Seminar held to promote educational excursions

"Adolescents grow up thanks to personal experience," said Sun Yunxiao, chief expert of the China Youth and Children Research Center. "In this sense, personal growth is gained through living in the world and cannot be replaced."

Sun Yunxiao, chief expert of the China Youth and Children Research Center, speaks at a seminar on promoting educational excursions on May 26 at Beijing Normal University. [Photo/provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Sun expressed his ideas about how to better motivate youth to learn, while a group of education experts gathered in Beijing on May 26 to attend a seminar on promoting educational excursions.

"A poem can offer some hints about planning a travel itinerary," said Zhengwei, Party secretary of the School of Journalism and Communication of Beijing Normal University.

"An education center may be set up with the inspiration from a story," he added.

As the basic education in China has continually improved over the past decades -- in terms of enrollment rates and teaching methods, among other fields -- education authorities and experts have encouraged students to keep learning outside the classroom, while travelling.

The Ministry of Education and 10 other government agencies issued a circular to encourage primary and middle schools to organize educational excursions for students in late 2016.

Schools should work such trips into their plans and integrate the events with school courses, according to the ministry.

Educational excursions for primary school students should focus on knowledge and understanding of their hometowns.

Stressing safety as the top priority, the document underscored that trips must be organized on a non-profit basis and come at a reduced cost for students from families with financial difficulties.

Li Yaoming, deputy Party secretary of China Education Television, speaks at the seminar. [Photo/provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

"Such educational excursions should not be made into nothing but geographic changes from one place to another," he added.