The News
Students in China will be learning more about Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s “political thoughts” and the country’s national security this fall. Primary and junior high students will be given new textbooks promoting Chinese language, culture, history, and morality and law, that emphasize the importance of Xi’s ideologies and ideas, the South China Morning Post reported.
An education official told state media that such measures will “forge a sense of community for the Chinese nation” and “allow students to deeply understand that national security is a top priority and that everyone has a responsibility to safeguard it.”
SIGNALS
China requires party loyalty from teachers in bid to control education
In a bid for increasing control over the country’s education system, the Chinese government now requires public school teachers to have loyalty to the ruling Communist Party mandated in their employment contracts and to prioritize the party in their jobs. The government also placed travel restrictions on teachers and students this summer, Radio Free Asia reported, in what one former teacher said was an effort to curb attempts to emigrate. Some parents told Nikkei they are turning to private schools because they believe public school culture places too much emphasis on patriotism.
China’s national security focus could hurt global academic exchanges
China’s “excessive” emphasis on national security is hurting its economic, political, and academic exchanges with other countries, Nikkei argued earlier this year. The country’s attempts to reinforce party ideology in education have extended to Hong Kong, which held a National Security Education Day earlier this year. Hong Kong authorities instructed schools to brief students on Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s approach to national security and to host activities that encouraged them to share their thoughts on the subject, the South China Morning Post reported. China’s depiction of the West as a threat to its national security may also be deterring Chinese students from studying in the US, The Economist reported, noting a decline in their numbers in 2022-23.