By Wu Meng

On July 16, the Ministry of Education and the State Ethnic Affairs Commission issued a document designed at bringing education on Chinese national unity into primary and high schools across the country. The new topic will comprise at least 15 percent of schools’ political curriculum.

The document requires educational authorities at all levels to implement education on national equality and national unity in primary and high school curriculum. Provincial-level education administrative departments will be required to report their progress on ethnic unity education in local schools every November.

China is composed of 56 officially recognized ethnic groups. Among them, Han people account for about 90 percent of the overall Chinese population and the other 55 make up the remaining 10 percent.

It is a long-term strategic task to implement education on national unity. The recent riots in Urumqi, many people’s ignorance and misunderstanding of China’s ethnic policies from home and abroad are reminders of the fact that it is high time to implement national unity education and a public awareness campaign is urgently needed. It is a good sign that the Ministry of Education is paying great attention to this project, but implementation of the new curriculum could pose challenges.

China has long had a comprehensive curriculum for school-aged children. However, the lack of adequate teaching facilities is a major concern for the government, especially in rural and border areas where the living standards are relatively low. These are the areas where national unity education is most needed. Therefore, the main challenge and problem is the inadequacy of teaching facilities.

According to the document, online in-service training would be used as the primary means of teacher training. Although today various in-service teacher training courses are available in China, especially in the cities, several studies revealed that teachers who took the courses have difficulty in putting new skills into practice due to situational constraints when they return to their teaching environment. Therefore, the goal of improving teaching effectiveness can be hard to achieve, unless the programs are modified to take into account the conditions under which most teachers work.

Additionally, the mandatory rule that national unity education must comprise a minimum of 15 percent of the political curriculum may further burden students who already have more than enough study tasks, as they will have more tests to take. It will eventually push students to resist studying and probably end up as just another official regulation that has lost its meaning.

Also, various forms of education should be encouraged. Movies, TV programs and even cartoon series should be introduced to the classroom. Even young children can easily understand such material.

Fundamentally, all the Chinese people share similar values and the same sense of morality, whatever their ethnic group or religious beliefs, and this is what has kept the 56 ethnic groups united. Therefore, whatever form the education on national unity takes, it should emphasize and promote these shared values.