On May 28, People’s Daily published the full text of a new “Opinion.” The Organization Department, the Propaganda Department of the Communist Party Central Committee, and the Communist Party leadership of the Ministry of Education issued the Opinion jointly.
The Opinion contains 16 requirements that focus on the enhancement of the “ideological and political” training of the nation’s younger educators. It mandates that Party organizations at all levels must “strengthen the development of young university teachers so that they will improve their ideological and political qualities in order to better implement the spirit of the Party’s 18th National Congress.”
“A few young teachers are lost in their political beliefs. They have fuzzy ideals and beliefs, their occupational and professional ethics are fading. … They cannot serve as role models for others." In addition to strengthening the Party’s leadership and control at all levels, the Opinion requires that all must “strengthen their study of political theory, deepen their education in the theoretical systems of Marxism, Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, and socialism with Chinese characteristics, and engage in in-depth study and practice of the concept of scientific development.
[Editor’s note: Analysts observed that the Opinion is one more example of the Xi government’s recent proactive efforts to exert tighter control over ideology. This Opinion came on the heels of the list of the seven taboo topics that the General Office of the Party’s Central Committee established. The list was reportedly distributed to universities across China. The seven topics that teachers cannot mention in class are: universal values, press freedom, civil society, citizens’ rights, the historical mistakes of the Party, the financial and political elite, and judicial independence.]
Source: People’s Daily, May 28, 2013
http://edu.people.com.cn/n/2013/0528/c1053-21643996.html