Portrait of Li Keqiang
Politician · policy
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Li Keqiang on Education Policy

Advocate for Equity (strong)

TL;DR

Li Keqiang strongly supported policies ensuring equitable, quality compulsory education, particularly focusing on rural areas and fair resource allocation.

Key Points

  • In a mid-2017 State Council executive meeting, Premier Li Keqiang put forward measures to ensure the national nine-year compulsory education consolidation rate reached 95% by 2020.

  • He pledged stronger and more stable fiscal support and an improved evaluation and incentive mechanism for researchers during a January 2026 speech honoring distinguished scientists.

  • He spoke at a meeting announcing funding led by Premier Li Keqiang where local governments were directed to encourage vocational schools to enroll more workers, in 2020.

Summary

Premier Li Keqiang consistently linked educational policy to national goals of equitable development and poverty alleviation, emphasizing the foundational importance of compulsory education. He was instrumental in pushing for measures to balance educational resources between urban and rural areas, ensuring that county-level governments prioritized this mandate. His involvement is noted in executive meetings concerning the financial security and structural reform of funding for compulsory education, aiming to guarantee that all school-age children, including those of migrant workers, received fair access and quality instruction. He also demonstrated a focus on cultivating top-tier scientific talent through targeted enrollment programs in elite universities.

His administration supported policies that aimed to regulate private institutions and ensure that national standards for compulsory education were maintained, sometimes intervening directly to stress adherence to national targets, such as a 95% consolidation rate by 2020. Furthermore, Li Keqiang supported reforms in vocational education, advocating for better social approval and funding to upgrade the national workforce's practical skills. This overall stance reflects a commitment to using education policy as a critical tool for social fairness and national strategic capacity building.

Key Quotes

"The expedition to explore the unknown will not be like a walk in the park, and we need to respect rules and tolerate failures, so that our researchers can roam freely and try daringly"

"to ensure that by 2020, the national nine-year compulsory education consolidation rate will reach 95%."

Frequently Asked Questions

Li Keqiang’s main focus in education policy centered on ensuring equity and balancing the development of compulsory education across China, particularly through financial measures. According to reports on State Council meetings he presided over, he stressed guaranteeing government responsibility for funding and ensuring fair access for marginalized groups like migrant workers' children. His stance was strongly positive toward achieving national educational fairness goals.

Yes, Li Keqiang actively supported bolstering China's capacity in basic research and science talent development. In a January 2026 speech, he stated that the lack of competitiveness in independent innovation was rooted in weaknesses in basic research. He pledged stable fiscal support for researchers to focus on their projects without distractions.

Premier Li Keqiang addressed the issue of 'active dropouts' by stating that the government would order corrections if parents or guardians failed to send school-age children to school without justification. This statement was made in the context of ensuring compulsory education implementation. He linked parental responsibility to the broader national mandate for controlling dropouts.