This Day, That Year

ItemfromDec7,1982,in ChinaDaily:XinXiqing,a 73-year-oldretiredworker,is sittingforanEnglishlanguageexaminationheldby theShanghaiSelf-Education ExaminationCommittee, whichofferscollegediplomas.

Theprovisionaboutcompulsoryprimaryeducationin China’snewConstitutionrepresentsasignificantmoveforward,saidHeDongcheng, ministerofeducation.

In China, access to education has improved dramatically over the past few decades.

In 1949, more than 80 percent of the population was illiterate, and the enrollment rate of school-age children was only 20 percent, according to a government white paper on the right to development issued last month.

Last year, net enrollment rates reached new highs: primary school-age children stood at 99.88 percent; nineyear compulsory education at 93 percent; and high school at 87 percent.

The enrollment rate for higher education hit a level approaching that of mediumdeveloped countries. In 2014, China’s ranking in the UN Human Development Index was 90 among 188 countries.

Meanwhile, vocational education has developed fast in recent years, which was further strengthened as the government unveiled the Made in China 2015 initiative, laying out strategies for switching from low-end manufacturing to more value-added production.

Also in 2014, the central government announced that it expects the number of students receiving vocational education to top 38 million by 2020. Currently, 29 million students are enrolled.