China stops usage of English in educational institutions to counter 'Western influence'

China is rejecting use of English language in its educational institutions as a part of a battle against Western influence.
impact of English is reshaping China's social, cultural, economic, and political landscape, according to Li Yuan, writing in New York Times.

China's reform and opening-up policies, which transformed a poor and reclusive nation into world's second-largest economy, are nearly synonymous with English. education officials in Shanghai prohibited local elementary schools from holding final exams on English language last month, according to New York Times. 

China banned use of foreign textbooks last year

China's education ministration banned use of foreign textbooks in primary and junior high schools last year. This year, a government consultant suggested that country's annual college mission exam stopped evaluating English.

According to New York Times, new regulations on for-profit after-school tutoring franchises took effect this summer, affecting companies that have been teaching English for years. According to instructors who spoke on condition of anonymity, original English and translated texts are discouraged at colleges as well, particularly in more sensitive fields like journalism and constitutional studies. Three of m claimed that quality of some government-approved textbooks h decreased as a result of some authors being chosen based on ir seniority and party loyalty rar than ir acemic credentials.

Foreign texts are being replaced by Communist Party doctrine, according to Li. Shanghai's basic schools may not be ministering English tests, but beginning this month, a new textbook on "Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era" will be obligatory in city's elementary, middle, and high schools. For a semester, each student is expected to take a weekly class. Last week, Chinese government media widely disseminated a nationalistic article that cited " barbaric and ferocious attacks that US has started to launch against China."

China's ties with  rest of world being broken

English has now become a telltale marker of suspected foreign influence, a worry fueled by nationalist rhetoric that has only gotten louder since coronavirus outbreak. As a result, China's ties to rest of world are being broken one by one, according to New York Times.

(Inputs from ANI)

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