Many parents in major cities in China have called on schools to teach English early to primary school students. According to The Paper , recently, parents in Gansu, Sichuan and Fujian (China) posted articles in the News section to give suggestions to the leaders of the People's Daily to reflect this issue.

Accordingly, some primary schools in Thanh Quan and That Ly Ha districts of Lan Chau city (Gan Tuc, China) have started teaching English to first graders, 3 sessions/week. Meanwhile, schools in An Ninh and Tay Co districts only teach English to students from grade 3 and above. Some schools have taught English to first graders, but 1 session/week is not very effective.

"The difference in the starting time of English classes between primary schools in Lanzhou city creates injustice, giving students in Chengguan and Qilihe districts an advantage over those in Anning and Xigu," a parent confided.

Regarding this issue, on November 26, the Lanzhou CityEducation Bureau said: "According to the regulations in the Compulsory Education Program (2022) of the Ministry of Education of China, English teaching in primary schools starts from grade 3 students. For areas and schools with sufficient resources, English can be taught to students from grade 1 or grade 2, focusing on listening and speaking skills.

Based on the requirements of the Gansu Provincial Education Department, most primary schools in Lanzhou have started teaching English to students from Grade 3 onwards. Some schools have started teaching English to Grade 1 students because of sufficient teacher resources. Currently, primary schools in An Ning and Xi Gu areas cannot teach English to Grade 1 students because of insufficient teacher resources to meet the demand for opening classes.

Previously, parents in Chengdu (Sichuan, China) also had similar questions. On November 5, the Chengdu City Education Bureau said that it strictly followed the curriculum and teaching plan of the Chinese Ministry of Education, requiring English teaching for students from grade 3. However, currently, some schools in the area have started teaching English to first graders but only at the introductory level.

Similar to Lanzhou, while schools in Xiamen (Fujian, China) have started teaching English to first graders, in Zhangzhou they only teach students from third grade and above. Many parents in Zhangzhou have petitioned primary schools to start teaching English to first graders as soon as possible. They believe that learning a foreign language early will benefit the development of children's language skills.

Immediately afterwards, a representative of the Zhangzhou Education Department said that they had acknowledged the parents' comments and would promptly report them to their superiors: "We will conduct a survey of teacher resources at primary schools in the district. If qualified, we will let schools organize English supplementary classes for first graders or open English clubs."

Currently, the proposal of Chinese parents to teach English to students from grade 1 has received much attention. Besides those who support it, there are also some who believe that including English in the first grade curriculum is not appropriate, because this is the time when children are just getting acquainted with their mother tongue.

A country with over 108 million English speakers but proficiency remains low PAKISTAN - According to a recent report, inequality in the distribution of educational resources means that the majority of Pakistani students from 'average' schools still lack the skills needed to pursue higher education and develop their careers despite studying English for more than 14 years.