China Aims to Strengthen its Teaching Workforce

China is taking significant steps to enhance its teaching workforce, aiming to become an educational powerhouse. The Ministry of Education has outlined specific measures to develop more high-quality professionals, particularly in rural and less developed areas.

These measures include strengthening teachers' professional integrity, conduct, and skills, optimizing education resource allocation, and protecting teachers' rights and interests. The goal is to ensure that all 18.92 million teachers in the country become competent educators, further supporting the world's largest educational system.

The guidelines also emphasize the importance of lifting teachers' social status, fostering public respect for educators, and encouraging public support for education. The aim is to make teaching one of the most respectable and admirable occupations in China by 2035.

To achieve this, the Ministry of Education will provide more training and support to teachers in rural areas and less developed regions. This includes recruiting more teachers, offering better training, and focusing on subjects where there is a shortage of qualified teachers. Additionally, training for primary and high school teachers will be enhanced, as they constitute 89% of the country's teaching workforce.

The guidelines also advocate for zero tolerance towards malpractice and violations of regulations concerning teachers. Strict enforcement of discipline and legal consequences for offenders will be implemented.

Furthermore, the building of normal schools will be supported, and efforts will be made to ensure timely salary payments for teachers. The guidelines also aim to alleviate unnecessary workloads and protect teachers from misconduct such as humiliation, defamation, and rumors.

This year marks the 40th anniversary of Teacher's Day in China. Since its introduction, the teaching workforce has grown significantly, with the number of teachers increasing from 9.32 million in 1985 to 18.92 million in 2022.