Education in a broad sense refers to all social practice activities that purposefully affect people's physical and mental development.

Education in a narrow sense refers to specially organized education, that is, school education, which includes not only full-time school education, but also half-time and amateur school education, correspondence education, publishing education, radio schools and television schools.

According to the reality and future needs of a certain society, it is an activity to guide the educated to acquire knowledge and skills, cultivate ideology and morality, develop intelligence and physical strength, follow the law of physical and mental development of the younger generation, train the educated to adapt to the needs of a certain society (or class) and promote social development.

The main functions of education are:

1. The primary function of education is to promote individual development, including individual socialization and individualization.

2. The most basic function of education is to influence the change of social talent system and economic development. Modern society emphasizes that the economic function of education mainly includes: providing a good background for the sustained and stable development of the economy; Improve the potential labor ability of the educated; Form ideas, attitudes and behaviors that adapt to modern economic life.

3. The social function of education is to cultivate talents for the development of the country and serve the political and economic development of the country.

The most far-reaching function of education is to influence the development of culture. Education should not only convey culture, but also meet the requirements of the continuation and renewal of culture itself.