China will introduce the political ideology of the Chinese president into its national study plan.
“Xi Jinping’s thinking” will help “adolescents establish Marxist beliefs,” the Ministry of Education (MOE) noted in its new guidelines.
Ideology will be integrated into learning from school primary through college.
This is Xi’s latest effort to consolidate the role of the ruling Chinese Communist Party in different areas of society.
In a statement, the Ministry of Education said it aimed to “cultivate the builders and successors of socialism with a comprehensive moral, intellectual, physical and aesthetic foundation.”
The guidelines include job education “to cultivate the working spirit” and education about national security.
In 2018, China’s highest body enshrined “Xi Jinping Thought” in the Constitution.
Since then, it has been introduced in some universities and among young politicians who do extracurricular activities and in schools.
The “Thought of Xi Jinping” has 14 principles that emphasize communist ideals and also:
- Calls for a “complete and profound reform” and “new ideas in development”
- It promises “a harmonious life between man and nature”
- Emphasizes “the absolute authority of the party over the people’s army”
- Emphasizes the importance of “’one country, two systems’ and reunification with the homeland”
However, the new guidelines will have a much more extensive rollout.
“Elementary schools will focus on cultivating love for the country, the Communist Party of China and socialism. In middle schools, the focus will be on a combination of perceptual experience and study of knowledge, to help students form opinions and basic political judgments, ”reported the state media outlet. Global Times.
“In college, there will be more emphasis on establishing theoretical thinking,” he added.
The ministry is also working on including topics such as party leadership and national defense education in the curriculum, he told the Global Times Tian Huisheng, an official with the Ministry of Education.
In the past, Chinese leaders have created their own political ideologies that have been incorporated into the Constitution or party thinking.
But no one besides the founder of the Mao Zedong party has described his ideology as “thought”, which is at the top of the hierarchy, and only Mao and Deng Xiaoping have had their names associated with their ideologies.
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