.

In the new era, the education sector has remained committed to promoting all-round development of students with Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, in line with guiding principles of Xi's important speeches and instructions.

To ensure the principle of fostering virtue through education is followed in the education on moral integrity, academic knowledge and social practice throughout the process of basic, vocational, and higher education, the education sector has designed the systems of disciplines, teaching, textbooks and administration in accordance with this objective set by President Xi.

Thanks to these efforts, remarkable achievements have been achieved in the endeavor to foster virtue through education since the 18th CPC National Congress.

They have laid a solid foundation for cultivating more and more qualified younger generations on the new journey.

However, the education sector should also be aware of the challenges posed by changes in both internal and external environments. In the process of responding to these challenges, some shortcomings and weaknesses are exposed in schools' work.

As these deep-seated problems impede the cultivation of students, it is imperative to break away from conventional thinking and take targeted and vigorous steps to resolve them through further reform and innovation.

At its third plenary session, the 20th CPC Central Committee has laid out systemic plans for furthering comprehensive reform in education, emphasizing that "we will improve the mechanisms for fostering virtue through education, introduce integrated reforms and new approaches in the political education curriculum at all levels, from elementary school to university, and refine the systems for nurturing capable young people with sound moral grounding, intellectual ability, physical vigor, aesthetic sensibility, and work skills."

Under this guidance, the education sector will adopt a holistic approach to values education, integrate science and technology education with liberal arts education, and coordinate the moral, intellectual, physical, aesthetic, and labor education, so as to improve the mechanisms for fostering virtue through education and establish new cultivation patterns in this regard. By doing so, it will make greater contributions to preparing more capable younger generations for advancing national rejuvenation on the new journey in the new era.

Editor: Zhang Xian