On March 6, General Secretary Xi Jinping delivered an important speech when visiting members of the Democratic League, Democratic Progressive Party and Education who attended the Third Session of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and participated in the joint group meeting, making important arrangements for "strengthening the role of education in supporting science and technology and talents."

Four years ago, on March 6, the General Secretary came to the medical and health and education members who attended the Fourth Session of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and conducted in-depth exchanges on "helping education that satisfies the people".

From the time when "we will pay attention to these educational issues together" to the time when "everyone will discuss education plans together", at the two National People's Congresses held at the beginning and end of the 14th Five-Year Plan, the General Secretary focused on education issues, demonstrating the Party Central Committee's high attention to education work.

At this year's CPPCC joint meeting, the two groups of relationships that the General Secretary talked about about "education" were impressive.

First is the relationship between "keeping pace with the times" and "not losing the most basic things" -

When discussing the education plan face to face with the General Secretary, member Xu Kun, President of Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, brought thoughts in practice: "Artificial intelligence has become a key variable to accelerate the progress of a major education power to an educational power."

From this topic, General Secretary Xi Jinping said that on the one hand, with intelligent Internet of Things and artificial intelligence, the tools and methods of education will change, and student ability cultivation will change, and these need to be reformed in keeping with the times. On the other hand, we cannot relax students' enlightenment, spiritual cultivation, basic cognitive ability, and problem-solving ability. You still have basic skills. "Education cannot be thrown away the most basic things."

"Keeping up with the times" focuses on taking the digitalization of education as an important breakthrough to open up a new track for educational development and shaping new advantages for educational development, seizing the major opportunities brought by the emergence of new technologies, and injecting new strong momentum into educational reform and development.

"The most basic thing cannot be discarded", which emphasizes that we must adhere to the correct direction of running schools and cultivate socialist builders and successors who are comprehensively developed in morality, intelligence, physical fitness, aesthetics and labor.

In terms of the "basic skills" that education should teach students, none of them are missing.

We must keep pace with the times, and we must not throw away the most basic things. We must require educators to keep in mind "adhering to the truth and innovating" and always remember the fundamental starting point and end point of "people".

The second is the relationship between "long-term efforts" and "imminent priority" - At the joint group meeting, member Zhang Yunkai, vice president of Hebei Transportation Vocational and Technical College, talked about the contradiction between "there are jobs but no ones, and there are no ones but no ones" in vocational schools. The General Secretary asked the school’s graduates in detail about the employment direction, employment rate, etc., and urged vocational education to make plans in advance to adapt to actual needs through reform.

"Talents have a change in the supply and demand relationship. If education wants to be ahead, it will be too late." "If you don't plan now, it will be too late"... The General Secretary profoundly pointed out: "Education issues are both a big thing and a very complicated matter. We must work hard for a long time and an urgent task." "Working for a long time" means maintaining historical patience and persisting in long-term struggle. Cultivating morality and cultivating people is not a one-day achievement, but you must be patient and perseverance; building an education-strong country is a complex systematic project, and solving problems and resolving contradictions must also be done steadily.

At the National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference this year, when participating in the Jiangsu delegation's deliberation, the General Secretary pointed out that there are "insufficient" or "oversufficient" childcare services; at the joint group meeting of the CPPCC, the General Secretary pointed out that "vocational schools must adapt to the actual supply and demand, which involves the problem of structural adjustment of education"...

These issues must be solved by deepening the comprehensive reform of education. A century of cultivating people is like reform and development in all fields. It cannot be achieved overnight, nor can it be done once and for all.

"The top priority" emphasizes the sense of urgency of doing a good job in education.

By 2035, the road is not long and the responsibility is even heavier. To achieve any long-term goal, we must adhere to the principle of "drawing a blueprint to the end" while "working one after another", both solving long-term problems step by step, and solving real problems quickly. This is the profound meaning of "the top priority".

Look at the moment, the people still have many urgent, difficult and anxious questions about education; looking at the long-term, Chinese-style modernization has put forward high requirements for education, science and technology, and talents. It is necessary to strengthen the supporting role of education in science and technology and talents, and further form a vivid situation where talents emerge in large numbers, people give full play to their talents, and talents make full use of them.

While keeping pace with the times, we cannot throw away the most basic things. While working hard for a long time, we must grasp the top priority. These two sets of relationships contain profound dialectical thinking. In order to further provide education that satisfies the people, lay a solid foundation for building a strong country and national rejuvenation, we have pointed out the methods and paths.

Planning: Zhang Xiaosong

Chief writers: Hu Mengxue, Zhang Xinxin

Visual: Zhang Huihui, Bao Yuhan

Domestic production of Xinhua News Agency

Produced by Xinhua News Agency's No. 1 Studio