Let all Chinese youngsters be basked in sunshine

-- National roundup of strengthening and improvement of ethical education 

　　China has a population of 367 million adolescents below 18. Among them, there are 16 million undergraduates. Strengthening and improving youngster ideological and ethical education is a work of great importance. Remarkable results have been scored in the past two years and more in implementing the Opinions of the CPC CC and State Council on Further Strengthening and Improving Ideological and Ethical Education among Youngsters and the Opinions of the CPC CC and State Council on Further Strengthening and Improving the Ideological and Political Education among Undergraduates.

Providing better environment for youngster growth

In the past two years and more, different areas and departments have made strenuous efforts to make sound and initially established a work mechanism for youngster ethical education. The atmosphere is getting better and better wherein the whole Party and society care for and support youngsters’ education.

Beijing municipality placed the work high on the agenda of the capital’s goals of economic sand social development. It called for doing this work well so as to fully display the advantages of its role as the country’s political and cultural center. Efforts are set to meet the requirements to build a harmonious society and turn the metropolis into the top best area across the country. It is essential to use the rich educational, cultural and human resources and grasp the opportunity of preparing for the Olympics 2008. Beijing municipality set up a special fund for undergraduate ideological and political education, appropriating 30 million yuan for the purposes every year. 

　　Shanghai and Jiangsu province set up a municipal and provincial joint meeting or conference mechanism. Hubei Province put in place a minor ethical education responsibility examination and appraisal mechanism and moral education mechanism. Henan and Shaanxi provinces won new progress in probes to set up a leadership system and work mechanism of joint management by Party, government and mass organizations, coordination by the civilization committee and active public participation under unified leadership of the Party committee with departments concerned undertaking their due share of responsibility.

　　In building a network combining school, family and community education, many provinces and municipalities stressed the mainstream role of the schools. Shanghai municipality made an overall planning of primary, secondary and tertiary school student ethical education work system. It earmarked 20 million yuan for college student political education and primary and secondary school moral education respectively every year three years in a row. It will earmark another 15 million yuan from 2006 to 2010.

　　Shandong and Zhejiang provinces introduced moral tutorship system in primary, secondary and tertiary schools and mapped out a work evaluation standard to raise the work efficiency and appropriateness.

Providing better spiritual products for youngsters development

　　 There were many successful experiences and practices in the course of strengthening and improving youngster ethical education nationwide.

　　For example, Beijing municipality  developed a program of singing new nursery rhymes. Consequently, 800000 primary school pupils were given a pamphlet of nursery rhymes which incorporated all moral education including the socialist  concept of honours and disgrace, politeness, knowledge about the Olympics, and traditional virtues. The program was soon spread from Beijing to the whole nation.  　  

　　Xinjiang fully displayed the platform role of the communities and organized alluring ethnical education and cultural activities by displaying young volunteers and other human resource advantages.

Providing a clean space for youngsters growing up  

　　To effectively prevent and refrain  minors from network addiction, to develop outstanding website culture and create clean  network environment, Chinese government and the CYLC CC, recently introduced ten measures to change the net-addicted juveniles into net-innovation talents. 

Shanghai performed real-time distance monitoring of more than 1300 website bars in the city. It built 200 welfare Oriental community information gardens, issuing free teenager welfare cards among the community children. Statistics showed that the percentage of business website bars illegally receiving non-adults dropped from 6.4% in early 2004 to some 1.2% at present. The breaches and criminal violations among non-adults were on the decrease.

Guangdong and Hubei provinces adopted the method of public finance purchasing public service, placed welfare cultural facilities at the disposal of non-adults and speeded up the development of youngster activity centers. In Guangdong Province, 202 patriotic education bases and 128 welfare cultural facilities were opened to the non-adults for collective visits. Many schools turned them into important places for education and science popularization. In Hubei Province, 102 public libraries were opened to the non-adults free of charge.

　　The Jiangsu provincial TV station took the lead nationwide in opening up the youngsters channel in October 2004. Nanjing municipality was also the first among deputy provincial cities to air the youngster channel. Jiangsu Province set up an audience center and exercised real-time monitoring of programs and columns aired by the provincial and municipal levels and played a positive role in guaranteeing orienting, cleaning audio-visual ratings and upgrading tunes.

Aiming high to go to realize the aspiring Hope project for the nation 

　  Strengthening and improving youngster ethical education is a long-term strategic task.  

　Social circles are keen on youngster ethical education. They all hope the whole society will further enhance awareness and unify their thinking. They expect that a three-in-one combination ethical education network will be put in place effectively. They expect to organize the school, community and family forces with schools as the leading factor, community as the platform and family as the basis so as to bring about a good environment and mechanism with enduring effects conducive the healthy growth and overall development of the non-adults.

　　It has always been an important public concern as to how to provide youngsters with healthy, forward-looking and national food for the mind. Steps should be taken to further provide better cultural food for children’s consumption. Give key support to creating a number of quality books, films, cartoons, broadcasting and TV works that suit youngster features and are favorite to their tastes. 

　　Along with economic and social development, there cropped up some problems in youngster education and management. One of them is the rapid increase of “left at home” children in the countryside, the “migrant children” and “wandering children” from the countryside. It is a must especially for the countryside to significantly strengthen youngster education and management, to improve guaranteeing migrant workers children’s school access, further settle problem of giving loans to the needy undergraduates.