On October 13th, the 2025 China-Africa STEM Educators Acceleration Program officially commenced, sponsored by the Department of International Cooperation and Exchange of the China Ministry of Education, the Department of Teacher Work of the China Ministry of Education, and the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission. It was jointly organized by the UNESCO Teacher Education Centre and Shanghai Normal University (SHNU). Over 50 African education officials, teacher educators, experts, scholars, and primary and secondary school teachers from countries such as Tanzania, Ghana, South Africa, Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda, Rwanda, Zambia, Nigeria, and Malawi. The participants included Hao Lei, Deputy Director of the Department of International Cooperation and Exchange of the Ministry of Education, Huang Xiaohua, Deputy Director of the Department of Teacher Work of the Ministry of Education, Abram Seliki Tlhabane, Director of the Department of Mathematics, Science, and Technology at the South African Department of Basic Education, Ye Linlin, Deputy Director of the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission, Lin Zaiyong, Party Committee Secretary of SHNU, and Zhang Minxuan, Director of the UNESCO Teacher Education Centre.
Lin Zaiyong pointed out that this training program is a key initiative to implement the outcomes of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation Summit, aiming to share China's Chinese solutions in STEM education and digital transformation. He expressed his hope that the participants would serve as ambassadors to promote Sino-African STEM education cooperation and wished the training program a complete success.
The program will hold training workshops for three consecutive years starting from 2025, serving the reform and development of basic education, particularly STEM education, in African countries to support their modernization. The theme is Professional Development of Secondary School STEM Teachers, with a focus on exploring teaching methods for secondary STEM subjects, the utilization of innovative teaching resources, and the cultivation of students' autonomous learning abilities. The training workshops will last until October 22nd and include formats such as expert lectures, in-depth visits to primary and secondary schools, museum tours, and joint classroom sessions.
