TIMELINE

2012: All counties nationwide popularize the program of nine-year compulsory education, Meanwhile, the illiteracy rate among China's young and middle-aged people drops to 1.08 percent.

2013: Peking University in Beijing becomes the first college in the country to open large numbers of online open courses. The move sees China ranked first in the world in the number of "massive open online courses" available and the number of people attending them.

2014: The Ministry of Education issues a guideline requiring 19 major cities to that ensure primary school students can enroll at middle schools without taking an entrance exam. Exam-free enrollment later becomes a national requirement, considerably reducing academic competition among primary school students.

2015: The State Council issues a guideline to promote innovation and entrepreneurship among college students. The first China International College Students' Internet Plus Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition is held at Jilin University.

2016: A guideline is jointly released by nine bodies — including the Ministry of Education, the Supreme People's Court and the Ministry of Public Security — to address the problem of bullying among primary and secondary school students.

2017: The government releases a list of universities and disciplines that it aims to raise to world-class status by the middle of the century.

2018: The national education conference is held. Central authorities stress the need to cultivate young people with all-around moral, intellectual, physical and aesthetic groundings, allied to good work skills.

2019: The State Council, China's Cabinet, decides to expand enrollment at higher vocational colleges by 1 million for the year to provide more talented younger people with vocational skills.

2020: The national college entrance exam, or gaokao, one of the most crucial tests for students in China, is delayed for a month because of the early battle against the COVID-19 pandemic. Eventually, 10.71 million students take the exam in July.

2021: The general offices of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council issue the "double reduction" policy, which is aimed at reducing students' homework and after-school study pressures to alleviate excessive academic workloads for children at the primary and middle school levels.