Remarks on the Central Committee’s Transmittal of the
“Summary of the National Conference on Education”
(August 1971)
[1]
Agreed.

Note
Published based on documents of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.

--- Notes

[1] From April 15 to July 31, 1971, the National Conference on Education approved by Mao Zedong was held in Beijing. On July 27, the “Summary of the National Conference on Education,” drafted under the direction of Chi Qun (then a member of the Leading Group of the Science and Education Group under the State Council) and finalized by Zhang Chunqiao and Yao Wenyuan (both then members of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee), put forward “two basic assessments” concerning the situation on China’s education front, namely: during the seventeen years after Liberation, “Chairman Mao’s proletarian educational line basically was not implemented; educational institutions, teaching principles, and methods were almost entirely from the old set”; and among the existing ranks of teachers, “the majority support socialism and are willing to serve the people, but their world outlook is basically bourgeois.” The Summary also stated that, in order to further implement Chairman Mao’s proletarian educational line, principles, and policies, efforts must immediately focus on ten major areas: 1. Realizing the proletarian educational revolution requires working-class leadership; 2. Adhering to the path of the “May 7 Directive”; 3. Criticizing the bourgeoisie; 4. The problem of educational reform is mainly a problem of the teachers; 5. Worker-peasant-soldier students are the fresh force of the educational revolution; 6. Teaching materials must be thoroughly reformed; 7. The issues of adjusting higher education institutions and the management system; 8. Several issues in the educational revolution in primary and secondary schools; 9. Running well the specialized secondary schools and technical schools; 10. The issue of educational revolution in military academies. On August 13, the CPC Central Committee approved and transmitted this Summary. On March 19, 1979, the CPC Central Committee approved and transmitted a report by the Ministry of Education, rescinding the 1971 “Summary of the National Conference on Education” and negating the “two basic assessments.”