For the first time in the nation's history, Beijing primary- and high-school students will be able to choose additional subjects that will be undertaken in addition to the core curriculum.
The city's education commission announced the new pilot scheme on Thursday, and explained that the scheme will be launched with the beginning of the new term in September in around 100 schools in the district.
Students at the Dongcheng schools will be given the option to undertake the classes in any of the participating schools, and the commission added that they will also be able to choose any grade in accordance with their skill level.
The students' scores will be incorporated in the "comprehensive academic assessments" that have been newly introduced as part of an overall educational reform process. The assessments will replace the traditional gaokao exam results as the primary mechanism for college admission following criticism of the gaokao system as a restrictive "treadmill" that was insufficient for taking into account a student's full capacity.
You Na, deputy head of the Education Commission in Dongcheng, said that students will be able to choose from a range of subjects in the fields of sciences, art and sports, while one school day will available on a weekly basis for students to attend classes for their chosen subjects. The commission's website will display the curricula of the classes in every school.
The gaokao system was first introduced in 1977 and led to students concentrating solely on core subjects from the beginning of secondary school. According to academics at the U.K.'s University of Nottingham, it resulted in a "very narrow educational focus."
China's Ministry for Education announced the reform initiative in mid-January, with the pilot first rolled out in the Shanghai municipality and the Zhejiang Province.