Wang Xuming, former spokesman for the Ministry of Education, called for abolishing English education for elementary students and enhanced content of Chinese in the curriculum.

Wang now works as president of Language and Culture Press and has more than 1.8 million followers on Sina Weibo, where he made the same statement twice ahead of Teacher's Day on Sept 10.

He also urged that off-school English training programs for children be banned. "Save children, and save Chinese," he wrote.

Wang's post generated heated discussions. A Sina Weibo user said many people don't use English after graduation while the abilities of using Chinese dropped sharply.

But a parent hoped schools can strengthen English at an early age and believed this can make the child more competitive in the future, Modern Express reported.