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Education departments are working hard to widen the horizons
of China's 200 million primary and middle school students by
using the Internet.
Spurred on by the worldwide craze for information technology
(IT) development, the move aims to enrich students' learning
experiences, sources from the Ministry of Education said.
IT education will be introduced and expanded in primary and
middle schools across the country in the next five to 10 years,
according to the ministry.
More specifically, senior middle schools across the country
and junior middle schools in big cities will have to list IT
education as a compulsory course from next year. By 2005, all
junior middle schools in the country and primary schools in
more developed areas will be required to offer IT courses.
In the next five to 10 years, the State will accelerate the
construction of IT infrastructure and information databases
to help primary and middle schools link up to the Internet and
China's Education Satellite Network.
Minister of Education Chen Zhili has called on regional education
administrations to prioritize IT education in their local educational
development plans for the 10th Five-Year Plan period (2001-05).
Long-distance learning using traditional means of communication
such as the post, radio and television, has come a long way
in China over the past two decades, helping to provide diversified
learning programs for adults.
In recent few years, computer-aided teaching networks have come
to be regarded as important to long-distance learning. Such
networks can help solve the problem of a shortage of teachers
in poor and remote areas, sources from the ministry said.
Last May, the ministry started a long-distance learning project
that uses computerized teaching networks in 14 areas of Central
and western China that have relatively underdeveloped economies
and poor education facilities.
The project is underway in Chongqing, the provinces of Yunnan,
Guizhou, Sichuan, Shaanxi, Qinghai, Gansu, Hunan and Hubei,
and the autonomous regions of Tibet, Xinjiang Uygur, Ningxia
Hui, Guangxi Zhuang and Inner Mongolia.
To date, 240 primary school teachers in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous
Region, Yunnan, Gansu and Shaanxi have been trained to teach
computer skills, said Wang Zhuzhu, an official with the ministry's
Education Technology Office.
More teachers in these areas are expected to receive similar
training next year, said Wang.
The Fifth Plenary Session of the 15th National Congress of the
Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, which concluded
last month, put emphasis on driving the development of the national
economy with information technology.
Stimulated by this guideline, the Ministry of Education has
decided to spread the knowledge of IT among students at all
levels of the education system.
Incomplete statistics from the ministry indicated that, of China's
200 million primary and middle school students, less than 30
million have access to IT learning programs at present due to
the lack of equipment and specialized teachers.
(China Daily 11/20/2000)
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