China transforms education through introduction of AI courses

China

China transforms education through introduction of AI courses

2025-03-02 13:40 Last Updated At：17:27

Artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming increasingly prevalent in primary and secondary school classrooms across China, providing a modern approach to education while fostering scientific thinking and innovative skills among students.

In 2024, China's Ministry of Education issued a major policy promoting AI education in primary and secondary school classrooms. The goal is to achieve full coverage of AI educational courses by 2030.

The requirements are very clear. Primary school students will focus on experiencing AI, while high school students will develop skills that can be applied to AI projects.

The importance of AI education comes as no surprise, and cultivating interest is the first step. From robots to programing courses on AI, experts say a future-oriented education revolution is now unfolding.

At a school in Chengdu, the capital city of southwest China's Sichuan Province, when Generation Z encounters an AI humanoid robot, the future of education is redefined. These primary and high school students are full of curiosity about AI and humanoid robots.

"We can now see the future very clearly. For example, 10 or 20 years from now, just like these primary and high school students, they will definitely face the world of artificial intelligence after they start working. The future determines they must learn artificial intelligence from now on," said Feng Zhenyu, CEO of Sichuan Embodied Intelligent Robot Technology.

How to use AI programming to build small robots has become a compulsory course in some primary schools.

"We are earnestly promoting the strategic action of digital education and carrying out a series of application scenarios such as moral education, teaching, sports, aesthetic and scientific education enabled by AI," said Tang Min, deputy director of the Chengdu Education Bureau.

Wang Zhiyong, Communist Party secretary at the Experimental Middle School of University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, said he believes China is focused on promoting scientific education, introducing advanced concepts and educational methods from universities into basic education, and better cultivating innovative talents.

"We have opened an elective course called Mathematical Modeling and AI. The course is mainly taught by university teachers. The foundation of artificial intelligence is mathematics. We will introduce the basic projects of the university into the course. We encourage our students to participate in the national mathematical modeling contest for college students, the American mathematical modeling contest for college students, the informatics contest, the robotics contest and so on," Wang said.

Experts say strengthening mathematical knowledge in basic education and future industrial applications, while combining mathematics with AI, will help students face the challenges of the AI era.

Departure tax refund applications in China surge 285 pct in Jan-Nov

The number of overseas tourists claiming China's departure tax refund surged 285 percent year on year in the first 11 months of 2025, according to data released by the State Taxation Administration on Monday.

In the same period, the sales volume of goods eligible for departure tax refunds and the amount of tax refunds both increased 98.8 percent, according to the data. By the end of November, the number of tax refund stores catering to international visitors in the country had reached 12,252, including over 7,000 "instant refund" stores.

The departure tax refund measures, which enable overseas tourists to claim back value-added tax on eligible purchases made at designated tax refund stores before leaving China, are translating growing inbound travel flows into consumption momentum and emerging as a fresh driver for inbound tourism spending, the administration said.

China has introduced a series of measures since April to optimize its tax refund system for overseas visitors. Tax authorities nationwide have improved processing efficiency and enabled cross-region refund services, making the procedure more convenient and thus boosting tourists' spending.

The country first implemented the departure tax refund policy for overseas travelers in 2015. Since then, the scale of departure tax refunds has continued to grow year by year, benefiting an increasing number of international travelers.