BY 2020, Futian District will add 24,900 seats in schools as the district builds 10 new schools and expands 25 existing schools, according to a data-driven Futian education development conference held Aug. 28.

The conference aimed to further deepen education reform by using data to implement precise management.

Tian Hongming, director of Futian District Education Bureau, is overseeing the expansion in the second half of the year. According to Tian, Futian Foreign Language School’s southern campus and Fuyuan Primary School, which were built this year, opened Sept. 1, providing over 3,500 additional seats.

More than 40,000 students receiving compulsory education have also benefited from a policy providing campus lunch and midday rest. Three more universally beneficial kindergartens, which refer to kindergartens enjoying government subsidies to make tuition fees more affordable, were built in 2018, and universally beneficial kindergartens now account for up to 77 percent of all kindergartens in the district.

The aim of national compulsory education quality monitoring is to scientifically evaluate the overall quality of compulsory education and offer indications for improving teaching standards and education policies.

The district has built a data team consisting of principals, research staff, education supervisors and teachers to apply the results of data monitoring to the plan of teaching and school development.

Futian District will issue an education quality monitoring report and finish pilot demonstration projects within the year based on evaluation data from classroom teaching.(A Ding)