Zhejiang allows students to tailor curriculum

Most high school students are assigned to a class in their first day of school and then spend years in the same classroom with the same classmates.

But the stereotype of China's traditional education is gradually disappearing in Zhejiang province.

Provincial education authorities are pushing a new education system that allows high school students to pick their favorite teachers and courses based on the students' abilities and tastes.

The move is the provincial government's latest effort to improve students' creativity and individuality, the absence of which have long been criticized.

Under the new system, a subject could be divided into different levels and taught by different teachers. Students can choose the course they want based on their own circumstances. They should finish the required credits after three years.

"In the traditional system, the education plan and course content is unified, and the teaching pace of everyone is based on the average ability of students, which has created some problems," said Ren Xuebao, principal of Affiliated High School of Hangzhou Normal University.

Under the old system, students usually don't have opportunities to experience other teachers' teaching style. Meanwhile, teachers cannot meet the demands from students of different levels equally. In most cases, teachers can consider only the average abilities of students, Ren said.

The new education system was first adopted for selected courses in high schools in Zhejiang province years ago, and it was expanded to required courses, such as Chinese, mathematics, English, physics, biology and history - the subjects on the National College Entrance Exam.

The reform project has already been carried out in four schools in Hangzhou, Jinhua, Qingtian and Yiwu as pilot programs. In 2014, another seven schools in the province will start the new education system.