President extends festive greetings to teachers

President Xi Jinping has sent his festive greetings to teachers nationwide ahead of the 38th Teachers' Day, which falls on Saturday, and encouraged students from Beijing Normal University to become good teachers after graduation in the places where they are needed most by the country and the people.

Xi, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks on Wednesday in a reply letter to students from Beijing Normal University who are involved in a national program dedicated to fostering teachers for underdeveloped areas in the country's central and western regions.

Xi, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks on Wednesday in a reply letter to students from Beijing Normal University who are involved in a national program dedicated to fostering teachers for underdeveloped areas in the country's central and western regions

In the reply letter, which was made public on Thursday, Xi extended his congratulations and greetings to the university's teachers, students and alumni as it celebrated the 120th anniversary of its founding on Thursday.

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Xi said he was happy to learn that, since the students involved in the national program commenced their university education last year, they had been trained to become more knowledgeable and obtained a broader outlook through in-house courses and on-site teaching practices, and that they had strengthened their determination to work as teachers in underdeveloped areas.

Noting that the Beijing-based university is China's first modern higher education institution, Xi praised it for fostering a large number of outstanding teachers for the country.

He expressed his hope that the students at the university would cherish their time there, study hard, strengthen their overall sense of integrity and enhance their professional capabilities so that they would strive to be good teachers fulfilling the requirements of the Party and the people, and contribute to cultivating the "builders and successors of socialism" in an all-around way.

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In 2021, China launched a national program to train teachers dedicated to working in underdeveloped areas in the country's central and western regions. According to the program, a number of institutions across the country will train around 10,000 graduates every year who will teach in primary and middle schools in 832 counties recently been lifted out of poverty or situated in remote border areas.

Some students from Beijing Normal University who are involved in the national program wrote to Xi recently. In their letter, they reported to him what they have learned and expressed their determination to be committed to education at the grassroots level after their graduation.