CPC 18th National Congress highlights education.[File photo]

Education is one of the hot issues for discussion at the ongoing 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.

Some delegates have pinpointed the shortcomings in China's education system, while others have offered advice for possible solutions.

Earlier this year, the Chinese government set a spending target of four percent of GDP on education starting this year.

Zhang Ping, Minister of China's National Development and Reform Commission and a delegate to the 17th and 18th CPC National Congress, explains how much the 4-percent would amount to.

"We are not yet at the end of this year, but I estimate that the fiscal revenue for this year to exceed 12 trillion yuan, one sixth of which, or more than 2 trillion yuan, would go to education."

China first pledged to increase its education spending to four percent of GDP in 1993, but has so far failed to achieve that target.

This has been a source of concern for many who believe that materializing that goal is decisive in providing equal education for all. Prof. Feng Xiaoxia who specializes in preschool education at Beijing Normal University, is one of them.

"To ensure everyone has access to education is a goal of our compulsory education system. But the distribution of our educational resources remains unfair. So a regional balance in the level of compulsory education should first be tackled."

Last year, the central government asked local governments spend 10 percent of their land grant profits on education.

But can China achieve the 4-percent of GDP target? Zhang Ping shares his point of view.

"Local governments should overhaul their structure of expenditures to ensure that their input in education meets the target. Meanwhile, the central government has the obligation to provide financial assistance for the development of western regions. In this process, greater support should be granted to the underdeveloped areas to help them meet the education investment targets."

In addition to the imbalance in the distribution of educational resources, there are other shortcomings in the country's education system.

Zhou Ji, President of Chinese Academy of Engineering and delegate to the CPC National Congress, explains.

"The quality of China's education is generally good, though, the shortcomings are also obvious. For example, the spirit and ability to innovate is seriously lacking in our system. We should focus on solving this problem so as to promote innovation-driven development."

Zhou Ji says he was glad to notice that the latest party congress is putting more emphasis on improving the quality of China's education, and was hopeful that before long China would be able to train talents of advanced international standards.