Education in China

In the past… Education suffered when Mao was in charge as education was seen as a threat to the totalitarian power of the dictatorship – so many teachers were killed during the Cultural Revolution, books were burned, and children prevented from going to school being encouraged to work on the farms instead. Only children from trusted members of the CPC would have been given the chance to get a proper education. However, when Deng came along, there was the realisation that in order to build a modern economy, China would need a skilled workforce.

Now…. Education in China is highly sought after, as a good education is essential if a child wants to get one of the higher paid jobs available in the SEZ’s. Because of the one child policy, lots of pressure is put onto children to succeed in education. However, there is significant inequality in the education system in China Deng’s economic reforms meant that all children would be entitled to primary education – but the reality is that the type of education a child receives depends heavily on where that child is born.

Bottom tier = Rural areas Although technically primary education is supposed to be free for all children for 9 years – the reality is that parents are expected to pay for books, uniform, equipment, teacher’s wages and even the heating in the school. For people who are on very low incomes in rural areas – this can be unaffordable, meaning many children are dependent on charity run schools. In rural areas there is a significant lack of trust for local governments who run schools – so many parents are unwilling to make payments. This is because of the “Tofu Schools” tragedy.

Middle tier = Migrant children Children whose parents have migrated to the SEZ’s are living outside of their “hukous” – this means that they are not entitled to attend schools in the cities where they live. This has meant that unofficial private schools have been set up in cities – these are called “sparrow schools” as they often have very low standards of hygiene, education and safety. Many children may be packed into small buildings – often very run-down buildings Children may be working for part of the day to make money – sometimes in unsafe conditions. Teachers lack qualifications and children are not able to take the standardised tests – so can’t get proper qualifications, which limits their opportunities in the future. Roughly 20% of children in China still attend these schools – however the government has made them illegal and is trying to shut them down. Although there is inequality – migrant schools have performed some important services.

Top tier – Children born in Sez’s Children who are born to parents whose Hukou is an SEZ or important city, and who have parents who have well paid jobs, have a good chance of attending a very high quality school in China. Newly built schools, with big budgets, good quality buildings, lots of resources and lots of opportunities to take part in extra-curricular activities Chinese schools tend to excel in Maths and science teaching – but still lag behind in Arts and Social Sciences (which require more freedom of thought and opinion). Some of China’s universities have made it into the league table of the world’s top twenty.

Facts and figures to show how china has improved From 1990-2010 children in pre-school education increased from 22% to 54% 95% of children attend primary school 73% of children attend secondary school (more girls than boys) 26% of people go to university – this is a 3% increase on 1991