Time to further reform Chinese education system?

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‍As of the end of 2016, China had 512,000 schools and 265 million students enrolled in schools. The country has the world's largest public education sector.

China has full coverage of nine-year compulsory education. Gross enrollment rate in senior high school reached 87.5 percent in 2016, with higher education at 42.7 percent.

In 2017, China issued a fresh guideline on education reforms to improve educational fairness and quality. It urged better system for assessment and supervision while stressing on same standards for the building of schools in urban and rural areas.

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But Chinese musician Jose Fung believes that there's a lot more to achieve in the field of education.

"If you visit a Beijing school, you will see that students are being fed with information, children are like an examination machine. You go and learn, you appear for an examination, and then you hate that subject," said Fung.

"The economy is already going up; we are the second largest economy in the world. China already has a lot of millionaires, now it's time to reform our education sector," he said, adding that "We need to engage the students to know themselves."

Mary Peng, CEO & founder of the International Center for Veterinary services, feels that in schools more girls should be encouraged to take up hardcore subjects like mathematics, physics and other wings of science and technology.

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"So many times have had these young kids, who come to my hospital or when I go to their school and talk to them, have 'aha' moments almost like the epiphany, they never realized that they could create a career in veterinary sciences," Peng said.

"Ten years ago, if a child wanted to be a veterinarian, the mother would cry and the father to threaten to disown them because there was no social status attached to this profession, now it's changing, the industry is growing at a rate of 20 percent per year," she added.

40 years with Laurence Brahm: A marathon of experiences and ideas” is a special CGTN program on China's reform and opening-up. The 10-episode series explores many sides to reform and opening-up over the years and offers a unique perspective on the seismic shifts that have rippled through China's economy, policies, and social fabric. The program is live-streamed at cgtn.com every day from November 15 to 25.