High school textbooks to include Xi Jinping thought

Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era will be included in China’s senior high school textbooks after the country’s education authorities highlighted the thought in its latest reform plan, an expert said Thursday.

The thought will be fully included in the teaching plan to implement the spirit of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), read the plan that sets standards for high school teaching curriculum.

The plan, released by the Ministry of Education on its website on Tuesday, also said that students should understand the importance of the “Party’s leadership over every work.”

The inclusion is of great significance and necessity as high school students are expected to be the main mainstay and backbone to accomplish the periodical goals set in the CPC national congress in 2035 and 2050, said Su Wei, a professor at the CPC Chongqing Committee’s Party School.

The revised standard for high school textbooks was printed at the end of 2017, read the plan.

Apart from changes on textbooks and teaching arrangements to include Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, the thought will also be tested in gaokao, or national college entrance examination, said Su.

Research centers of the Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era have been established in universities across China, including the Tsinghua University and National Defence University of the People’s Liberation Army.

The thought was unveiled during CPC’s twice-a-decade national congress in October, 2017 and was listed as a part of the guiding ideology for the CPC in its amended Constitution.