China Mandates AI Education Across All Primary and Secondary Schools Starting September 2025

National Mandate for AI Literacy

China will introduce mandatory artificial intelligence (AI) education for all primary and secondary school students nationwide, commencing on September 1, 2025. This significant policy shift aims to cultivate a generation of AI-savvy professionals and reinforce the country's position as a global leader in technological innovation. The new curriculum will require students to receive a minimum of eight hours of AI instruction per academic year.

The initiative is part of a broader national strategy to integrate AI into the education system, with the Ministry of Education (MOE) outlining a comprehensive, tiered approach to AI literacy.

A Tiered Approach to AI Curriculum

The MOE has established a progressive AI education system designed to guide students from foundational concepts to advanced applications across different educational stages:

• Primary School: The focus will be on sparking interest and building foundational cognitive understanding. Students will be exposed to basic AI technologies such as voice recognition and image classification through hands-on activities. Emphasis will also be placed on the responsible and ethical use of AI. However, primary students are prohibited from independently using open-ended content generation tools.
• Junior High School: Students will delve deeper into AI logic, examine machine learning processes, and develop critical thinking skills to identify misinformation in generative AI outputs. Practical applications of AI in daily life will also be explored.
• Senior High School: The curriculum will shift towards applied innovation, encouraging students to design and refine AI algorithm models and cultivate interdisciplinary systems thinking. Students will engage in AI project creation and explore cutting-edge AI applications.

AI instruction can be integrated into existing subjects like science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), information technology, general technology, practical activities, and labor education, or offered as standalone modules.

Strategic Goals and Implementation Timeline

The overarching goal of this educational reform is to cultivate students' core competencies for adapting to an intelligent society, fostering technological innovation thinking, critical thinking, human-AI collaboration skills, and a strong sense of social responsibility. President Xi Jinping has emphasized AI education across all levels as fundamental to educational reform, viewing it as a key aspect to accelerate China's digital economy and innovative capacity.

Key milestones in the implementation include:

• November 2024: The MOE issued guidance on strengthening AI education in primary and secondary schools.
• December 2024: The MOE called for efforts to explore AI education approaches and establish related curriculums.
• May 2025: The MOE released two detailed documents: the 'General AI Education Guide for Primary and Secondary Schools (2025 Edition)' and the 'Guide for the Use of Generative AI by Primary and Secondary Students (2025 Edition)'.
• By 2030: China plans to introduce AI education in all primary and secondary schools.
• By 2035: AI is expected to be integral to textbooks, exams, and classrooms at all levels.

The MOE will also integrate AI-enabled teaching competencies into the teacher training framework, though teachers are prohibited from using generative AI as a substitute for core teaching responsibilities or inputting sensitive data.