‍‍Chinese Minister of Education Chen Baosheng held a press conference on Sunday, on the sidelines of the annual National People's Congress (NPC) convention. 

He elaborated on reforms in China’s educational infrastructure, after the central government introduced plans to improve the quality of educational services and enhance the fairness of resource allocation.

The number of rural teachers in China has reached three million, Chen Baosheng said.

As these teachers are essential to the development of education in rural areas, China has launched a national plan to support their work and lives, Chen said.

He also said that China will encourage more teachers to work in rural areas under the plan,and offer more training opportunities for principals in rural schools.

Chen said he was upset about reports of students from an isolated village in Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, who have to climb ladders up a cliff to get to school. “It might be a good scenic spot, but it is definitely not a good place for kids to learn,” Chen said, while stressing the significance of reducing poverty.

He also outlined four major areas in which efforts should be concentrated, in poverty relief through education.

First, more investment should be put into poor areas to improve infrastructure construction. Second, target efforts should be made to meet the demands of various areas by thorough investigation and research. Third, the ministry will work with authorities at all levels to take concrete actions. Last but not least, the ministry will also endeavor to deploy talents and take full advantage of Internet technology in fighting against poverty through education.  

Chen explained how China has launched football training schools to cultivate talent in the sport. 

International cooperation and exchanges have been made to improve China's competitiveness in football training. Chen said some Chinese teams have joined competitions with teams from the UK, France, and Spain, generating fruitful outcomes.

The development of football education should be carried out step by step, with clear standards and full support from local authorities, Chen added.

Several measures have been taken to tackle the problem of school bullying and violence.

Chen said that there will be a mechanism combining forces on and off school campuses to counter bullying and violence. Schools in some areas have already set up systems to monitor the phenomenon, capable of reacting quickly to possible incidents.

Chen expressed his happiness at hearing that there was a wave of Chinese overseas students returning after studying abroad. 

The Ministry of Education will work to provide more favorable conditions for returning students, such as encouraging universities to hire returnees, offer incentives and hold career fairs.

More than 4.85 million Chinese students went abroad to study in 2016, while the number of returnees reached 3.22 million, Chen said.

As China has entered into the era of new normal and carried out supply-side reforms, the changes in economic development have pushed the country to improve its vocational education, said Chen at the press conference.

 “We do need to cultivate an Albert Einstein, and we also need to cultivate a Thomas Edison and Lu Ban, ” Chen said. Like Thomas Edison, Lu Ban was an ancient Chinese engineer and inventor.