Following a flurry of objections from worried parents, the Chinese education ministry rejected a legislative plan that aims to weaken teaching English in schools in favour of promoting Chinese culture. Members of the National People’s Congress suggested last month that English study be cut even more short. The draught is a part of a decade-long campaign to lessen Western influence by cutting back on time spent learning foreign languages.
The remark was made in response to recommendations requested by the ministry of education regarding ‘raising cultural confidence’ and ‘lowering the percentage of English teaching’. According to a South China Morning Post story, one of the recommendations made by lawmakers was that studying English should take less time.
One person said, ‘Reform English teaching techniques and transition to grading-based education to emphasise oral communication and real-life applications,’ while another said the same thing. Although the government rejected these recommendations, it also promised to work to advance traditional Chinese culture. Less than one-third of the time spent studying Chinese languages is spent on English language instruction, according to the government’s justification, which claims that English only makes up 8% of the entire curriculum.
The ministry’s action was in reaction to a flurry of worries aired on social media platforms by users who were worried that students’ future employment chances would be adversely affected if English language instruction became even more marginalised. One user on Weibo asked, ‘Can you just rely on a translation tool to read them? Most of the prestigious academic publications in the world are in English, thus it is very vital to allow students study English from an early age.’
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