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China needs more creativity

BEIJING — As China’s economy boomed, so did advances in education.

Children salute during a flag-raising ceremony on the first day of their new semester at a primary school in Bozhou, Anhui province March 2, 2015. Photo: Reuters

Children salute during a flag-raising ceremony on the first day of their new semester at a primary school in Bozhou, Anhui province March 2, 2015. Photo: Reuters

BEIJING — As China’s economy boomed, so did advances in education.

Enrolment rates in schools at all levels soared, with 7.5 million students set to graduate this year alone. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) PISA scores measuring 15-year olds’ competence in math, reading and science have ranked Shanghai top worldwide ever since the city started participating in the programme.

A glowing report card, right? Wrong.

As China moves from being the world’s factory to a source of innovation, it needs to shake up the way its students learn and remove lingering inequalities, according to the OECD.

Here are the problems raised:

* The children of internal migrants as well as rural and poor families are still at a major disadvantage at every education level

* The focus on rote learning and exams remains excessive

* More bridges are needed between vocational and general education

* Graduating students often struggle to find a job matching their expectations and employers do not always find people with the required skills

* Despite a soaring number of Chinese patents, the quality of most patents is still low and innovation output is weak

Then there’s a skills mismatch, with too many white-collar workers and not enough young people willing to get their hands dirty.

Now the OECD’s prescriptions:

* More and better focused funding of education, giving greater opportunities to children with socio-economic or physical disadvantages

* Reducing the role of after-school tutoring, focusing less on memorisation and more on creativity

* Enhancing the appeal of the teaching profession

* Improving students’ information on labour market prospects

* Developing workplace training, making greater use of online education, and more effectively nurturing research and innovation

The OECD’s bottom line: “Human capital accumulation has played a large role in China’s economic catch-up over the last three decades as educational attainment made rapid progress. It is becoming even more crucial now to bring about further improvements in living standards in the face of an ageing population and to provide the right skills needed to transition from the world’s factory to a leading innovator.” BLOOMBERG

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