Helping teenagers ‘establish Marxist beliefs’ is the core objective of a new political ideology – ‘Xi Jinping thought’ – being introduced into China’s national curriculum.
The ideology will be integrated from primary school up to university, according to the BBC, describing this as the latest effort by Xi to consolidate the ruling Chinese Communist Party’s role in different areas of society.
Beijing’s Ministry of Education said it aimed ‘to cultivate the builders and successors of socialism with an all-round moral, intellectual, physical and aesthetic grounding’.
The guidelines include labour education ‘to cultivate their hard-working spirit’ and education on national security.
In 2018, China’s top body enshrined ‘Xi Jinping Thought’ into the Constitution.
The BBC reports that ‘Xi Jinping Thought’ has 14 main principles emphasising Communist ideals, but also includes calling for ‘complete and deep reform’ and ‘new developing ideas’; promising ‘harmonious living between man and nature’; and emphasising ‘absolute authority of the party over the people’s army’, and the importance of ‘one country, two systems’ and ‘reunification with the motherland’.
State media outlet Global Times reported: ‘Primary schools will focus on cultivating love for the country, the Communist Party of China, and socialism. In middle schools, the focus will be on a combination of perceptual experience and knowledge study, to help students form basic political judgments and opinions. In college, there will be more emphasis on the establishment of theoretical thinking.’
[Image: Kremlin.ru, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=103196989]