Why did Mao Zedong close China’s schools in 1966?

Mao Zedong closed China’s schools in 1966 as part of a "revolution in the superstructure," aiming to transform the nation's bureaucratically run systems into a more popularly based model under his personal control.12

By shutting down the schools, Mao sought to achieve several specific goals for the Cultural Revolution:

• Mobilizing Youth: He intended to provide China’s urban youth with a revolutionary experience, organizing them into groups known as the Red Guards to challenge traditional values and "bourgeois" authorities.123
• Rectifying the Party: He wanted to test CCP officials by encouraging students to publicly criticize them, aiming to remove those he deemed unfaithful to his vision.123
• Reducing Elitism: He sought to implement policy changes that would make the educational, cultural, and health care systems less elitist.12

Mao believed that this mobilization would be beneficial for the students and that the party cadres subjected to these attacks would be improved by the experience.13