AI to be included in teacher qualification exams and certification

Joint deployment by China’s Ministry of Education and four other departments

“AI + Education” Action Plan — Promoting deep and extensive integration of AI and education

　　China’s Ministry of Education and four other departments have jointly launched the “AI + Education” Action Plan.

　　BEIJING, 10 April (Reporter Wu Yue) — Recently, China’s Ministry of Education, National Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Ministry of Science and Technology, and National Data Administration jointly issued the *“AI + Education” Action Plan*, outlining four key tasks: advancing AI talent development and literacy enhancement; promoting deep and extensive integration of AI and education; strengthening the foundational infrastructure for “AI + Education”; and optimising the ecosystem for “AI + Education” development.

　　Regarding AI talent development and literacy enhancement, the Plan calls for accelerating the popularisation of AI education among primary and secondary school students; ensuring AI-related courses are fully offered, adequately scheduled, and well taught; and supporting schools in rural and remote areas to deliver high-quality AI courses using the national digital platform. At the higher education level, AI will become a compulsory foundational course across all universities; discipline-specific textbooks will be developed, and all students will be required to acquire foundational AI knowledge. In vocational education, traditional disciplines will undergo intelligent upgrading. In lifelong education, AI general literacy education will be promoted across society. Meanwhile, teachers’ AI literacy and competencies will be enhanced through reform of teacher training programmes, incorporation of frontier technologies—including AI—into curricula, and inclusion of AI in teacher qualification examinations and certification.

　　The Plan requires deep and extensive integration of AI and education. To empower student learning, intelligent learning companions will be developed to support personalised learning. To empower teaching, intelligent teaching systems will be deployed across the full instructional cycle—including lesson preparation, classroom delivery, and post-class assignments. To empower school governance, an “educational intelligent brain” will be built, focusing on government services, examination and assessment, and employment support, enabling convenient services, precise management, and evidence-based decision-making. To empower scientific research, AI-driven scientific intelligence platforms and intelligent experimental clusters will be established to explore paradigm shifts in research driven by AI.

People’s Daily, 11 April 2026

Launch of the “AI + Education” Action Plan

Promoting AI general literacy across society

　　On 10 April, China’s Ministry of Education and four other departments launched the “AI + Education” Action Plan to advance AI talent development and literacy enhancement and promote AI general literacy across society. The Ministry stated it will continue enriching digital resources on the national platform, aggregating and developing AI general literacy resources, and encouraging universities and enterprises to develop discipline-specific AI resources open to educators, students, and the wider public.

　　The Ministry will incorporate AI into its “Two Thousand” initiative for enhancing university graduates’ employability, encouraging the offering of micro-specialisations and micro-certification programmes in AI to support high-level employment. Leveraging the strengths of universities and the Open University system, tailored AI literacy and skills courses will be developed for key population groups, with personalised continuing professional development services provided; relevant learning outcomes will be eligible for credit banking. Academic continuing education programmes will be restructured and curricula revised, and AI-related majors will be introduced into the self-taught examination system.

　　AI education for primary and secondary school students will be accelerated and fully implemented, with AI-related courses comprehensively offered, adequately scheduled, and effectively delivered. The Ministry will integrate AI education into local curricula nationwide, guide provincial authorities in developing AI curriculum guidelines specifying learning objectives, content, and class hours for each educational stage, encourage interdisciplinary AI teaching, and embed AI education into after-school services and study-travel programmes.

　　AI will become a compulsory foundational course at universities. The Ministry requires universities to develop discipline-specific textbooks and ensure all students acquire foundational AI knowledge; design concise, practical, and cutting-edge innovation courses aligned with AI’s technical characteristics; revise traditional disciplinary training programmes; introduce AI-integrated interdisciplinary courses; expand cross-disciplinary and cross-major course offerings; and cultivate compound, interdisciplinary talents. Disciplinary structures and major offerings will be adjusted in line with intelligent industrial upgrading, with new disciplines and majors established to meet emerging technologies, industries, and business models. High-level research universities, leading technology enterprises, and national laboratories will collaborate to deepen interdisciplinary integration, industry–education synergy, and research–education convergence, exploring new models for cultivating top-tier AI innovators.

2026-04-10

China’s Ministry of Education and four other departments recently jointly issued the *“AI + Education” Action Plan* (hereinafter the “Plan”), aiming to holistically advance AI talent development and application innovation and systematically build an education system fit for the intelligent era.

Among its provisions, the Plan announces the launch of the “AI + Education” Action Plan and specifies that AI will be incorporated into teacher qualification examinations and certification. Regarding AI-enabled teaching, the Plan proposes—

• Expanding application of intelligent teaching systems across the entire teaching process—before, during, and after class—to reduce teachers’ workload and enhance effectiveness;

• Supporting teachers in assignment management, including intelligent marking, Q&A, and tutoring;

• Using intelligent technologies to analyse classroom teaching behaviours, helping teachers improve instructional quality.

▌Source: CCTV News WeChat Official Account (ID: cctvnewscenter)