Chen Xi
Executive Vice President and First Executive Secretary of CAST

During the 12th Five-Year Plan period, China’s science literacy program will focus on the overall strategy of the Party and the state and will adhere to the main line of the theme of scientific development and accelerating the transformation of the economic development pattern. Targeting at teenagers, farmers, urban workers, leading officials, civil servants and community residents and other key groups, the program will strengthen science education and training, scientific resources development and sharing, capacity of mass media for science communication, popular science infrastructure and science popularization talents. It will also improve the mechanism of talent training and mobilization, close integration of scientific research and science popularization, science popularization input and industry security, monitoring and evaluation system and motivation assessment.

1. Firmly follow the Party and the state’s decision and planning and fully understand the significance of raising the level of science literacy of the whole nation. The implementation of “Outline of the Action Plan for the Nation’s Science Literary” is the basic project in building an innovation-oriented country. It is the soil to cultivate innovative talents and is also an important part of the strategy of building China through science and education and making China a powerful country by relying on talents. To raise the level of science literacy of the nation is an objective requirement for strengthening the capacity for independent innovation, transforming the economic development pattern, securing and improving the people’s livelihood and pushing forward the social harmony in China during the 12th Five-Year Plan period.

2. Focusing on the scientific outlook on development, push forward China’s science literacy program to serve the overall economic and social development. Through the theme of “conservation of energy resources, protection of ecological environment, health and safety security and promotion of innovation and creation”, make the concept of scientific outlook go deep into the people’s mind down to the grass-root level. Widely publicize the concept and knowledge of safety in production, disaster prevention and mitigation, harmonious co-existence between man and nature and lead the public to scientifically understand the different characteristic of the different stages of economic and social development in order to dedicate themselves into the practices of development pattern transformation and economic structure adjustment to reach a higher level of development.

3. Be concerned about the people’s livelihood and serve the people at the grass-root level and benefit the broad masses of the people by promoting the achievements gained from the nation’s science literacy program. New action should be taken for science literacy of the community residents and push forward the practice of a scientific and healthy way of life on the basis of communities. To meet the needs of the disadvantaged groups, focus should be put on the urban migrant workers, new generation of migrant workers, left-behind children in rural areas, rural women and the aged for their science literacy education. Popular science should be conducted focusing on the hot and key issues in the production and life of the people. Strengthen the public service capacity at the grass-root level and promote the public science literacy program in a fair and general way.

4. Improve the long-term mechanism for the civic science literacy construction in order to provide sustainable motivation and security for the science literacy of the nation. Through formulating an evaluation standard for a full-time popular science worker or through other means, fully mobilize the initiatives of the people of all walks of life to get involved in the science literacy construction. According to the principle of open sharing, explore the ways and means of the mutual promotion between scientific research and science popularization. Adhere to government promotion and social intervention at the same time. Enlarge government investment, implement and improve tax preferential policies for public welfare donations, improve financial, taxation, monetary and other policies and measures which are favorable to the development of popular science industry. Further establish and improve the mechanism of monitoring and evaluation and motivation assessment for the nation’s science literacy program.

5. Earnestly perform our duties to implement the nation’s science literacy program during the 12th Five-Year Plan period. China Association for Science and Technology (CAST) will work together with other departments concerned to conscientiously fulfill the duties assigned in the Office for the Implementation of the Outline of the Action Plan for the Nation’s Science Literacy and further strengthen the advantages of the working system established during the 11th Five-Year Plan period to constantly strengthen the communication between member organizations, enhance the cooperation for the implementation of the nation’s science literacy program. CAST organizations will fully exert its superiorities in science popularization in the past years and will lead the broad masses of scientific workers to actively take part in the nation’s science literacy construction.