UNICEF urges China to invest more in early childhood education in the country's rural areas. (Photo : REUTERS)
Several universities in Beijing have launched a check to ensure that overseas original textbooks being read by students do not "preach Western values" after a notice by the Ministry of Education.
Education Minister Yuan Guiren had prohibited those kinds of textbooks in schools.
Yuan forbids any comments against the leadership of the Communist Party of China, those that smear socialism, speeches that violate the Constitution and the laws, or those that express complaints and grievances in classes.
Overseas original textbooks may refer to those published overseas, written in foreign languages, or translated textbooks, according to the ministry's notice.
The notice also required local education departments to submit a report before analyzing the usage of and problems with foreign textbooks.
The survey also requests information on the types of courses where the foreign original textbooks are used, the proportion of all courses these classes account for, sources from where the textbooks were procured, and the systems utilized by schools in assessing the textbooks.
The questionnaire is aimed at books for social sciences and the humanities, with a list of seven specific majors, including economics, sociology, journalism and communications.
The notice, questionnaire and the form are available on the website of the Anhui Provincial Education Department.
A social sciences teacher at a Beijing-based university said that teachers were required to submit the materials the following day, while a law professor shared that there was an emphasis that the questionnaire be filled out "honestly."
The notice has also been delivered to many provincial education departments including Anhui, Guizhou, Jilin and Hainan.
In Anhui, there were six universities, including two of the top schools, which were asked to submit the questionnaire and form, according to the website of Anhui's education department.
