Thursday, September 14, 2017

China Pushes Core Socialist Values Knowledge in Primary, Middle Schools
By Liu Caiyu
Global Times
2017/9/15 1:44:32

Values can make younger generation better understand responsibilities

A student holds a calligraphy work with the words "prosperity, democracy" at the Yuantong Primary School in Tonglu county, East China's Zhejiang Province on May 17. The school held calligraphy themed "socialist core values" contest that day. Photo: VCG

Students and teachers across China are being asked to enhance their knowledge of the core socialist values, with teachers in some regions being graded and monitored.

Schools in many provinces, including kindergartens, primary and middle schools, are asked to read and recite the core socialist values regularly, some on daily basis, the Global Times found out Thursday.

"Students need to read the socialist core values textbook every day before the first morning class for three minutes. It is something we've done for years, but ideological education has intensified in recent years," said Li Shenghui, a middle school math teacher in Guangzong, North China's Hebei Province.

"Learning the core values can make the younger generation better understand their responsibilities. It is a moral impetus to make students become better people," Li told the Global Times.

Li asked every student in his class to paste the core socialist values on their desks, dormitory walls and their pockets. Students are required to read it three times if they forget portions of it.

Classes at middle and primary schools as well as kindergartens in Hoxud county, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region have contained five-minute content about core socialist values since mid-September, local news site ts.cn reported. This campaign was first launched in 2015.

Students from the Jiaxing Third Middle School, East China's Zhejiang Province are randomly picked to recite the socialist core values every day before morning exercises, according to the local education bureau.

Meanwhile, all teachers in Beijing's kindergartens, primary and middle schools will be required to take courses on core socialist values and traditional cultures in 2018, the Beijing Education Commission said on September 8.

The course is now being piloted in six schools. Whether teachers take the courses and use the core values in teaching will be monitored and graded, according to the local education commission.

The core socialist values have taken root in the public's mind and have been translated into action since it was first defined at the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in 2012, the People's Daily reported.

The 24-character core socialist values, which summarize the nation, society and individual, are a set of moral principles defined by the central authorities. They are prosperity, democracy, civility, harmony, freedom, equality, justice, the rule of law, patriotism, dedication, integrity and friendship, according to the People's Daily.

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