学进去

For middle and primary school students, being able to cook has become a must. They will also need to learn how to plant vegetables, raise poultry (家禽) and maintain home appliances under new requirement, for labor education.

The Ministry of Education (MOE) brought out a new standard for labor education in schools last year. Starting from the 2022 fall semester, students in primary and middle schools have to take courses on labor skills at least once a week. Labor education helps students value hard work. It includes things like household chores (家务), on-campus labor and community volunteer services.

The new standard includes three types of labor tasks. The first is for things like everyday chores, including cleaning, organizing, cooking, and using and maintaining home appliances. Next is productive labor, including agriculture, making traditional handicrafts, and applying new technologies such as 3D printing and laser cutting. The third type is service work, which includes volunteer work.

Schools in China have traditionally placed more focus on studying, and many have seen household chores as a waste of children’s time. But according to the MOE, labor education must be built up to help students cultivate (培养) social values and develop an interest in labor.

Online, people have been busy discussing the new standards on social media.

Liu Fang, a mother of 6-year-old twins in Beijing, strongly supports labor education. For the past year, she has trained her daughters to do household chores and make simple dishes for the family.

“The main idea is to let them share responsibility as family members and become independent as early as they can,” said Liu. “Through doing housework, their hand-eye coordination (协调), time management and organization skills can be trained and it’s also good to help them relax.” Through such education, Liu said her twins have found pleasure when doing chores and are more independent.