The plan on educational development for the next five years is a major step toward modernization of education, said Chen Feng, director of the National Center for School Development Program.

The plan for the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-2020) was approved at the State Council’s executive meeting presided over by Premier Li Keqiang on Dec 28.

It highlighted educational fairness, pledging more input in poor and remote areas, with efforts to ensure equal access for the children of migrant workers and impoverished families.

Education is the fundamental solution to poverty, said Xie Huanzhong, head of the Department of Development Planning at the Ministry of Education. In the next five years, the Chinese government will provide targeted aid for poverty-stricken students according to their education stages, and ensure every student has access to a fair education, Xie added.

The executive meeting called for education reform to improve students’ practical ability, and efforts to develop technical colleges. Newly added enrollment should focus on talent training for modern agriculture, advanced manufacturing and services.

A major task is to cultivate talent for the innovative development of China, said Chen Feng, who called for more efforts to combine industrial practices into education in vocational colleges, and reform rigid educational patterns in regular high schools.