Chen Baosheng, minister of education, speaks at a news conference of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in Beijing, Oct 22, 2017. [Photo by Edmond Tang/China Daily]

EDUCATION MINISTER CHEN BAOSHENG said on the sidelines of the ongoing 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China that a new college entrance exam will be established by 2020. Beijing News commented on Saturday:

Many are thrilled by Chen's pledge to carry forward reform of the college entrance exam, or gaokao, which he said has been the most "extensive and challenging" education reform since the resumption of the exam four decades ago.

A pilot reform for college recruitment has been underway in Shanghai and Zhejiang province this year, and will be tested in four other provinces before being implemented nationwide by 2020.

The reform offers wider access to the college entrance exam, by admitting more students from rural areas and allowing the children of migrant workers to sit college entrance tests in the cities where they live.

As General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized in his speech at the opening of the 19th CPC National Congress, the principal contradiction in Chinese society is between unbalanced and inadequate development and people's ever-growing desire for a better life.

His observation points to many institutional flaws in the education system, such as the score-oriented mentality that has taken its toll on students' overall performance, and the urban-rural gap in access to quality educational resources. Like the resumption of gaokao in 1977, the ongoing reform could well go down in history as a watershed moment for education in China.