China to promote labor education in schools

BEIJING -- China will give particular attention to labor education in primary and secondary schools and colleges, according to the Ministry of Education.

Labor education will be incorporated into the education system to foster citizens with an all-round moral, intellectual, physical and aesthetic grounding, in addition to a hard-working spirit, Zheng Fuzhi, vice minister of education, told a press conference Tuesday.

Calling labor education the "shortest board" in the education system, Zheng said education through labor must be strengthened with the aim to "cultivate a right view of the world, life and values and develop an interest in doing labor."

The conference was held to explain a new guideline for advancing education reform and improving the quality of compulsory education, released by the Communist Party of China Central Committee and State Council Monday.

Labor education ranges from household chores to on-campus labor to community volunteer services, according to the guideline.

The ministry will formulate guidelines on promoting labor education in primary and secondary schools and higher learning institutions and syllabuses for labor education, Zheng said.

Zheng also stressed sufficient venues for labor education, calling for building more practice bases for students to learn agriculture, production and business.