China to speed up modernization of education

China's State Council has issued a plan on educational development for the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-2020), which aims to achieve major progress by 2020.

China will comprehensively deepen its reform in the education sector to provide support for nation-building goals, according to the statement signed by Premier Li Keqiang.

The document detailed key tasks, including improving education quality and fairness, and optimizing allocation of resources.

Efforts should be made to improve ideological and moral education, raise students' sense of social responsibility and their practical skills and abilities in innovation, it said.

More resources should go to poor and remote areas, and equal access for the children of migrant workers and impoverished families should be guaranteed.

It also stressed coordinated development of education in rural and urban areas, calling for speeding up the development of modern vocational education.

It said non-government funded education should be encouraged and standardized, adding that social resources and private capital are welcome.