The country should make more effort to boost vocational education, says an article in Workers' Daily. An excerpt follows:

It has been reported that the central government will inject 10 billion yuan (US$1.23 billion) into vocational education during the 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-10) period.

Premier Wen Jiabao and Minister of Education Zhou Ji have stressed on many different occasions that the country should expand vocational education in order to adapt to the upgrading of its industrial structure as a result of economic development.

In recent years, decision-makers in some regions have regarded vocational education as a supplement to general education. In their education planning, vocational education has always been in a secondary position. Such a biased concept has hampered the development of vocational education. As a result, it has not played a role as the main way to cultivate skilled workers.

It is well known that the development of the national economy needs a lot of scientists, engineers and management personnel, but it also badly needs a stable team of technicians and high-quality workers.

The innovation of a country and its enterprises not only needs high-quality scientific researchers, but also qualified technical staff.

It is a fact that the quality of skilled workers in a country decides to a large degree scientific and technological levels and innovations.

Having a team of high-quality technicians is a prerequisite to the country's industrialization and modernization. Now China faces a serious shortage of such personnel in many sectors.

It is encouraging that governments at various levels have acknowledged this and are taking measures to change the situation.

Furthermore, statistics from the Ministry of Education show graduates from vocational schools are facing ever-brighter employment prospects. Such graduates in Beijing and Zhejiang Province have realized an employment rate as high as 80 percent.

To boost further development, what China should do now is to discard its biased attitudes towards vocational education and increase its input in the industry.

(China Daily November 14, 2005)