Education in Rural China

China educates the world’s largest school population, some 300 million children. Key educational policies are formulated by an education commission in Beijing, and implemented in counties, towns, and villages.

Education in China begins with nine years of universal, compulsory education. Educational reform, instituted after the tumultuous Cultural Revolution ended in 1976, invigorated education, especially in urban centers. But in less-developed rural areas, many schools still fail to meet national standards for such basic facilities as chairs, desks, and safe drinking water.

The pressures on rural children to leave school are huge. First, there is a large gap between education and employment opportunities—when there are few jobs requiring education, there is less incentive to get an education. Rural children are ill prepared for the national competitive examinations they must pass to get access to schooling beyond grade 9, further limiting their opportunities. Ironically, because peasants’ results from farming have improved, the pressure for children to work, rather than attend school, has increased as well.

In addition, almost the entire financial burden for primary schools falls to local towns and villages. This burden is transferred to parents, not in tuition, which is not allowed, but in the form of various fees. Although the cost of school fees would be inconsequential by Western standards, it is a burden many rural poor in China simply cannot bear.

Many doors remain unopened to poor, rural children in Guizhou, many of whom don’t finish grade 9. A 1999 UN Children’s Fund report concluded: "Education—more than any other single initiative—has the capacity to foster development, awaken talents, empower people, and protect their rights."¹

Copyright © 2008 Gwen Moore Children of China Fund. All Rights Reserved.