In April 2025, Guangdong Province issued binding provincial regulations establishing a comprehensive AI curriculum for all primary and secondary schools. The regulations go beyond the national Ministry of Education guidelines and specify minimum class hours by grade level.
Students in grades 1–4 must receive at least six class hours of AI education per academic year. Students in grades 5–6 must receive at least ten class hours per year. Middle school and high school students must have at least one AI class every two weeks during their initial two years.
The curriculum is structured across four thematic strands: AI and life, AI implementation technologies, AI practice and innovation, and AI and society. Objectives by stage move from basic concept introduction at primary level, through algorithm and data processing understanding at junior high level, to machine learning and deep learning fundamentals at senior high level.
The regulations set out specific criteria for curriculum design, teaching resources, teacher training, and educational objectives. Teacher training requirements are included as a precondition for rollout. An ethics and society strand is required at all levels.
The provincial regulations are legally binding at the Guangdong level, enforced by the Guangdong Department of Education, and operate in addition to the national mandate from China’s Ministry of Education.
Score note: dimension 1 scores 2 (binding provincial curriculum mandate). Dimension 2 scores 2 (binding law with specific minimum hour requirements). Dimension 3 scores 1 (ethics and society component explicitly included but not separately assessed or graded). Dimension 4 scores 1 (teacher training required as part of curriculum rollout; no evidence of funding or verification mechanism independent of the curriculum requirement).