People read in a specially-designed Xinhua Bookstore at a shopping mall in Shanghai in December. [Photo provided to China Daily]

A handbook on lifelong learning, which was revised by UNESCO and its member states during a forum in Shanghai from Oct 18 to 19, will be published in 2019, making it the first global guideline for the comprehensive management and pragmatic development of lifelong learning.

The main content of the Handbook for Lifelong Learning: Policy and Practice will focus on key concepts of lifelong learning, practical approaches to mainstreaming lifelong learning in education and development policies, its impact on governance, and relevant governmental strategies to develop it worldwide.

"The handbook will offer member states and all lifelong-learning stakeholders concrete directions to formulate and implement lifelong learning policies and strategies," said David Atchoarena, director of the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning, at the International Consultative Meeting on Lifelong Learning at East China Normal University in Shanghai on Oct 18 and 19.