International participants explore raising digital literacy of teachers during World Digital Education Conference

International educator representatives have gathered in Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province, for an exchange and cooperation event focusing on transforming teachers' roles and enhancing abilities in the intelligent era.

The meeting was a parallel session of the 2025 World Digital Education Conference, themed "Education Development and Transformation: The Era of Intelligence," which kicked off in Wuhan on Wednesday.

At the session, China's Ministry of Education released a report on primary and secondary school teachers, indicating that the digital literacy development index for teachers in 2024 registered a 5.53 percent increase from 2023.

"Technology is continuously being integrated into our educational settings. We need to engage in lifelong learning to master increasingly advanced technologies that serve talent cultivation and support teachers' professional development," said Liu Sannyuya, vice president of Central China Normal University. Participants widely acknowledged during their speeches and discussions that digital education is not merely about applying technology but represents a systemic transformation.

As the cornerstone of this transformation, teachers are at the heart of global efforts to redefine educational models in the digital age.

"China is really developing technologies which support AI and which support technology in the classrooms, and these technologies are extremely impressive. And honestly, I think the rest of the world will have a great deal to learn from the Chinese experience in the Chinese development of these technologies," said Jacques Fremont, President of the University of Ottawa.

According to the Ministry of Education, China is actively building an ecosystem for teacher development that integrates immersive daily practice, project-based empowerment of abilities, and platform-based support.

"China has always regarded teacher development as the foundation of digital education. We have implemented a national program to enhance teachers' information technology application capabilities, offering training to teachers for more than 23 million times over the past decade. Going forward, we will carry out a new digital empowerment initiative to provide a clear path for developing the teaching workforce in the intelligent era," said Han Jinhong, deputy director-general of the Department of Teacher Education under the Ministry.

International participants explore raising digital literacy of teachers during World Digital Education Conference

China's smart consumer device manufacturing sector has seen rapid growth this year, fueled by a government-backed trade-in program and the expansion of diversified consumption scenarios.

From January to May, the country's electronic information manufacturing industry maintained strong momentum, with total revenue of enterprises above the designated size reaching 6.49 trillion yuan (some 900 billion U.S. dollars), up 9.4 percent year on year.

Production of electronic consumer goods recorded steady increases. Over 140 million computers were produced during the period, up 8 percent from a year earlier, while 14.04 million television units rolled off assembly lines, up 1.7 percent year on year.

"Consumption scenarios are becoming more diversified. On the demand side, new smart products are quickly entering the market, opening up emerging markets in home services, health management, and beyond. On the supply side, the industry is clearly moving toward transformation and upgrading, with new growth drivers accelerating," said Zuo Kairui, director of the Industry Development Department of the Institute of Policy and Economics at the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology.

Looking ahead to the second half of the year, China plans to go on promoting its "AI plus consumer goods" initiative, encouraging the development and application of new technologies such as smart wearables, ultra-high-definition video, brain-computer interfaces, and robotics.

Meanwhile, authorities will continue to foster high-growth consumer sectors and guide the smart device industry toward greener, more service-oriented development.

China's smart consumer device industry sees rapid growth amid policy boost