Teachers vital to improve education in rural areas

Editor's Note: A China Youth Daily report, which went viral recently, has claimed that, by taking live-streaming lessons from Chengdu No 7 High School in Sichuan province, 88 students from impoverished areas secured admission to the premier Peking University and Tsinghua University. In the public debate that has followed, one group says the teaching method will narrow the urban-rural education gap, while skeptics say the report exaggerates the role of technology in education. Three experts share their views on the issue with China Daily's Yao Yuxin. Excerpts follow:

Live-streaming courses cannot replace teachers

Xiong Bingqi, deputy director of the 21st Century Education Research Institute