Elementary school students have to learn Xi Jinping's teachings

Chinese President Xi Jinping

Photo: SERGEI KARPUKHIN / REUTERS

The Communist Party wants children to learn the political philosophy of President Xi Jinping.

According to the Chinese newspaper “Global Times”, new courses with the title “Xi Jinping's Thoughts” will be part of the Chinese curriculum from next month, from elementary school to university.

According to a circular from the Chinese Ministry of Education, elementary school students should, among other things, grapple with how "General Secretary Xi leads the whole party and the Chinese people."

Secondary school students are encouraged to study Xi's thoughts more deeply.

For decades the Communist Party has been enforcing the teaching of communist ideology in schools;

however, the new curriculum is aimed at ten-year-olds and also focuses more closely on worshiping a single leader.

According to a report by the British Financial Times (FT), textbooks were provided with pictures and quotes from Xi.

A book for the third grade tells, among other things, the story of how Xi's love for China was sparked by a lecture his mother gave about a patriotic general of the Song Dynasty, the newspaper writes.

Some teachers even instructed students to thank Xi for the physical education classes, writes the "FT" on.

In a test class, a teacher at a school in Hangzhou City said that her soccer game had benefited from Xi's care.

Parents from all over the country expressed concern about the "FT".

"I hate forcing children to study ideology," said a mother of a ten-year-old child in eastern Jiangsu Province, who refused to be named.

"That's disgusting," said a father of a school-age daughter in central Henan Province, who also wanted to remain anonymous.

Other parents warned that the practice reminded them of the personality cult around Mao Zedong.

ssu