“We must explicitly prohibit the use of quota-based indicators to drive general-vocational education tracking and must not rigidly cap the enrollment scale of regular high schools.” During the the 2026 National People’s Congress and Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference sessions, Yu Miaojie, a deputy to the National People’s Congress (NPC) and President of Liaoning University, focused on education and put forward systematic proposals aimed at correcting rigid high school entrance exam tracking and strengthening basic education at the secondary level.

 Yu noted that China is currently in a period of historic opportunity for a new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation, as well as a critical stage of China‑US technological competition. To advance the development of China as a powerhouse in education, science and technology, and talent in a coordinated manner, it is essential to review the current pathways for talent development. He pointed out that while the goal of classified cultivation is to address the talent shortage in manufacturing, in practice, the high school entrance exam tracking between regular high schools and vocational education has evolved into a rigid constraint, creating a “pre-university entrance examination” —a shift that will have profound implications for national talent reserves and the upgrading of the labor force structure.

 Yu argued that structural problems arising from rigid high school entrance exam tracking undermine the national talent reserve strategy and weaken China’s demographic dividend advantage. Meanwhile, it hinders the structural upgrading of the labor market and may exacerbate employment shocks brought by the digital revolution. Furthermore, it also carries the risk of compromising educational equity.

Yu mentioned that, on the one hand, the developmental differences in adolescents’ physical and psychological growth are ignored, which may solidify their developmental space. On the other hand, institutional barriers remain. Household registration restrictions in the high school and college entrance exams in some cities force certain students to enroll in local secondary vocational schools or return to their hometowns. This runs counter to the “peoplecentered nature” of education. 

Accordingly, Yu proposed correcting rigid high school entrance exam tracking and emphasizing the importance of basic education at the senior high school level.

Firstly, local education authorities must be explicitly prohibited from using quota‑based indicators to promote general‑vocational education tracking, and rigid caps on regular high school enrollment must be lifted. At the same time, “fixed general‑vocational tracking ratios” should be added to the negative list for education supervision, with targeted rectification for non‑compliant regions.

Secondly, the link between the high school entrance examination and educational tracking should be severed, restoring the examination’s role as an assessment of academic attainment. At the same time, junior high schools must be expressly prohibited from pressuring students to forgo the examination in order to boost performance metrics such as “admission rates” or “proportion of students entering key schools”. The trend of “college entrance exam in advance” must be resolutely curbed to prevent a single exam from determining a student’s developmental path. In addition, the system for students to independently fill out college applications should be standardized, with students’ own wishes as the primary determinant. Regular high schools should independently determine enrollment quotas based on their conditions of running schools, with no quota restrictions imposed by administrative orders. Furthermore, the supply of regular high school places should be expanded, and insufficient regular high school seats should be regarded as a governance defect in local education systems.

Meanwhile, the focus of vocational education development should be adjusted to establish a comprehensive system for cultivating digital literacy.

Yu emphasized that the Vocational Education Law of the People’s Republic of China stipulates that vocational education and general education are equally important. In his view, realizing this goal should prioritize the development of vocational undergraduate education rather than overemphasizing secondary vocational education. Key universities should be guided to open up resources to vocational colleges in fields such as intelligent manufacturing.

At the same time, in response to the digital revolution, a dynamic assessment of the “risk of digital substitution for low‑skill jobs” should be systematically conducted, and enrollment in skill‑based programs vulnerable to replacement should be promptly cut or scaled back. Furthermore, a comprehensive system for cultivating digital literacy should be established, with digital literacy courses (not included in the high school and college entrance exams) added at the primary, junior high, and senior high school levels to foster digital thinking.

Breaking down institutional barriers and expanding equitable developmental opportunities for adolescents are equally important. Yu also suggested expanding the pilot scope of general‑vocational integration experimental classes, standardizing the academic performance evaluation system and student status transfer procedures for “vocational‑to‑general” transitions, emphasizing the transition process, and using flexible formats such as “mini‑semesters” to help students adapt to changes in cultivation models.

Source: Beijing News Reporter  Beijing News