Can vocational education focus solve China’s demographic challenge?
- Beijing plans to develop a ‘high-quality population’ by training 10 million skilled workers a year in the world’s largest programme
- Observers caution that an overreliance on specialised skills could leave people vulnerable to technological changes
The People’s Daily editorial said vocational secondary schools and colleges would train 10 million high-quality skilled workers each year, adding that the country’s total now was more than 200 million skilled and over 60 million highly skilled workers.
It was the party mouthpiece’s second editorial to focus on China’s population strategy this week.
China’s population fell last year for the first time in 60 years – down 850,000 to 1.41 billion people. And, while China faces a looming demographic challenge with its rapidly ageing population, India was last month declared the world’s most populous nation by the United Nations.
People’s Daily said improving the population’s skills would provide a solid foundation for “building a modern socialist country comprehensively and rejuvenate the country”. It would also be critical for advancing future economic growth, it said.