Science and Education to Revitalize the Nation and Educational Innovation: Learning and Research on Jiang Zemin's Educational Thought

Author: Bi Cheng
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-12-01
Features:
II. The implementation of the strategy to rejuvenate the country through science and education and the economic system reform were the most far-reaching major changes in China's 1990s. They not only pushed China to decisively break away from the traditional planned economy model, achieve true opening-up, and enter the global economic market, but also promoted significant reforms in China's science and technology system, fostering closer integration of science, technology, and education, and embarking on the path of rejuvenating the country through science and education. In May 1995, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council issued the "Decision on Accelerating the Advancement of Science and Technology" and held the National Science and Technology Conference. Comrade Jiang Zemin, on behalf of the Party Central Committee, first explicitly proposed the implementation of the strategy to rejuvenate the country through science and education. From then on, the Party and the State formally adopted the strategy as a fundamental policy, and a series of policies were subsequently introduced. The proposal to implement the strategy to rejuvenate the country through science and education was a major event in China's educational reform and development in the 1990s, establishing the theme of China's educational reform and development. The close integration of education and science and technology in economic construction is not only an objective requirement for promoting economic development but also a fundamental approach to advancing comprehensive social progress. Comrade Jiang Zemin was an active advocate of implementing the strategy to rejuvenate the country through science and education. Focusing on the theme of science and education rejuvenation and combining with practical issues in China's educational reform and development, he continuously innovated in educational concepts and theories, gradually forming a systematic exposition on science and education rejuvenation, providing a new theoretical foundation for China's educational reform policies under the new circumstances. Comrade Jiang Zemin pointed out that in the new century, the Chinese nation will achieve the great rejuvenation. In a developing country with a population of one-fifth of the world, completing modernization in another 50 years is a monumental achievement. To realize this glorious goal, we should fully leverage the superiority of the socialist system and persistently implement the strategy to rejuvenate the country through science and education. In China, implementing the strategy to rejuvenate the country through science and education is an inevitable historical choice, with broad practical significance. China has a large population, a weak foundation, and uneven economic and cultural development. This fundamental national condition will persist for a long time. The people in China's eastern and central regions fully recognize that to build a moderately prosperous society on the basis of initial development, they must step up technological progress and vigorously develop human resources, taking the path of rejuvenating the country through science and education. Similarly, in China's northwest region, to achieve leapfrog development, there is no alternative but to take the path of science and education rejuvenation. In formulating and implementing the strategy for developing the western region, Comrade Jiang Zemin repeatedly emphasized the importance and necessity of implementing the strategy to rejuvenate the country through science and education. There are still 30 million people in China who have not yet achieved food security, and while this proportion is not high relative to the national population, the absolute number is equivalent to that of a medium-sized country. These impoverished populations are mainly distributed in remote areas with harsh natural conditions and extremely inconvenient transportation. Since the reform and opening-up, the Party and the State have continuously increased efforts to alleviate poverty in these areas. However, to enable backward regions to escape poverty, it is obviously not possible to rely solely on poverty alleviation. Comrade Jiang Zemin pointed out at the Central National Work Conference on September 29, 1999: To accelerate the development of ethnic minority regions, it is necessary to firmly implement the strategy to rejuvenate the country through science and education. Education must be given priority development, and quality-oriented education must be comprehensively promoted. To accelerate the implementation of science and technology development and achievement