Denmark and Save the Children discuss education in China

Embassy of Denmark in Beijing and Save the Children held a panel discussion on education and innovation in China with Helle Thorning-Schmidt, CEO of Save the Children International and former Prime Minister of Denmark.

On Thursday 23 March 2017 the Danish Embassy and Save the Children hosted a lively discussion on how education and innovation should play a role in China’s development. The discussion panel included Helle Thorning-Schmidt, CEO of Safe the Children, Jacob Kragh, Senior Vice President at LEGO in China, and three leading Chinese education and innovation researchers.

A. Carsten Damsgaard, Ambassador of Denmark to China, opened the discussion with a speech on China’s development and the central role education and innovation will play in China going forward.

The panel discussed how China can reform its educational sector for better being able to support children’s creativity, how they can reduce the difference in education quality between the rich and poor parts of China, as well as how an increased focus on innovation and creativity in the educational sector can strengthen the practical skills of young people and thereby better support China’s development.

The Chinese experts shared their research on how China should become better at supporting children’s individualism and their respective strengths, as well as give teachers more freedom in their methods of teaching. Furthermore, they mentioned how the Chinese Government is trying to develop programs for testing and evaluating the potential progress or setbacks caused by political initiatives.

Everyone agreed that the quality of education in the poorest parts of China needs to be improved. Vice president of Beijing Normal University held the closing speech, in which he praised the panel’s nuanced debate on how China can reform their sector for education.

The Danish Embassy in Beijing has had a long collaboration with Save the Children in China, and Save the Children plays a major part in China in terms of ensuring children’s safety, health and their right to education. In 2012, Save the Children had improved conditions for education for 173,000 children in China, provided protection for 22,000 children and delivered emergency relief to 110,000 children and their families.

Source: Embassy of Denmark in China