By CGTN's Hou Na & Xia Ruixue

Days before NPC deputy Li Guangyu left for Beijing for the Two Sessions, the 53-year-old held a final seminar with 30 schoolchildren in central China's Henan Province. He wanted to gather more information for his motions and suggestions, to be presented at the annual NPC meetings.

In the conversation with students, Li learned that students’ weekends are mostly occupied by English language programs instead of taking physical education lessons.

This year, Li Guangyu came to Beijing with his two motions and seven suggestions -- most of them on educational issues. One of the suggestions proposed to cancel the English test in college entrance exams. This quickly stirred up a heated debate on and off the internet. 

"I am not opposing the study of the English language," he said. He believes that English has been overvalued and other subjects such as sports and Chinese Classics have been undervalued. He also suggested that the country should change English lessons from compulsory to selective, and make it a selective subject in the college entrance exams. In order to get his motions submitted, he needs to get at least 30 signatures from lawmakers.  

Li, also the head of a high school in Henan Province, has been calling for improvements in equality of education for many years. For three years in a row, he proposed that China should bring the compulsory education up to the end of high school. This idea received positive feedback from the Ministry of Education.

In Li’s opinion, the quality of China's education lags behind that of international levels, and children are too stressed over exams.