Support and respect remain vital

Sector is important for both the national educational system and developing a skilled labor force

President Xi Jinping recently urged the country to intensify its efforts in improving the quality and reputation of vocational education and training.

Xi stressed vocational education must be valued by everyone because it is an important path for young people to achieve success.

It helps stimulate employment, create new businesses and fosters high levels of technical skills, he said.

But he also urged the nation to give more respect to the vocational skills of millions of its highly qualified laborers and technical workers.

"We must attach greater importance to accelerating its development by creating an environment in which everyone realizes their potential. We must maximize our efforts to cultivate millions of high-quality workers and technically skilled personnel."

His instructions have now become a priority within the Party's education policy.

Since 1978, when the Vocational Education Law was first promulgated, China's vocational education system has made tremendous progress, creating hundreds of millions of quality workers, who have spearheaded China's dramatic economic and social development.

The vocational education and training sector, however, is now struggling to keep pace with the country's growth, as offices and production lines demand even more high-quality workers, personnel and technical staff.

Some local governments, particularly, fail to attach enough importance to vocational education.

Inadequate measures to coordinate its development have left many institutions in the sector badly under-resourced and poorly managed.

One of the biggest problems facing vocational education is the perception that many of those entering it lack ambition.

But without enough skilled workers, proud of what they do and trained to a high level, China's economic and social development will suffer.

To attach the right level of importance to qualified talent, as Xi is demanding, and to raise everyone's level of respect for laborers, major improvements to the system are needed.

One of the first areas to address are the conditions under which far too many of our most skilled still work.

Chinese industrial workers and farmers represent a powerful force within the modernization process.

But for too long, industrial and service industry workers have not been properly respected or rewarded.

Achieving simultaneous income growth and economic development requires wages to rise along with productivity, as well as an orderly and equal distribution of wealth.

The financial rewards of the country's economic development must be passed onto the people, no matter at what level of society they work and live.

Everyone's dignity must be respected at all costs, and to manage that, attitudes must change.

The country's most popular TV dramas typify the growing gap between the haves and have-nots in Chinese society.

They are filled with emperors, wealthy business people, white-collar professionals, and young city dwellers living in lavish homes. Few accurately reflect the real lives of hard-working, everyday Chinese. Magazines and other media also focus too frequently on the same elites in society.

On the one hand they appear to encourage viewers and readers to pursue their dreams and ambitions, while on the other they highlight growing levels of vanity and greed, and a hunger for luxury and wealth above all else.

Ambition is, of course, a good thing for young people to have, and we should encourage it.

In doing that, however, we must be careful to enrich and maintain our traditional social practices, so the majority of our citizens appreciate the vital role everyday workers play in the country's economic success.

Everyone should be encouraged to adopt the types of hardworking attitudes that these workers have always shown, not only in their working lives but also their daily lives.

Some of the country's existing policies and practices are not conducive to the further development of vocational education.

For example, in the late 1990s, the government raised enrollment targets in the sphere.

The result was many of our vocational colleges receiving less funding than other colleges and universities, and having to raise their fees to make up the shortfall. Today's lack of highly qualified technical workers and skilled personnel is the consequence.

The vast majority of students in vocational schools are mostly from low-income families, but costs remain high and a growing number of colleges are now finding it increasingly difficult to attract enough students to survive.

The government has always maintained that enrollment levels for vocational education and training centers should be set at the same level as high school enrollment. However, the latest figures show that levels at vocational institutions are half those of high schools, which sit at 80 to 90 percent.

A modern vocational education system is often central to a successful national economic development policy.

Nearly all of the world's developed countries remain committed to investing in vocational education to ensure a high level of technical skills within its workforce.

China is rich in human resources and is still in the process of industrialization, meaning vocational education continues to play a vital role.

To raise the attraction of vocational education, the government needs to improve the reputation of its highly qualified technical workers by emphasizing their importance to both the economy and society.

During the development of vocational education policies to further develop the sector, all levels of government should put it on an equal footing with basic and higher education, and ensure it remains a top priority.

The author is director of Central Institute for Vocational and Technical Education. The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.

(China Daily Africa Weekly 09/26/2014 page13)