Chinese President Hu Jintao has urged education institutions across the country to attach great importance to the all-round growth of students in a bid to cultivate more talents for the country's development.

Hu made the remarks Monday as he presided over a group study of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee on education development and human resources.

"Education is the foundation for national prosperity and social progress... It carries hundreds of millions of families' expectations for a better life," said Hu, also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee.

Education should provide knowledge and talents for the country's development, he said.

Hu called on schools to orient all their work towards students' healthy growth by giving equal attention to knowledge, ideology, theory and practice.

Hu urged the country's teachers to improve their professional skills and sense of responsibility to set an example for their students.

He also called for more public education resources for impoverished, ethnic and frontier regions.

Two education researchers, Tan Songhua with the Chinese Society of Education and Yuan Zhenguo with the China National Institute for Educational Research, gave talks at the group study.