China’s army of teachers in ideology and politics grew 70% in five years
More than 100,000 teachers are imparting theories in ideology and politics at higher education institutions across mainland China, up 70% in the last five years, figures from the Ministry of Education show.
As at November, the country had 106,411 full-time and part-time teachers registered to conduct courses in ideological and political theory, 44,290 more than in 2015, the ministry announced on Thursday.
In particular, the number in full-time teaching rose from more than 43,000 in 2015 to over 71,000 in November this year, an increase of 65.5%.
The surge in teaching personnel was recorded as Chinese President Xi Jinping stressed efforts to control the ideological education of students in order to train them to support the leadership of China’s Communist Party and the country’s socialist system.
China had achieved “significant results” in building up the quality of its courses in ideological and political theory as the nation implemented the 13th Five-Year Plan between 2016 and 2020, said Liu Guiqin, an official with the social sciences department of the ministry.
The sense of satisfaction among the students had also increased substantially, Liu told reporters.
More than nine in 10 students said they were satisfied with the courses provided, up 18 percentage points from five years ago, according to a survey conducted on around 150,000 students from more than 200 higher education institutions, the ministry official added.
In another survey, 98.3% of the roughly 5,000 undergraduates and master’s and doctoral students interviewed felt that teachers of ideological and political theory were able to cultivate virtues in them by using the Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, a doctrine of political principles that sets out national goals for 2050 and is enshrined in both the state and party constitutions.
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