Lifelong Education in China: New Policies and Activities

Abstract

In this article, the author presents a descriptive survey of China’s policies in the field of lifelong education in the 1980s and early 1990s, undertaken as part of the country’s overall drive towards modernization. With the second largest illiterate population in the world, one of China’s highest priorities is the promotion of literacy, and a variety of initiatives with this aim have been launched at national and local level. In China, the concept of lifelong education is taken literally to encompass all ages from infancy onwards. Recognizing the importance of the family, and especially of the mother, in educating the young, China has created a programme for strengthening family education through workshops, lectures, advisory services and the mass media. The author goes on to survey recent policies in primary and secondary education, vocational education, workers’ in-service training, continuing education for specialists, and the development of a radio and television university, the expansion of evening classes and correspondence courses, education for the aged, and examinations for independent learners.