UNESCO okays China teacher education center

China’s education model has gradually come to be known by the rest of the world, Chinese experts said, after a UN agency approved a teacher education center for Shanghai.

The agency, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), approved a Shanghai teacher education center on Saturday at its 39th general conference session in Paris, the news site thepaper.cn reported on Tuesday.

“This decision shows that Shanghai’s education model has influence and has been acknowledged internationally,” Zhang Minxuan, head of a group responsible for preparations for the teacher center, was quoted by the Wenhui Bao, a local newspaper, as saying.

Zhang explained that the center will be able to take part in global affairs and help spread UNESCO’s influence internationally and increase its cultural soft power.

The center will help turn Shanghai into a platform for greater knowledge and innovation among teachers all over the world and make suggestions for new programs, thepaper.cn reported. Meanwhile, UNESCO can provide professional support for the new center.

It will also benefit Shanghai’s development as an international city and contribute more to global cultural development, and promote China’s soft power, Xiong Bingqi, deputy director of the 21st Century Education Research Institute, told the Global Times.

Xiong noted that while teachers are essential for social development there is a glaring lack of them, especially high-quality ones in less developed areas.

UNESCO addresses this matter with its Education 2030 Framework of Action, whose purpose is to increase the number of qualified teachers for developing countries, especially the least developed and small island states, via international cooperation, by 2030, according to Wenhui Bao’s report, which noted that 8 million teachers are needed.

Liu Limin, a former vice-minister of education, said in 2016 that the biggest challenge facing China’s village schools was exactly the number of teachers. And China wants versatile teachers who can perform many roles, similar to a general practitioner in the medical field, said the Xinhua News Agency.

A guideline the State Council announced in 2016 noted the need for greater progress in village elementary school, junior high school and boarding school should be addressed.