In today’s talking points: China to publish Analects of Confucius for Belt and Road countries; 80% of Chinese students return home; Shanghai math books to be introduced to Britain; Aussie public schools bursting at seams as apartment boom puts pressure on catchments
China to publish Analects of Confucius for Belt and Road countries
China will publish the Analects of Confucius — a collection of ideas and sayings from the Chinese philosopher — in five languages for Belt and Road countries this year. China Confucius Foundation and Qingdao Publishing Group in east China’s Shandong Province, will jointly complete the translation and publication of the collection in the Arabic, Mongolian, Czech, Portuguese and Spanish languages. The Analects is a collection of his famous sayings, reflecting his political views, moral principles and educational ideas. And it has already been translated into English, Japanese, Russian, Korean, French and German. China proposed the Belt and Road Initiative in 2013, aiming to build a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along ancient Silk Road trade routes.
Read more at Xinhua
80% of Chinese students return home
Around 80% of Chinese students who left to study overseas returned to China in 2016, according to new statistics from the Ministry of Education. The number of Chinese returnees reached 432,500 in 2016, an increase from 409,100 in 2015. More and more students believe there are more opportunities for them to find jobs and develop if they come back than staying overseas to do so. China is the number one country globally in terms of volume of outbound students – 544,500 went abroad for their education last year, an increase from 523,700 the year before. According the ministry’s figures, around 36% of the students who went abroad in 2016 studied a postgraduate degree, while 31% went for an undergraduate degree. Another reason is that a lot of students also still struggle with understanding and adapting to the cultural differences they encounter overseas, which may encourage them to come home. Meanwhile, family has always been one of the key reasons why they return home.
Read more at The Pie News
Shanghai math books to be introduced to Britain
HarperCollins Publishers will translate mathematics textbooks from Chinese schools and publish them in Britain, according to its agreement with Shanghai Century Publishing Group. Some primary schools in Britain will use 36 books, including math textbooks, supplementary textbooks and teacher’s textbooks from Shanghai primary schools starting in September. The textbooks will be translated from Chinese into English to deliver a complete math program for primary school students. Apart from publishing textbooks, Britain will also spread the Shanghai Teaching for Mastery Programme in the country. It is a four-year program backed by 41 million British pounds in funding announced by the British Department for Education in July 2016. In July 2016, Britain announced it will continue the exchange project and urged 8,000 middle and primary schools in the country to learn from Shanghai’s math education.
Read more at Xinhua
Aussie public schools bursting at seams as apartment boom puts pressure on catchments
An explosion in the number of high-rise apartments across our capital cities is dramatically driving up student enrolments, resulting in “jam-packed” public schools. The overcrowding is due to the growing number of families with school-aged children choosing to live in smaller dwellings close to the CBD, rather than houses in the suburbs. State governments did not anticipate the trend and are now playing catch-up by installing demountable classrooms on school ovals and quadrangles to accommodate the extra students until new permanent facilities are built. Brisbane State High School — already the largest public high school in the country — is under enormous pressure, as thousands of apartments spring up in suburbs within its inner city catchment. In just four years, the number of students there has jumped from 2,269 to 3,145, meaning the school is now well over capacity, despite the recent addition of 40 extra classrooms.
Read more at ABC