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TopIct In Elementary And Secondary Education
The significant social development in China requires that elementary and secondary education be available for all children. It also requires that education be effective and efficient. In making elementary and secondary education available for all and in making it more effective and efficient, ICT can play a greater role. The rapid ICT progress may help the Chinese education system deal with the challenges brought about by the increasing demands to make education available for all and to further improve the education system.
Although China has a vast population, it still lacks sufficient human talent. One of the country’s main strategies is to develop such talent by turning its large population into an advantage, changing its economic growth model from a resource-intensive one to a knowledge-intensive one. To develop human talent and build a knowledge-intensive economy, China needs to expand preschool education, improve elementary education and universalize secondary education. In addition, some Chinese learning facilities and teaching methods are out of date (Li, 2007). In renovating learning facilities and updating teaching methods, contemporary ICT will be helpful. The Chinese government is developing satellite and broadband-based distance learning to increase education availability, improve learning effectiveness, reduce operational costs, and provide equitable learning resources for all students.
In 1997, the Ministry of Education started a project of experimental schools for the development of educational technology. Over the years these experimental schools have made progress in building an ICT environment and in promoting the application of ICT in teaching and learning. These schools have made strong efforts to create and improve systems that apply ICT to teaching and provide ICT education to all their students.