一 : Whats lacking in our education?

Heading a group of Chinese-language teachers on a recent trip to China, the author visited schools in Beijing and Shandong province. He shares his observations and reflections with our readers.

HAVING visited two schools in China recently, I can't help but applaud the ideal of education upheld by the principals.

Like Singapore, China is witnessing a generation of young students who dislike reading. To tackle the problem, the principal of a primary school in Jinan city, capital of Shandong province, started a school-wide project of bookplate-making some years ago.

Now, high on the must-do list for the school, the activity has been taking place annually on a large scale. Not only are all the pupils required to make bookplates but the teaching staff are called on to help, too.

The art instructors are to teach the children how to make printing blocks out of plaster, with which bookplates will be printed. Teachers of other subjects will recommend to their pupils titles suitable for outside reading, highlighting the significance of attaching an Ex Libris onto a book they have read.

Then, pupils and teachers will put their collective works on show: bookplates along with brief reading reports. This has become the most eye-catching item among the school's achievements.

This way, not only are the children encouraged to read more, but a refined aesthetic sense is cultivated in them.

The principal's idea stemmed from a plain desire. With the aid of the time-honoured art of block print, he hoped to instil in the children a love for reading and appreciation of beauty, so that they can enjoy fun and pleasure while they learn and study.

A similar objective is achieved in a Beijing secondary school by having the students run a TV station of their own.

All work involved, from programme planning to backstage chores, is done by the students themselves. Even the student director of the TV station was elected on a one-man-one-vote basis by the whole school including the principal, teachers, and students.

The school provides limited funds plus basic facilities such as a simple film studio and tolerable equipment of post-production.

On a sultry summer day, I had a talk with the students working in the stuffy editing-room , and was deeply moved by their spirit.

The principal regularly shows the TV productions thus made during school assemblies, and invites all students to discuss and comment on the works about their contents and techniques.

As the TV productions are done as an extracurricular activity, the students' schoolwork is not compromised.

When interviewed by the visitors, the principal shared her experience, joy and pride in helping the students run their own TV station. She did not touch on the children's scholastic performance or results in various competitions.

I cannot help comparing education in Singapore with that in those two schools.

Our country values a strong administrative background in a school principal. The head of an educational institution must be an excellent administrator, but may not have a clear idea of education or the drive for bold moves beyond the set rules.

Of course, an educator is different from an administrator. But which is more needed for our schools?

Is bookplate-making or a student's TV station so peculiar to those schools in China that it can't be emulated in Singapore for lack of ideas and facilities? In fact, the activity per se doesn't matter, but the initiative to boost the students' motivation does.

The essence of education lies more in activating a desire in the educated to study on their own accord.

In Singapore, waves upon waves of new policies, re-set targets, appraisals and assessments tend to make even the most competent principals feel inadequate.

Besides, a principal is judged by his executive abilities rather than his commitment to the ideal of education.

Of course we have no lack of educators highly actuated by ideals, but they hardly have the urge to break through the various restrictions. Principals and teachers alike may have lots of fresh ideas of how to do a better job, but they have yet to take an even tougher challenge and uphold the ideal of education for the benefit of their students.

Here we have a perfect education system, which provides a regular environment for normal growth. Yet our practices, on the whole, still encourage excellence and fulfilment of potentials while neglecting the balance between intelligence and character in the educated.

Education should be different from business management. If our principals can free their minds to pursue their ideals on a reasonable assumption, we can expect to see more of their cherished dreams come true.

•The author is editor of Thumbs Up , a weekly newspaper for Primary pupils. Translated by Allen Zhuang

 

 

我们的教育欠缺些什么？

● 蔡深江

 

作者最近率领本年度模范华文教师访问中国山东和北京，参观当地的中文教学情况。这是他的感想。

最近在中国参观了两所学校，校长办校的理念让人暗自喝采。

中国也面对新生代学生不爱阅读的问题，济南一所小学的校长于是在学校推行制作藏书票的活动。

不但是全校各年级学生要制作藏书票，老师也必须参与制作。整个制作藏书票的活动成了学校最主要的一个工程，每一年浩浩荡荡举行。

美术老师负责课后教导学生以石膏刻制版模，其他科目的老师则鼓励学生阅读课外书，点出制作藏书票的意义。

最后，所有师生的作品都展示出来，藏书票加上简单的读书报告，成了学校最漂亮的成绩单，不但达到了鼓励阅读的目的，也巧妙地提炼了学生的美学观念。

校长的出发点很平实，只是想通过藏书票这个古老的印刷方式，结合美的教育和阅读习惯，让学生通过一种更轻松有趣的认知过程，加强学习效果。

北京的一所中学则是让学生成立电视台，从节目的策划到台前幕后的大小工作都由学生负责，连担任电视台台长的学生也是通过校长和全校师生一人一票选举产生。

校方则提供相当有限的制作经费，以及设立简单的摄影棚和条件不是很好的剪接后制场所。

我和负责同学在闷热的剪接室交谈，夏初的暑热使人难受，然而我对学生们的精神十分佩服。

校长用周会放映学生拍摄制作的节目，并且让学生公开讨论，辩论解说节目的内容和制作水平。

学生在课余时间进行摄制的相关工作，不影响他们的正课学习。

面对访客，校长不谈学生的学业成绩和其他辉煌的比赛记录，专心分享她和学生成立电视台的用心、效果以及骄傲。

我不得不将本地的教育情况带出来比较。

新加坡信奉的是完整扎实的行政经验，能当上一校之长，一定是出色的行政官，却不一定有清楚的教育理念，或者敢大胆推行规定以外的政策。

教育家和行政官是两种很不一样的角色，我们要的是何者？

难道这两所学校的作法非常特别吗？或是本地学校没有这样的构思和条件？

其实活动的设计本身并不重要，推动与激发学生自由学习的原动力，才比较接近教育的本质。

在一波接一波的教育政策、预期目标、评估与成绩的压力底下，再勇敢的校长也会力有未逮。何况，制度重视的是校长的执行操作能力多于对教育的热情。

本地当然有充满理想的教育工作者，在种种限制中却不见得有打破体制的冲动。校长和老师也许不乏推动教学的新点子，然而，能不能以学生的角度出发，为教育坚持理念，是一个更大的挑战。

我们的教育有完善的体系，也提供了中规中距的成长环境，然而，整个教育过程鼓励的是追求更杰出的表现与更好的可能，忽略了在心智与人格发展上的平衡元素。

办教育应该不同于管理一家公司，如果学校校长敢于摆脱束缚，在合理的假设上追求一些理想，相信我们会看到多一些执着的梦想成真。

•作者是小学生周报《大拇指》主编

二 : Education in china

Education in china is facing a great chanllenge. Compared with the advanced education system, the problem of chinese education is obvious. Now developing the education system for ablity train

ing should be the most important after a series of social problems resulted from the unlogical education methods and over-pursuit for students' high score.

First, our education concept focus on the result but not the procedure of learning; We all study for scores from primary school to college. Second, diploma is the only measurement of our ablity; we can't obtain a good job without a rich-enough diploma, say nothing of promotion .Under such pressure, we are busy with the postgraduate examination, studying abroad to become a whitecollar thus have little time or energy to consider the things irrelative to us, say nothing of the benefit of our country.

So,regarding to such results of chinese education, the reform of education should focus on two basic aspects. First, pay attention to the education procedures.The country should refresh the view of the traditional values of human resources, we should abandon the thought of score being the most important. The school should focus on the procedure of study and try to improve the integrated ablity of students. Secod, improve the capality of the teachers. A good teacher should treat the students kindly and give them advices in various fields for a teacher is due to not only enhance the imagination and creativity of the students, but also tell them the right way of living and treating the world.

In summary, we should straightly face the problems occured in the past years, and learn a lesson from them to speed up the development of education in China.

A Survey of the Development of Basic Education

Basic education in China includes pre-school education, primary education and regular secondary education.

Before the foundation of the People's Republic of China in 1949, basic education in China was extremely backward. In 1946, the peak year of educational development,

the country had only 1,300 kindergartens, 289,000 primary schools and 4,266 secondary schools. After 1949, the central and local governments attached great importance to basic education and began to input a lot of financial, human and material resources in education. With the adoption of the policy of reform and opening to the outside world in 1978, basic education entered a new era of progress. In 1985, the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party issued the "Decision on the Reform of the educational Structure", laying down the principle that local governments should be responsible for basic education. The new policy was an incentive for local governments, especially those of the counties and townships. In 1986, the National People's Congress promulgated the "Commpulsory Education Law of the People's Republic of China", thus placing basic education in the country on a firm legal basis. In 1993 the CPC Central Committee and the State Council jointly issued the "Guidelines for the Reform and Development of Education in China", clarifying the directions and basic policies for the development of basic education till the early years of the 21st century. In early 1999, the State Council ratified the "Action Plan for Educational Vitalization Facing the 21st Century" formulated by the Ministry of Education (MoE) , laying down the implementation of the strategy of "Invigorate China through Science, Technology and Education" and drawing the blueprint of reform and development for the crosscentury education based on the "Education Law of the People's republic of China" and the "Guidelines for the Reform and Development of Education in China". IN June 1999, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council jointly promulgated the "Decision on the Deepening of Educational Reform and the Full Promotion of Quality Education", clarifying the direction for the establishment of a vital socialistic education with Chinese characteristics in the 21st century.

During the past 50 years since the founding of the People's Republic of China, basic education in China has gained tremendous achievements. By the end of 1998, China had 181,400 kindergartens with a total enrollment of 24,030,300 pupils, 609,626 primary schools with a total enrollment of 139,538,000 students, 63,940

regular junior secondary schools with a total enrollment of 53,630,300 students, 13,900 regular senior secondary schools with a total enrollment of 9,380,000 students and 1535 special schools with a total enrollment of 358,400 students, among whom 225,500 students join the special education class or other regular class in the regular secondary schools.

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The central government exercises macro guidance over basic education, leaving its actual daily management to local governments at various levels with appropriate division of labor. The MOE is responsible for formulating laws and regulations, policies and overall planning, and the basic elements of the education system; for establishing special funds for teacher training, and education in poor and minority areas, and for general supervision and guidance of the work of the local educational administrative departments.

The responsibilities of provincial-level governments are to implement basic education in areas under their jurisdiction, including the design of development plans and teaching plans for local primary and secondary schools; the organization of evaluation and acceptance of accomplishment of compulsory education; the establishment of educational special funds to help poor and minority areas and the provision of subsidies to counties with inadequate educational expenditure.

County-level governments bear the main responsibilities for implementing compulsory education, including the overall management of educational finance, the deployment and management of school principals and teachers, and the provision of guidance to education and instruction in primary and secondary schools.

The township governments are mainly responsible for the implementation of compulsory education in the areas under their jurisdiction.

The state encourages the active participation in the provision and management of primary education and secondary education (including pre-school education) by all quarters of the society so as to gradually establish the schooling system in which the government takes the main responsibility participated by all quarters of the social forces will develop together. the primary and secondary schools and kindergartens are advocated to join hands with nearby enterprises and institutions, neighborhood committees or villager's committees in setting up community educational organization to win the concern and support of various social quarters to the construction of schools.

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Pre-school education is an important component of education cause in China. In urban areas, pre-school education is mainly kindergartens of 3 years, two years or one year which could be full time part-time, boarding or hour-reckoned. In rural areas, pre-school education is mainly nursery classes and seasonal kindergartens in addition. In the aging, minority, remote and poor areas, besides the normal preschool education, there are irregular educations with various forms such as children activity centers, game groups, mobile aid centers, and mobile service called "caravan". Following the policy of providing per-schooling education by the state, collective bodies, citizens and individuals and developing through multiple channels in various forms, pre-school education in China has made significant progress. By the end of 1998, China has more than 180,000 kindergartens with the enrollment of 24,000,000 pupils and the participant rate of one-year pre-school education has reached 70%. Per-school education has been generally universalized in big and middle-sized cities. During recent years, pre-school education in the mass rural areas, particularly in remote, poor and minority areas, has developed rapidly. In 1998, among the 11 provinces in the southwest and northwest part of China, 39.9% of children in the 22 poverty-stricken counties authorized by the state participated three-year pre-school education and 66.7% participated in one-year pre-school education. The kindergartens combine childcare with teaching so that the children will develop physically, morally, intellectually and aesthetically in a harmonious way to get ready for their formal school education. The educational activities conducted in kindergartens constitute a systematic, purposeful and multi-faceted process of education conductive to lively, invigorating and sound development of children. With playing games as the main part of educational activities in kindergartens, a good environment should be created conducive to the education with conditions and opportunities offered to children to live and display their expressiveness.

To enhance the management and guidance of kindergartens, the state has formulated a serious of regulations including "Regulations on The Management of Kindergartens" and the "Regulations on Kindergarten Work" placing the management of kindergartens on scientifically sound and institutionalized basis.

The state has also formulated regulations and rules concerning the qualification of kindergarten teachers and the assessment of their performance. At present, the normal schools devoted to the training of kindergarten teachers and the discipline of pre-school education have made big stride and the training system of pre-school

teachers at considerable scale has taken shape.

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In China, primary and secondary education takes 12 years to complete, divided into primary, junior secondary and senior secondary stages. Primary education lasts either 5 or 6 years with the former accounting for 35% of the total enrollment and the latter 65% of the total enrollment. At junior secondary stage, most have 3 years schooling with a tiny part of 4 years. Almost 98% of students are enrolled in the former schools. The 9-year schooling in primary and junior secondary schools pertains to compulsory education. General senior secondary education lasts 3 years.

Implementation of Nine-hear Compulsory Education

Since the promulgation of the "Compulsory Education Law of the People's Republic of China" in 1986, the 9-year compulsory education has been implemented by governments at various levels and made significant progress. According to the statistics of 1998, the net enrollment rate of primary school age children attained 98.9%, and the proportion of primary school graduates continuing their study in junior secondary schools (including vocational ones) reached 94.3%. Lower compulsory education has been basically universalized in the areas with 90% of the national population inhabit and junior secondary education has been universalized by 73% of the national population. In the urban areas of large cities and economically developed coast areas, the universalization of senior secondary education has been launched.

Chinese government attaches great importance to the universalization of compulsory education in rural, poor and minority areas. In 1987, the former SEdC and the ministry of Finance jointly issued the "Opinion on Some Issues Concerning the Reform of Administration of Basic education in rural Areas". At present, basic education is provided by the governments at the county, township and administrative villages levels with the administrative power assumed by county and township governments and with major decision made by the county governments. Efforts are made to integrate the development of education and the upgrading of quality of labor force with the development of the local economy and the advancement of culture and ethical and living standard of the people. As a result, the development of rural education and local economy have been promoted. Now, more than 95.2% of primary schools, 87.6% of junior secondary schools and 71.5% of senior secondary schools are allocated in towns and villages. MoE and Ministry of Finance have launched the "State Project of Compulsory Education in Poverty Stricken Areas" which will last from 1995 to 2000. The central government provides a special fund of 3.9 billion RMB, together with the 10 billion RMB from local governments, for the improvement of schooling conditions in the poverty stricken areas.

Teaching

The school year of primary and secondary school is divided into two semesters. The school year of primary schools comprises 38 weeks of teaching sessions with an additional week in reserve and 13 weeks for holidays and vacations. The school year for junior secondary schools comprises 39 weeks for teaching with an additional week in reserve and 12 weeks for holidays and vocations. The school year for senior secondary schools comprises 40 weeks of teaching with one or two weeks in reserve and 10 to 11 weeks for holidays and vocations. A five-day week has been implemented in primary and secondary schools.

In the autumn of 1993, primary and junior secondary schools began to implement the "Teaching Scheme (Curriculum) for Full-time Primary and Secondary Schools (Pilot)", and this scheme includes the arrangement of subjects and syllabuses of them. According to the scheme, subjects are divided into tow categories: state-arranged subjects and locally arranged subjects, with the latter determined by the authorities of provincial-level governments in the light of local realities and needs.

The current curriculum of senior secondary schools consists of two parts: subjects courses and activities. Subjects taught in senior secondary schools are divided into obligatory ones and optional ones. Activities include out-class activities and practice activities.

In 1999, MOE began to design the new basic education curriculum system for the 21st century.

Any child reaching 6 years of age should enter the primary school and in places where conditions are not available, the age for a child to enter a primary school could be postponed to 7 years old. In areas where junior secondary education has been basically universalized, all primary school graduates should enter nearby junior secondary schools, without sitting for any entrance examinations. However, those gradates from junior secondary schools seeking to continue their education in senior secondary schools have to sit for and pass locally organized entrance examinations before admission.

Throughout compulsory education, students are required to take end-of-term examinations and tests or check-ups at the end of each semester, school year of before graduation. In primary schools, the Chinese language and mathematics are the required examination subjects for graduation, while the other subjects are checkup subjects. In secondary schools, the graduation examination subjects are determined within the scope of the general subjects taught in the graduating class set by the state, while the students' performance in other subjects are only checked up.

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Moral education includes political, ideological, moral and psychological quality education. The basic task of moral education in primary and secondary education is to foster the students into citizens with ardently love for the motherland, social ethic, civilized behavior and observation of laws. Further to the basic task, moral education should guide the students to build up the correct outlook of the world, life and evaluation, consistently improve their socialistic consciousness so as to lay a solid foundation for them to become a rising generation having lofty ideas, moral integrity, knowledge and culture, and observing disciplines.

With the Marxism-Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought and Deng Xiaoping's Theory as its theoretical guidelines and "Five Loves: love the motherland and love the people, love labor, love science and love socialism" as its basic contents, in the light of physical and psychological traits of the students the moral education in primary and secondary schools provide education for the students to foster civil behavior, to learn fine tradition and revolutionary tradition of the Chinese nation, moral and democratic legal system, modern Chinese history, general survey of China and policies on current events and to build up a scientific outlook of the world, life and

evaluation. In addition to that, moral education should provide psychological education to train the healthy quality of psychology of the students and help them to build their healthy personality.

Promulgated by the state, "Regulation of the Work of Moral Education in Primary and Secondary Schools", "Outline for Moral Education in Primary and Secondary Schools" and the "Outline for Moral education in Secondary Schools" provide the basic foundation for moral education in primary and secondary schools, clarify the goals, teaching contents, basic requirements for moral education of each stage in primary and secondary education and lay down the policy, methods and implementation measures for moral education, demonstrating the state basic requirement for primary an secondary schools students in the fields of ideology, morality, psychological quality and political quality.

Moral education is an important component of education schools, and its various teaching forms and methods include: moral cause in primary and secondary schools, class teaching of other subjects; the organization and management of school and class activities; social activities after classes and schools and organizational work of the Young Pioneers the Communist Youth League and the students' families and the society to create a good social environment to educate and influence the students.

The state has also formulated the "Code of Conduct of Primary School Pupils", the "Code of Conduct of Secondary School Students", the "Norms of Daily Behaviors for primary School Pupils", setting basic requirements for the behaviors of primary and secondary school students to be observed by all students.

In addition, Labor education and skill training provide the education to the students for them to cultivate a correct attitude towards labor and good habits of labor and foster sentiments of ardently loving labor so that they can acquire some basic knowledge and skills related to productive labor as well as some life skills.

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After-school education plays an important role in the all-round development of primary and secondary school students. Under the cooperative administration of departments in charge of education, culture, physics, worker's union, the Communist Youth League, Committee for Women's and Children's Work and science and technology, after-school education is conducted by joint efforts of the concerning central departments. In 1986, the First national Conference on After-school Education was convened and the Second One in 1991, and consequently a number of regulations on after-school education have been formulated, providing guidance to such work. At present, there are over 10000 organizations engaged in after-school education staffed with full-time after-school activities

counselors.

After-school education always adheres to the policy of integration of schools, the society and families, and strive to give full scope to the unique educational role of after-school activities. After school, children may take part in the scientific, cultural, and recreational activities organized by children's palaces, children's clubs, scientific and technological centers for teenagers, and other similar institutions.

After-school education is conducted through rich and colorful extracurricular activities organized in the light of the age and interests of school children, such as stage performances, competitions of aircraft, ship and motor vehicle models, exhibitions of small inventions and handicraft making, literary writing, summer and winter camping and so on, to mould the students' temperament and temper their willpower.

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After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, the government began to pay great attention to the preparation and production of school textbooks and other teaching materials. In 1950, the Ministry of Education formulated curricular standards for primary schools. Afterwards, in 1956, 1963, 1978 and 1986, four conservative sets of syllabuses of subjects taught in primary and secondary and secondary schools were formulated, and eight sets of school textbooks were complied and published by the People's Education Press for nationwide use in compliance with the requirements set in these syllabuses.

In 1992, syllabuses of various subjects taught in full-time primary and secondary schools were drawn up under the guidance of the former SEdC to provide guidance for teaching and complying the textbooks used in primary and secondary schools within the 9-year compulsory education. The new textbooks for regular senior secondary education linking the 9-year compulsory education which was implemented in 1993 in under pilot exercise in Shangxi Province, Jiangxi Province and Tianjin.

As China is a vast country with significant regional disparities in economics, and social development, it is quite understandable that the conditions of different schools vary a deal lot, and consequently it is desirable to develop multiple sets of textbooks at various levels to meet the needs of different localities and with their own specific characteristics and styles. For this reason, in 1986, the former SEdC adopted a policy of diversifying the preparation and production of school textbooks in the whole country under the condition that unified basic requirements must the complied with. In areas where conditions permit, regional educational departments, educational institutions, experts, scholars and individual teachers are encouraged to compile textbooks for subjects taught in primary and junior secondary schools in compliance with the basic requirements set forth in the syllabuses of 9-year compulsory education schooling. as a result, different sets of textbooks will compete with each other bringing a radical change to the old practice in which only one set of

textbooks was used throughout the whole country and promoting the prosperous development of school textbooks. By 1998, there are over 2000 books for local educational departments to choose and use in the light of their actual needs. In addition, a lot of reference and manuals for teachers, illustrated booklets, atlas for school use, wall charts, slides and audio-visual materials for classroom instruction or dong homework have been produced to complement and supplement the textbooks. A number of items of computer software developed for school use have been produced. The textbooks for special education have been compiled (by the state Education Commission) to meet the needs of special education development. Many supplementary teaching materials with local color and flavor have been produced in many localities to meet the needs of local economic and cultural development.

To ensure the quality of textbooks and other teaching materials produced, a system of examination and approval of textbooks has been established in China. All textbooks for obligatory subjects taught in primary and secondary schools have to be examined and approved by the State Textbooks examination and Approval Committee before publication in terms of ideological content, scientific spirit and adaptability to classroom instruction. The textbooks approved are allowed to be used by the local educational departments. However, supplementary teaching materials with local figures are to be examined and approved by a provincial-level School Textbook Examination and Approval Committee and allowed to be used within the province concerned. In China, elementary education includes pre-school education, nine-year compulsory education of elementary and junior high schools, regular senior high school education, special education for handicapped children, and elimination of illiteracy.

At present, there are over 200 million elementary and secondary school students, which number, together with that of pre-school children, accounts for one-sixth of the total Chinese population. Therefore, the Central Government has given priority to the development of elementary education, regarding it a key field of development of infrastructure construction and education. Reforms involving the basic issues of elementary education such as increasing government financial input, experimental reform of courses and implementation of a new education appraisal system, are under way in various areas in China.

To solve the uneven development of elementary education in different areas and the shortage of funds for compulsory education in rural areas, the Ministry of Finance has planned to appropriate five billion yuan from 2001 to 2005 for improving elementary education in poverty-stricken areas. The government has also prepared a special subsidy of three billion yuan for renovation of 13 million sq m of ramshackle buildings of elementary and middle schools in rural areas throughout the country, which is planned to be basically completed in two to three years.

According to the requirement of the government, the target of reform and development of China’s elementary education is to raise the general level of elementary education to or close to that of a moderately developed country by 2010.

Various reform have been carried out in recent years in the higher education system, which has taken initial shape, such as reform of the college entrance examination and relevant regulations, reform of the higher education system, and reform aimed at promoting quality-oriented education.

In 2001, one of the focuses in higher education reform was readjustment of the structure of subjects. Therefore, the Ministry of Education added 1,993 specialities in 503 institutions of higher learning around China and started enrolment, thus optimizing cross-area distribution structure of specialities. To solve the shortage of regular colleges and universities in some metropolitan cities, the Ministry of Education has approved establishment of such schools in those areas.

In 2001, the Ministry of Education drew up and publicized ten-odd measures to raise education quality, including reform of examinations. It tries to change the mode of learning by rote for college entrance examinations by focusing the examination contents more on students’ quality and competence.

Expansion of Enrolment According to a development plan, by 2005, the number of students in institutions of higher learning is to reach about 16 million (including 600,000 postgraduate students). Therefore, starting from 2001, the annual increase of enrolment of undergraduates and students of vocational training in regular and adult institutions of higher learning is to be about one million. That is, by the end of 2005, the gross enrolment rate of institutions of higher learning will be 15 percent, and the education development will be basically in the phase of popularization of higher education. Therefore, during the period between 2001 and 2005,all the regular and adult institutions of higher learning will enlarge their enrolment of undergraduates and students of vocational training by about 10 percent each year, and that of postgraduates by about 15 percent each year.

In 1998, 1.08 million students were enrolled in regular institutions of higher learning throughout China; in 1999, 1.6 million; and in 2000, 2.2 million. In 2001, as many as 4.4 million were enrolled in institutions of higher learning, including 2.6 million in regular ones and 1.8 million in those for adult education. In the same year, 162,000 postgraduates were enrolled in institutions of higher learning and research institutes, increasing by 33.9 percent over the previous year.

Student Loans The practice of charging tuition fees by institutions of higher learning began in 1989. The cost of higher education, a stage of non-compulsory education, is shared by the government, society and individuals, which is one of the basic principles of China’s ongoing reform of charges for education.

From 1990 to 1997, the tuition fees of China’s institutions of higher learning increased at an average annual rate of over 20 percent. In 2001, they rose by a still wider margin. At present, the average university tuition fee is between 4,200 and 6,000 yuan a year. In 1999, the per capita income of urban residents in China was 5,854 yuan. Due to the substantial increase of tuition fees, it has become a heavy burden for many families to support a university student. To help qualified students who cannot afford tuition fees, the state, while continuing to promote the reform of the school charges system, allocated 744.7 million yuan of special funds in eight batches from 1994 to 1999 to subsidize such students, and backed this up with a series of steps, including scholarships, loans, stipends, subsidies and reduction or exemption from tuition fees.

At present, a nationwide system of student loans is one of the important channels for helping students with financial difficulties. Established in 1999, it has become a relatively complete system of financial aid policy, through which students in financial difficulty can be granted unsecured credit loans equivalent to their tuition and basic cost of living after their eligibility is proved. At the same time, they may also enjoy 50 percent of the state preferential financial discount. Generally, a student will receive a yearly loan of 8,000 yuan. The term of a loan is generally less than eight years, which can be prolonged when the student is pursuing a higher degree after graduation. The interest rate of student loans is the same as that of the loans for the same term set by the People’s Bank of China, brooking no increase. The implementation of the student loans system has been well received among students with financial difficulties. In 2000, the quota of discount on student loans was 2.25 billion yuan. By May 2001, 170,000 students around the country had signed loan contracts, involving a total contractual amount of 1.26 billion yuan, and financial authorities at all levels had arranged a total discount of 279 million yuan. The total amount of loans actually issued in the first five months of 2001 was 51 percent more than that of the entire previous year.

Amalgamation of Institutions of Higher Learning Since the 1990s, the union of the excellent institutions of higher learning has become one of the hottest topics of conversation in the reform of the higher education system in China. The education departments have established the goal of setting up 100 international first-grade multi-discipline universities in the 21st century, ―carriers‖ of higher education, as termed by the press.

The readjustment and amalgamation of institutions of higher learning started in 1993. In the first few decades of the post-Liberation period, the structure of China’s higher education was molded by the planned economy, raising barriers between different departments and regions and creating overlapping in organization. A great upsurge in amalgamation of institutions of higher learning has unfolded since 1999. In September 1999, the Central Institute of Arts and Crafts was merged with Qinghua University, and in April 2000, the Beijing Medical Sciences University, the leading medical university in China, was incorporated into the 100-plus-year-old Peking University.

So far, nearly half of the institutions of higher learning in China have been involved in amalgamation. By June 2000, 490 institutions (355 regular ones and 135 adult ones) had merged to form 204 universities (196 regular ones and eight adult ones).

According to statistics, at present there are over 200,000 students in the distance education network nationwide, and the figure is estimated to be one million in the coming three years. More and more educators agree that the universities without ―walls‖ based on modern information technology will become another ―pass‖ for young people to enter famous institutions of higher learning. Meanwhile, it is having a certain impact on traditional mainstream education.

In 1999, only six universities—Peking University, Qinghua University, Beijing Posts and Telecommunications University, Zhejiang University, Hunan University and the Central Radio and Television University—had network universities. During the summer vacation of 2000, nine institutions of higher learning in Beijing, including People’s University of China and the Beijing Foreign Studies University, and 16 others in Heilongjiang, Shandong and Shanghai also established network schools. At present, there are a total of 31 network universities approved by the Ministry of Education, most of them key institutions of higher learning and famous universities. In the period between October 2000 and April 2001, nearly 10,000 students from nearly 20 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities applied for the network university of People’s University of China.

Students living in remote areas and other regions with underdeveloped education are the principal beneficiaries of network universities. Network universities have also provided opportunities for unsuccessful candidates of college entrance examinations and people on the job with opportunities of receiving life-long education.

The gradual extension of broadband technology has promoted the development of network education. The satellite broadband multimedia transmission platform of China Education TV has been put in use, which is capable of broadcasting eight TV channels, eight radio channels and more than 20 IP data broadcast channels. The satellite network and the earliest Internet in China – CERNet – has realized high-speed connection, initially forming a modern interactive distance education network.

The Chinese government has all along attached great importance to special education since the PRC was established. The state has issued a whole set of laws and regulations which make explicit stipulations on safeguarding the rights to education of the disabled, and formulated a series of both general and specific policies for reforming and developing special education, while earmarking special funds for this purpose. Consequently, special education has developed fast. According to statistics, China has 1,539 special education schools for blind, deaf or mentally retarded children and teenagers, and some 5,400 special education classes attached to regular schools, with a total of more than 378,000 students. In addition, a large number of disabled children and teenagers study in regular schools. Currently, more than 1,700 rehabilitation institutions for deaf infants are operating in China, and over 70,000 children have been or are being trained there. Furthermore, there are more than 1,000 vocational training institutions for the disabled in China.

The Vocational Education Law was issued in 1996. China’s vocational education is mainly composed of advanced vocational schools, secondary technical schools, skilled workers’ schools, vocational middle schools, job training centers and other technical training schools for adults, and training institutions run by social forces or individuals. At present, there are over 17,000 vocational schools of various types and at all levels; more than 2,090 job training centers; and over 400,000 part-time training centers for workers, technical training schools for adults and training institutions run by social forces or individuals. Each year there are tens of millions of people receiving vocational training at various training institutions and vocational schools.

最新一期的《经济学家》周刊就中国教育改革和产业化发表长篇文章， 文章首先提到河南升达经贸管理学院校园骚乱事件，文章说：

表面上看， 今年六月升达学院骚乱的原因是学生不满校方在他们毕业文 凭上盖上升达学院的章，而不是原先承诺的郑州大学的章，升达学院学 生支付了比郑州大学学生多一倍的学费， 就是为了换取毕业文凭上郑州 大学这几个字。这起事件说明了中国教育改革陷入的困境。 文章说，1990 年代初期中国教育引入市场机制，彻底改变了政府资助 学校的做法，现在的很多学校都像企业一样运作，学校创收的一个通行 的办法就是自己开办学校，然后当作昂贵的私立学校运营。受这些学校 的影响，政府资助的大学在 1990 年代后期也为了增加收入而提高学费 并与私立学校联合，升达学院就是早期的一个例子。 文章说，过去两年，地方政府开始对私立学校征商业税，很多学校入不 敷出倒闭，中国教育部决定将这些私校与原来的国家大学分开，但很多 学校并未执行。文章说，一个主要原因是政府对教育投资不足，未能与 经济增长保持同步。中国教育投资占 GDP 的比例在整个 1990 年代几 乎没有任何增长。更糟糕的是，基层政府的经济负担日益沉重，中国计 划在明年完全免除农村学校的学费， 这让贫穷地区的政府财政更加捉襟 见肘。 文章最后说，中国教育的产业化导致了公众对教育的信任危机，中国教 育部似乎也不清楚如何分割政府和私立学校， 新的法律要求免去一些学 杂费，但又没有说明由谁来支付学校的一些费用。 以下是全文:

Chaos in the classrooms An education policy torn between the market and the state

THE students at Shengda Economics, Trade and Management College, in the quiet rural town of Longhu, in the central province of Henan, are among the most privileged in China. So why did they go on a rampage at the beginning of summer? In June thousands of them stormed through the grounds of their college, smashing windows and throwing stones at police cars. It was one of the biggest and most unruly protests on a university campus reported in China since the 1980s. At first glance, the cause of the riot might look unremarkable. Shengda students have long been unhappy with the college's strict regime. This includes compulsory physical exercise at 6.30am, a ban on alcohol and smoking, and confinement to campus at weekends except for those with written permission to venture out. What self-respecting student wouldn't protest? But the trigger for the violence was in fact quite different. It was the college's decision to add the word “Shengda” to its students' graduation certificates. The fact that this apparently trivial change provoked a riot illustrates the parlous state of China's education system—and the difficulties of reforming it. Since the early 1990s, China's embrace of market forces has upturned the provision of public services. Although most schools and colleges are still funded by the government, they now operate much more like businesses. They are allowed to generate extra revenue and so improve their facilities and attract more students. And, crucially, they have been permitted to raise fees—often in a disguised form to evade nominal government-imposed limits. The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences says that households now spend more on education than anything else, even though town- and city-dwellers are allowed to have only one child. In 2004 fees provided 18% of the revenues of schools and colleges, up from 4.4% in 1991. A common way for state schools and universities to earn extra cash is to start schools of their own, which they then run, in effect, as expensive private schools. The trend began some 15 years ago among primary and junior schools, and has reinforced an existing inequality. For most of the communist era, a two-tier system identified a few “key schools” that receive extra money and other favours in order to nurture pockets of academic excellence.

In June, a revision to the education law abolished the key-school system, which had caused much resentment. This left these pampered establishments in an excellent position to attract the highest fee-payers to their new quasi-private facilities. They can also charge high fees from students from outside their official catchment areas. This levy, which is known as a “school selection charge”, can amount to thousands of dollars. Many less privileged state schools are also prospering: after dividing their intake into separate streams, for example, they charge more for the classes with better teachers and facilities. Following the schools' lead, state universities had by the end of the 1990s also increased their incomes, often in partnership with private capital. Shengda, which was founded in 1994, was an early pioneer. A decade later, China had 249 such quasi-private colleges with a total of 680,000 students, more than half a million of them studying for undergraduate degrees. At every level, the rich now have much better access to good education than the less well-off. At the same time, the opacity of the privatisation process stops fair competition between fee-charging institutions. State-funded institutions, especially those formerly designated key schools, dominate the market and deter genuine private investment. In the past two years, local governments have begun imposing business taxes on (genuine) private schools. Unable to make ends meet, some are now going bust. One of the biggest private education companies, South Ocean Education Group, which ran ten schools with some 10,000 pupils and 400 teachers, collapsed last year after officials in one province accused it of raising funds illegally. Even the official media suggested that its fate was more related to the reluctance of state-owned banks to lend to private schools. Shengda, a quasi-private college, has been blessed with more than 200m yuan ($25m) from a Taiwanese entrepreneur. This has enabled it to build an attractive lakeside campus. But what matters more to the students is the name of its parent institution, Zhengzhou University, one of the most prestigious in central China. Shengda students pay more than twice the fees of a Zhengzhou University student in exchange for a degree certificate with the words “Zhengzhou University” on it. The decision in June to add the word “Shengda”, they felt, drew unwanted attention to the fact that this was not quite the real thing. In a fiercely competitive job market

(despite rapid economic growth, graduate unemployment has been rising), one word could make a grave difference. Employers often regard graduates from private or quasi-private universities as inferior to those from state institutions.

Blacking out the news
The authorities moved quickly to contain the violence at Shengda, which erupted on June 15th. Hundreds of riot police were sent in. Their mere presence was enough to quell the riot. Sit-ins continued on the following day, but with the summer break looming they quickly fizzled. Even so, the authorities were worried enough to order a complete news blackout. To appease the students, the college principal was fired. But Zhengzhou University is still insisting on putting the word Shengda on the graduation certificates. It has no choice in the matter. The Ministry of Education, after years of indecisiveness over how to manage the rapid growth of hybrid state-private facilities, is now trying to draw a clearer distinction between them and their parent bodies. Regulations issued three years ago—but implemented by parent universities with little enthusiasm—require the full name of quasi-private colleges such as Shengda to be spelled out on graduation certificates. It has been galling for Zhengzhou University graduates to end up with roughly the same certificate as their Shengda counterparts, who they will have had to outperform in exams in order to win their university place. Encouraging further confusion between the two institutions, Shengda has nearly half as many undergraduates as Zhengzhou University, which has 32,000. In recent months a handful of other campuses have seen protests similar to Shengda's. An education-ministry official says concerns about possible unrest are slowing efforts to separate the hybrid universities from their parent bodies. And pressures are growing from the less affluent parents who often cannot even think of sending a gifted child to university at all. An official revealed in July that more than a quarter of bursary applications from impoverished students are turned down. In 2003, some 5,500 people, including teachers and parents, visited the education ministry in Beijing to seek redress over issues ranging from high fees to corruption and unpaid wages for teachers. In 2004, the number rose to 7,000. A big part of the problem is the central government's disinclination to spend money on solving it. Government spending on education has

failed to match the pace of economic growth. It has not come close to meeting the demands of a compulsory education law introduced in 1986 that required local governments to ensure that all children receive nine years of free education. Nor has there been enough money to cope with the more than threefold increase in the number of tertiary students since 1999, to some 15m today. By 2010, this is expected to rise to 25m. Schools and universities have been turning to banks for help, which has encouraged them to raise fees and other charges even higher in order to meet interest payments. Many universities are now saddled with large debts that are likely to turn into bad loans. As a proportion of GDP, government spending on education hardly changed at all in the 1990s. A target set in 1993 of raising this to 4% of GDP by 2000 has yet to be achieved. The aim now is to reach this level by 2010. According to a recent OECD study, China's total spending on education, including both government and private as a proportion of GDP, was just ahead of India's in 2001. But it was lower than in several other Asian developing countries with a similar age structure, such as Thailand and the Philippines. Government spending in India was higher as a proportion of GDP than in China. Compounding the problem has been the huge share of the spending burden that is borne by the lowest levels of government. For rural governments, the obligation to provide schooling for all has meant devoting the lion's share of their budgets to the task. In many cases it has still been insufficient. In poorer areas teachers often go unpaid for months, and school buildings unrepaired. Recent central-government efforts to reduce the tax burden on rural folk have left many local administrations even shorter of cash. This year the government announced that, by the end of 2007, fees would be entirely abolished at rural schools, given rising dropout rates in poorer areas. But it is unclear who will pay for this. Local governments fear that they will again be left with the tab.

But who will pay?
A recent report by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences found that the “commercialisation” of education had led to “a serious collapse of its public reputation”. The education ministry appears to have no clear idea of how to separate state-funded schools and universities from their new private add-ons. The recent revision of the education law will—when it takes effect in September—ban local governments from “changing the nature of state schools”. This has been interpreted as

meaning that setting up quasi-private schools will be prohibited. But the official media have expressed some scepticism, suggesting there would be strong resistance from state schools as well as from private ones affiliated with state institutions. The revised law also says that fees will be scrapped, but does not suggest who will pay for the policy. A ministry spokesman caused an uproar in March when he clumsily compared education to shopping for clothes, saying it was natural that “a well-off man can go to a brand-name store to buy a 10,000 yuan suit, while a poor person can buy a 100 yuan suit from a vendor.” At least China's clothing market, unlike the education sector, is not dominated by a state monopoly with little concern for the majority of its customers.
What do we believe to be life's most important necessities? N ot long ago, most people would answer, "housing, food, transp ortation and clothing," which have always been seen as the fo ur basic needs of the Chinese. These days however, we need to add another item to this traditional list. Education has not only grown by leaps and bounds in importance, but also devel oped with the same speed in expense, especially higher educat ion. According to a recent survey, only 7.5 per cent of the sa mple group could easily afford university fees which exceed 5, 000 yuan (US$602) every year. More than 51 per cent, both fro m suburban and urban areas, consider the current fee system a bove their means. People frequently raise the question, "On what grounds are such high university fees based?" Before answering this, let's first read some statistics. Usually, education fees are proportional to the economic s ituation of the country. For example, in the United States in 2003, the average annual college fee was US$5,132, which is about 15 per cent of per capita GDP. In China, while per capi ta GDP is a little above US$1,000, the average university fee was 4,172 yuan (US$502) last year, which means the proportio n nearly surpasses 50 per cent.

The initiative in industrializing education is a way of s eeking new growth for China's economy. The term "Education In dustrialization," first used by Stanford University, was aimed at transferring knowledge and techniques from universities di rectly into socially productive forces. It brought about Silic on Valley, which has given great impetus to the American econ omy. However, in China, this term equals skyrocketing college fees and the expansion of college sizes. Instead of stimulat ing consumption, parents begin to save money for their child' s future education even before its birth. In a larger sense, it withered people's consumption capabilities. Another result is that it laid a heavier burden on studen ts from rural areas. Going to college was considered the only way these youngsters could change their lives and the underp rivileged conditions of their families. With the striking incr ease in college fees, it is now harder for them to realize th is collegiate dream. Thus, the demographics of student bodies changed dramatica lly. The proportion of students from rural areas once account ed for 60 per cent of all college students. Now, it is less than 30 per cent. It's worrying that the majority of college students are now from "well-off" families who barely understan d the real situations faced by those in poor and remote areas. In the coming years, high fees will further exacerbate the u neven development between rich and poor. The increase of college fees doesn't reflect an increase in teaching quality at these institutions. With the growth of recruitment numbers every year, some colleges are short of q ualified professors and equipment. Accordingly, there have bee n more and more big classes, which often have more than 80 st udents. The teachers have almost no time to communicate with their students as they are also busy rushing from one class t o another. In the labs, two or three students often share a s ingle piece of equipment. The cycle doesn't end with students' graduation. With the large sums spent on tertiary education, students and their p

arents are often extremely disappointed if the student fails to find a job which can pay back the investment. The relationship between colleges and students should not merely be seen as providers and consumers, since a good terti ary education benefits both the individual student and society as a whole. Similarly, if education veers from its appointed role, the aftermath will be shouldered by China as a whole.

Rural School Teachers to Enjoy Better Conditions 2006-09-09 14:07:26 By Ma Lie 2006-02-15 XI'AN: The central government has mapped out a national development blueprint for rural compulsory education to provide better conditions for teachers and to tackle staff shortages. At present, a large number of rural teachers are working in vast rural areas in non-State official establishments. The teachers, called daike or temporary teachers, could be employed in more official capacities in the years to come under the blueprint. The national educational blueprint issued recently paints a brighter future for rural education. "The wages for rural teachers may be included in the budget of the Ministry of Education in the future," Lu Yugang, deputy director of the personnel department of the ministry, was quoted as saying by China Business Times. "We propose that a mechanism to guarantee the wage of all teachers be further consummated, and included in the budget. At the same time, we will also send more qualified teachers to work in primary and middle schools in remote and poverty-stricken areas," Lu said. Among the areas that will benefit from the new proposals is Shaanxi Province. Teachers there have been playing an important role in rural education, especially in the remote and poverty-stricken rural areas, in past decades. China Daily

"Their future, to a great degree, relate directly to the rural children's destiny and future, and also relates to the compulsory education sector in the backward western China," said Zhang Yinwei, an official with Shaanxi Provincial Education Bureau. In Shaanxi, an economically underdeveloped inland province in Northwest China, there are about 25,000 such teachers who teach more than 500,000 pupils in the province's remote poor rural areas, according to local education authority. The provincial education authority's investigation shows that these teachers only receive 100 yuan (US$12) on average per month, causing them difficulties. "However, they are still persevering with their posts," the official said. One of the teachers who will be welcoming the proposed changes is Yang Shuangcheng. The 40-year-old is the only teacher at Fanjiatai Primary School, which is located in the remote mountainous Fanjiatai Village in Longxian County, a State-level poverty-stricken county in western Shaanxi. Receiving 130 yuan (US$16) per month, Yang teaches 10 pupils aged from nine to 13, who are living in four villages around the school. Like other people in the villages, Yang lives without power supply and prepares his lessons under a kerosene lamp in the evening. "The 10 pupils are in two grades and I teach them language and mathematics. When it snows or rains, the kids suffer because the road is too difficult for them to walk to school. One of my pupils lives some 10 kilometres away from the school and cannot come to school if the weather is bad," Yang said. Corn flour and pickled cabbage are the main food for Yang and his family, and they have to walk more than 30 kilometres to buy articles of daily use, such as salt and oil, in Dianziping Township, the nearest township from the villages. There are about 260 temporary teachers like Yang, one-tenth of the overall number of teachers in Longxian County, who are working in remote rural villages, according to Wang Cangyu, chief of the Personnel Section of

Longxian County Education Bureau. Wang told China Daily that there are 207 primary and middle schools in the county, with 46,134 students and 2,374 professional teachers altogether. "The ratio of teachers and students in our county is 1:20, which basically conforms to the stipulations issued by the Ministry of Education," the official said. However, most of the teachers are working in the county seat or township areas, and almost no one wants to stay in remote rural schools for long. "To solve the shortage of professional teachers, the local government has to employ 260 temporary teachers for 44 rural schools in remote rural villages. Like Yang, many of them live in poor conditions," Wang said. According to the official, the county wanted to pay these teachers more, but could not afford to. "If we pay 100 yuan (US$12.3) more for each teacher per month, the county will pay more than 300,000 yuan(US$37,000) annually for the 260 teachers. It is too difficult." Luo Yangmin, an education expert and professor in Shaanxi Normal University, said that the introduction of an employment system to the rural education sector will help provide more teachers for rural areas, and financial support from central government will encourage more teachers to work in rural areas.

Overview of the Educational System of China
[ Note to the reader: This document is still in a very rough state. Furthermore, in certain spots my information is either missing, incomplete, or just plain wrong. Often, you'll see a linked comment that when "clicked" will bring up an email box, addressed to me. Please comment as necessary. Furthermore, please understand that the overview is necessarily brief, since more detailed discussions will be provided in the individual sections.]

Introduction.
The People's Republic of China, sometimes referred to as Mainland China (but in the present publication shall be referred to simply as China ) has a land mass of 3,705,393 square miles and a population approaching 1.2 billion people. As such, China is the most populous country in the world and ranking third in land mass, behind Russia and Canada. Despite having an economy based primarily on agriculture, only 10% of the land is arable.

(Insert maps, as appropriate.) Roughly 92% of the population are Han Chinese (汉族), with the remaining 8% made up of ethnic minorities: Zhuang (壮族), Manchu (满族), Hui (回族), Miao (苗族), Uygur (维吾尔族), Yi (彝族), Tujia (土家族), Mongol (蒙古族), Tibetan (藏族) and other nationalites. [1] (See relevant map.) The official language is Mandarin (or {\em Putonghua}) 普通话 ) and, with certain exceptions, [2] is the language of instruction in the schools in China. Other important dialects include Cantonese ({\em Yue} 粤), Shanghainese ({\em Hu} 沪), Fuzhou ({\em Minbei} 闽北), Hokkien-Taiwanese ({\em Minnan} 闽南) as well as a variety of Hakka ({\em Kejia} 客家) dialects. By a 1993 estimate, 7% of the total population aged 15 and over are illiterate, down from 9.3% in 1990. Of the same age group, 22.2% are illiterate or semi-illerate.[3]

Overview of the Educational System.
For the purpose of the present publication, it is convenient to divide education in China into four categories: primary education, secondary education, higher education and adult education. In discussing the various categories, especially primary and secondary education, it is important to keep in mind that China has a Compulsory Education Law, which went into effect on July 1, 1986:

The Law of Compulsory Education.
This law calls for each child to have nine years of formal education. To meet this requirement, a child will attend either five years of elementary education, followed by four years of junior middle school, or six years of elementary education, followed by three years of junior middle school. Today in China, the second system, or ``6-3'' system

is the more commonplace.

While the Compulsory Education Law calls for each child to have nine years of formal schooling, it is recognized that certain realities prevent this nine year standard to be implemented immediately. Therefore, a provision of the Education Law is that China shall be divided into three categories: cities and economically developed areas, towns and villages with medium development, and economically backward areas. In the first two categories, the nine-year standard has, in most cases, become universal. Estimates are that in areas comprising 91% of the population, primary education has become universal. Indeed, by a 1994 estimate, 98.4% of elementary school-aged children entered school, with a dropout rate of less than 2% per year. [4] Of the primary school graduates, over 80% go on to junior middle school,[5] which represents about 75% of the relative age cohort. However, in the ecomonically backward areas, which contains about 25% of China's population, a variable timetable for implementing compulsory education has been tied to each such region's local economic development. In short, the nine-year standard continues to be universalized, but in the strict sense compulsory education in China remains not so much a law as as aspiration. In passing, it should be noted that the most important contributing factor the the drop-out rates at each level is the increasing cost of education in China. The schools are charged a variety of fees by the local authorities, [6] which are then passed along to the students. One trade union study of primary and middle schools in Chongqing, a very large city in the Sichuan Province, revealed that the average cost of miscellaneous fees for primary students in 1994 was 95.9 yuan; for junior and senior secondary students, the average fees totaled 155.5 yuan and 257.3 yuan, respectively.[7]

The Categories Within the Educational System 1. Primary Education.
Primary education includes pre-school education and elementary education. Pre-school, or kindergarten, can last up to three years, with children entering as early as age three, until age six, when they typically enter elementary school. Elementary school begins with the first grade, and then proceeds through either grades five or six, depending on the system.

The academic year is divided into two semesters, each consisting of 19 weeks, with a total of 38 weeks of instruction for the year. In addition there is one week ``in reserve'' (similar to ``snow days,'' in this country) for additional time as needed. The remaining 13 weeks are for vacations and holidays.

2. Secondary Education.
Secondary education is divided into regular secondary education and vocational and technical secondary education. Regular secondary education consists of junior middle school and senior middle school. Junior middle school will involve either three or four years of schooling, depending on the system (6-3 versus 5-4), and senior middle school is, in the vast majority of cases, a three year program, resulting in a 5-4-3 or a 6-3-3 system of elementary school-junior middle school-senior middle school.

The academic year for junior middle school consists of 39 weeks of instruction, with one week in reserve. The academic year for senior middle school is made up of 40 weeks of instruction, with one to two weeks in reserve. Students in the vocational and technical secondary education stream will, upon graduation from junior middle school, enter a vocational or technical school. [8] Vocational schools generally offer programs ranging from two to four years, and train medium-level skilled workers, farmers, as well as managerial and technical personnel. Technical schools typically offer four year programs to train intermediate technical personnel. There is a third category, called Schools for Skilled Workers, that typically enroll graduates from junior middle schools to train for positions involving production and operation skills. The length of training is typically three years.

3. Higher Education.
Higher education at the undergraduate level includes two-year junior colleges ({\em zhuanke daxue} 专科大学), four-year colleges ({\em benke xueyuan} 本科学院) and universities ({\em daxue}大学 ). Many colleges and universities also offer graduate programs, leading to the Master's or Ph.D. degrees.

There is also a myriad of higher educational opportunities under the general category of adult education, as below.

4. Adult Education.
This category overlaps all three of the above categories. There is adult primary education, which organizes into Workers' Primary Schools, Peasants' Primary Schools, and Literacy classes. Adult secondary education includes radio/TV specialized secondary schools, specialized secondary schools for cadres, specialized secondary schools for staff and workers, specialized secondary schools for peasants, in-service teacher training schools, and correspondence specialized secondary schools. Adult higher education includes radio/TV universities, cadre institutes, workers' colleges, peasant colleges, correspondence colleges, and educational colleges. Most of the above colleges offer both short-cycle (zhuanke 专科) as well as regular undergraduate (benke 本科) curricula.

Educational System Chart.
This will be inserted to show the relative chronological placement of the various components of Chinese Education.

Grading Scale.
The system of grades used in China can either follow a five-scale or a four-scale system, as follows: Five-Scale System (五级记录): A (优秀 or 优) Excellent B (良好 or 良) Good C (中等 or 中) Average D (及格 or 及) Satisfactory F (不及格 or 不及) Unsatisfactory (Fail)

Four-Scale System (四级记录): A B C D (优秀 or 优) (良好 or 良) (及格 or 及) (不及格 or 不及) Excellent Good Satisfactory Unsatisfactory (Fail)

Some transcripts, even those in the original Chinese, use the Latin letter grades (A,B,C,D,F) rather than the Chinese equivalents above. Often, numerical grades are reported (generally on a 0-100 scale);

in this case, refer to the bottom of the transcript (especially the English translation) for the letter-grade equivalents. Certain classes can be taken on a pass-fail basis, and are reported thus: Pass Fail 通过 不通过

Administration.
The State Education Commission (SEC) is the chief administrative organ which oversees education in China. The SEC formulates and enforces policies, principles and laws concerning education, and coordinates the various governmental agencies' operation of the individual schools. The influence of the SEC is directly felt mostly in the institutions of higher education, as the governance and management of primary and secondary schools is left to the local governments.

[ However, there are also private schools, how do they fit in? How extensive are they? What needs to be mentioned here? what about private schools?] Let me know what you think. The management of the Chinese institutions of higher learning is more complicated, and divides into four categories:

Institutions directly under the SEC.
There are 36 [ Is this still right? Do we want to list them? Marr-Rosen report that there are 37 directly under the SEC.] national-level colleges and universities directly under the control of the SEC. Of these colleges and universities, 25 are among the key institutions, including internationally known Peking University (北京大学), Tsinghua University (清 华 大 学 ) and Fudan University ( 复 旦 大 学 ). \item {Institutions under the central ministries.} These are specialized colleges and universities, some of which are key institutions dedicated to training advanced personnel for the sponsoring ministries.

[ Maybe we should give an example of such a college or university. What do you think?]

Institutions under local control.
The bulk of the colleges and universities are in this administrative category and are generally multidisciplined universities, teacher training schools, and specialized colleges

under the direct jurisdiction of the provinces, autonomous regions and the municipalities.

Institutions under major cities.
These are primarily the short-cycle (two- to three-year) junior colleges offering vocational training programs.

Key Schools.
The designation of ``Key School'' exists for selected schools at every educational level in China: elementary, secondary and higher. In addition, there are various levels of the ``key'' designation itself: There are national key institutions, provincial or municipal key institutions, and county or district key institutions. Key schools all enjoy priority funding as well as the privilege of recruiting the best students. At the elementary and secondary levels, this concept is similar to that of a ``magnet'' or ``college preparatory'' school in the United States. Entry into such schools is based on examination and academic promise and achievement. For such schools, success is usually measured in terms of the percentage of its graduates entering colleges and universities, especially the key colleges and universities. The philosophy has been that giving a limited number of schools, colleges and universities priority in allocating limited resources, then the training of the needed top-level manpower for China's reconstruction can be carried out more efficiently.

In certain areas, the concept of ``Key School'' has come under fire. Indeed, the success of the Key elementary and middle schools has too often been measured solely in terms of college placement of its students, rather than on more objective measurements of learning. Furthermore, remnants of the same sort of elitism that shut down the key schools during the Cultural Revolution have re-emerged, leading to questioning by the educational authorities. [ [Here's a question: it was written that In 1985 entrance examinations and the key-school system had already been abolished in Changchun, Shenyang, Shenzhen, Xiamen, and other cities, and education departments in Shanghai and Tianjin were moving to establish a student recommendation system and eliminate key schools. In 1986 the Shanghai Educational Bureau abolished the key junior-middle-school system to ensure "an overall level of education. Exactly what is the situation today?] Apart from the above philosophical reasons, key schools are, for many practical reasons, being turned away from. The first, and most obvious reason is the ever-increasing cost of instruction at a key school. Related to this is the reality that a college education,

even at a national key university, is not the unique, or even the best route to gainful employment. The average salary of technical college graduates is starting to rival that of graduates from traditional colleges and universities, resulting in the need to engage in cost-benefit analyses long before one's educational strategy is mapped out. However, different regions continue to adhere to different values in connection with education. In Guangzhou (Canton), where the local ecomony is expanding at a robust rate, entry into technical secondary schools has surpassed entry into key secondary schools in terms of competitiveness. Beijing, on the other hand, continues to be the cultural and intellectual seat of China, and correspondingly the technical school option is still considered an inferior educational stream.

Educational and related Statistics.
[9]

Based on the 1990 census, the total population of China was 1,130,510,000 people, of which 1,039,190,000 were of the Han Nationality (汉族), and the remaining 91,320,000 people were distributed amoung the remaining 55 minority nationalities (少数 民族). In the table below, the 1990 population aged six and over is distributed according to the highest level of education received:\footnote{Educational Atlas}

LEVEL Total X 1,1000 Percentage _______________________________________________________ College and University 6,140 0.62 Short-Cycle College 9,620 0.97 _______________________________________________________ Secondary Vocational and Technical School 7,280 1.74 Regular Senior Middle School

72,600

7.30

Junior Middle School 263,390 26.50 _______________________________________________________

Elementary School 420,210 42.27 _______________________________________________________ Illiterate and Semi-Illiterate 204,850 20.61 Total population, Aged 6 and over 994,090 100.00 _______________________________________________________

In the next table are presented 1993 statistics describing entry and graduation numbers for schools at the various levels. Also total enrollments are reported for each level.

LEVEL ENROLLMENT

TOTAL ENTERING

TOTAL GRADUATING

TOTAL

X 1,000 X 1,000 X 1,000 _______________________________________________________________ ___ College and University 386 299 1,417 Short-Cycle College 537 272 1,118 _______________________________________________________________ ___ Specialized Secondary School 899 756 2,820 Secondary Vacational School 1,349 880 3,064 _______________________________________________________________ ___ Skilled Worker School 664 500 1,739 Regular Senior Middle School 2,283 2,317 6,569 _______________________________________________________________ ___ Junior Middle School 14,789 11,342 40,822

Junior Vocational School

267

145

562

Junior Middle School (Special Ed.) 2 1 5 _______________________________________________________________ ___ Elemenatry School 23,535 18,415 124,212 Elemenatry School (Special Ed.) 32 11 163 _______________________________________________________________ ___

Footnotes
1. Educational Atlas of China, Shanghai Scientific & Technical Publishers, 1995, p. 12. 2. Article 12 of the Education Law of the People's Republic of China, which went into effect on September 1, 1995, stipulates Putonghua as the language of instruction, but in cases in which minority ethnic groups form the majority, the spoken and written language of the majority ethnic group or of common use by the local ethnic groups may be used for instruction. 3. Educational Atlas. Here, semi-illiteracy is defined as being able to recognize some characters, but unable to read simple books or newspapers or to write. 4. Educational Atlas. 5. Basic Education in China, SEC, 1994. 6. David Marr and Stanley Rosen, ``Chinese and Vietnamese Youth in the 1990s,'' in preparation. A SEC study of five provinces revealed an average total fee assesment of 10,000 yuan per school to support a variety of projects and activities, ranging from training the local militia to a mandatory donation of funds for the Three Gorges Dam Project. 7. Ran Er, ``Reckless Fee Collection: Is it Reckless in Where it Comes From or Where it Goes?,'' Beijing qingnian bao (\061\061\076\051\107\140\104\152\061\050), February 22, 1995. 8. Occasionlly a graduate from senior middle school will enroll in a vocational or technical middle school. 9. Exclusive of Taiwan and Hong Kong.

Education System in China

In China, the education is divided into three categories: basic education, higher education, and adult education. The Compulsory Education Law of stipulates that each child have nine years of formal education. Basic Education Basic education in China includes pre-school education, primary education and regular secondary education. Preschool, or kindergarten, can last up to three years, with children entering as early as age three, until age six, when they typically enter elementary school. The academic year is divided into two semesters. Secondary education is divided into academic secondary education and specialized/vocational/technical secondary education. Academic secondary education is delivered by academic lower and upper middle schools. Lower middle school graduates wishing to continue their education take a locally administered entrance exam, on the basis of which they will have the option either of continuing in an academic upper middle school or of entering a vocational secondary school. Vocational schools offer programs ranging from two to four years and train medium-level skilled workers, farmers, and managerial and technical personnel. Technical schools typically offer four-years programs to train intermediate technical personnel. “Schools for Skilled Workers” typically train junior middle school graduates for positions requiring production and operation skills. The length of training is typically three year.

Higher Education Higher education at the undergraduate level includes two-and three-year junior colleges(sometimes also called short-cycle colleges, four-year colleges, and universities offering programs in both academic and vocational subjects. Many colleges and universities also offer graduate programs leading to the master’s or Ph.D. degree. Chinese higher education at the undergraduate level is divided into three-year and four-year programs. The former is offered not only at short-cycle colleges, but frequently also at four-year colleges and universities. The latter is offered at four-year colleges and universities but do not always lead to the bachelor’s degree. Myriad higher education opportunities also fall under the general category of adult education. Adult Education

The adult education category overlaps all three of the above categories. Adult primary education includes Workers’ Primary Schools, Peasants’ Primary Schools, and literacy classes. Adult secondary education includes radio/TV specialized secondary schools, specialized secondary school for cadres, specialized secondary schools for staff and workers, specialized secondary schools for peasants, in-service teacher training schools and correspondence specialized secondary schools. Adult higher education includes radio/TV universities, cadre institutes, workers’ colleges, peasant colleges, correspondence colleges, and educational colleges. Most of the above offer both two- and three-year short-cycle curricula; only a few also offer regular undergraduate curricula.

三 : Education System in China

In China, the education is divided into three categories: basic education, higher education, and adult education. The Compulsory Education Law of stipulates that each child have nine years of formal education.
Basic Education
Basic education in China includes pre-school education, primary education and regular secondary education.
Preschool, or kindergarten, can last up to three years, with children entering as early as age three, until age six, when they typically enter elementary school. The academic year is divided into two semesters.
Secondary education is divided into academic secondary education and specialized/vocational/technical secondary education.
Academic secondary education is delivered by academic lower and upper middle schools.
Lower middle school graduates wishing to continue their education take a locally administered entrance exam, on the basis of which they will have the option either of continuing in an academic upper middle school or of entering a vocational secondary school. Vocational schools offer programs ranging from two to four years and train medium-level skilled workers, farmers, and managerial and technical personnel. Technical schools typically offer four-years programs to train intermediate technical personnel. “Schools for Skilled Workers” typically train junior middle school graduates for positions requiring production and operation skills. The length of training is typically three year.

Higher Education
Higher education at the undergraduate level includes two-and three-year junior colleges(sometimes also called short-cycle colleges, four-year colleges, and universities offering programs in both academic and vocational subjects. Many colleges and universities also offer graduate programs leading to the master’s or Ph.D. degree.
Chinese higher education at the undergraduate level is divided into three-year and four-year programs. The former is offered not only at short-cycle colleges, but frequently also at four-year colleges and universities. The latter is offered at four-year colleges and universities but do not always lead to the bachelor’s degree.
Myriad higher education opportunities also fall under the general category of adult education.
Adult Education
The adult education category overlaps all three of the above categories. Adult primary education includes Workers’ Primary Schools, Peasants’ Primary Schools, and literacy classes. Adult secondary education includes radio/TV specialized secondary schools, specialized secondary school forcadres, specialized secondary schools for staff and workers, specialized secondary schools for peasants, in-service teacher training schools and correspondence specialized secondary schools. Adult higher education includes radio/TV universities, cadre institutes, workers’ colleges, peasant colleges, correspondence colleges, and educational colleges. Most of the above offer both two- and three-year short-cycle curricula; only a few also offer regular undergraduate curricula.
Education Management and Administration System in China



China has set up an education system with government as the major investor and social partners as co-investors. In current stage, local government is playing a key role in compulsory education, while central and provincial government are dominant in higher education. In occupational and adult education, social partners including industrial organizations, businesses and public institutions are playing a more and more important role.
Ministry of Education of PRC is the supreme education administration body in China, which is responsible for carrying out related laws, regulations, guidelines and policies of the central government; planning development of education sector; integrating and coordinating educational initiatives and programs nationwide; maneuvering and guiding education reform countrywide.
Since 1978, Chinese government has promulgated such codes as Degreestatuteof the People's Republic of China, Law of Compulsory Education of the People's Republic of China, Law of Teachers of the People's Republic of China, Law of Protection over Juveniles of the People's Republic of China, Education Law of the People's Republic of China, Statute for Teacher's Eligibility and Law of Higher education of the People's Republic of China, and released more than ten sets of education administration regulations. The Ministry of Education, within its jurisdiction, has issued more than 200 sets of administrative rules and regulations, significantly facilitating development of education of different natures.
With regard to education budget, financial allocation is still the major source, while multiple fund channels have been opened up. At present, fund needed by schools directly controlled by the central government comes from the central financial pool; schools controlled by local governments are supported by local finance; schools sponsored by township and villageship governments and by public institutions are mainly financed by the sponsor institutions and subsidized by local governments; funds needed by schools operated by social partners and celebrities are raised by the sponsors themselves (including collecting tuition from students and soliciting contributions). In addition to these sources, the central government is advocating work-study programs, aiming at improving the education conditions through premium services.
China's educational fund has been increased on yearly basis since 1978. Total educational input in 1998 reached RMB294.906 billion,amongst, 203.245 billion from the revenue pool, of which, 156.559 billion from budget allocation in a strict sense.

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International Communication and Cooperation



Since 1978 when China inaugurated the opening and reform initiative, international communication and cooperation in the education sector has migrated onto a new stagecheeringhealthy development of abroad studying, increasing number of foreigners studying in China, and expanding cross-border academic communication. International communication and cooperation has brought us with beneficial reference, impelled education reform and development in China and enhanced the mutual understanding and friendship between China and other countries.
In more than two decades since 1979, China sent some 320,000 students to more than 100 countries and regions, hosted 340,000 students from more than 160 countries and regions;dispatchedout 1,800 teachers and experts, appointed 40,000 foreign experts and teachers. Number of Chinese experts and academicians once involved in international conferences held abroad and that of foreign experts and academicians once presenting at international academic symposiums held in China both amounted to 11,000.
In 1996 only, China sent out more than 10,000 students to nearly 100 countries and regions and entertained nearly 33,000 international students from 160 countries and regions. In order to help partner countries to bring up culture-indifferent sci-tech and translation professionals, China configured teachers for Chinese language programs launched in more than 30 countries, and gave mission orders to more than 5,000 expertsdestinedto short-term teaching programs launched in different countries. On the other hand, colleges and universities in the country extended appointment letters to some 3,760 foreign-originated experts and teachers. In the year, colleges and universities directly under the Ministry of Educationapproved 2,099 application cases for involvement in some 1,316 international academic symposiums held abroad. Nearly 140 international academic symposiums and seminars hosted by colleges and universities in China welcomed in some 5,000 participants from foreign countries. Nearly 130 study groups visited China...
Fresh progress has been made in foreign-oriented education aid program, embodied in the migration from facility construction to program launching, which has enhanced the school running capability of the beneficiary countries, winning high praise from the beneficiary governments.
In more than two decades, China has made sound achievements inbilateraland multilateral education cooperation, which has got educational aid from UNESCO, UNIECF, UNFPA, UNDP, World Bank and many other international organizations, including loan of US.7 billion from World Bank for the education development program, and aid of more than USD100 million from other organizations.
In recent years, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan have increased education aid to Mainland China, the educational communication and cooperation between both sides has been expanded steadily.

Outlook on Chinese Education



As a whole, education in China, the mostpopulouscountry with extremely unbalanced economic and culture development, is still an under-cultivated land. Proportion of graduates from primary, junior and senior middle schools entering schools of higher levels is an important index reflecting educational level of a nation. According to the 1%demographicSurvey conducted in 1995, among every 100,000 people, 2,065 completed degree programs; 8,282 graduated from high schools; 27,283 with an education level of junior middle school. To accommodate the socio-economic development and satisfy the young's desire for higher level education, Chinese education sector still has a long way to cover.
Flying development of science and technology worldwide, as well as intensifying competition in economic and technological fields have addressed a tough challenge to education. Those who frontline the education will have a louder saying in the international competition in the 21st century. Chinese government, regarding education as a strategic priority, promulgated the China Agenda for Education Reform and Development, advancing the global object for China's education development by the end of 20th Century, which is read: by year 2000, popularizing K9 compulsory education nationwide,basicallyeliminating illiteracy among young and middle-aged population, intensively supporting 100 universities and a batch of key subjects (Program 211), giving adequate support toward occupational and polytechnic education and adult education bound for a great prospect.
Realizing such an agenda is an extremelyformidabletask, which requires countrywide efforts in increasing education funds, improving schooling conditions,Boostingteaching competence and strengthening education administration. We have adequate reasons to expect an educational framework compatible with Chinese conditions and oriented to the next millennium.


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MOE: Survey of the Educational Reform and Development in China

2004-12-23


I A brief introduction of the educational development
II Financial Input in Education
III The Latest Development in 2003
IV Planning for the Educational Reform and Development in 2004 and Near Future

I A brief introduction of the educational development
By the end of 2002, there were 1.17 million educational institutions of various forms and at all levels. Among them, 670,000 are regular schools and the rest 500,000 are adult schools. The total enrollment of students has reached 318 million, which ranks the largest in the whole world.
----In 2002, there were 111,800 kindergartens with an enrollment of 20,360,200 young children.
----A historicbreakthroughhas been witnessed in the universalisation of compulsory education. By 2002, there were altogether 456,900 primary schools with an enrollment of 121,567,100 students and the net enrollment rate of primary schools had reached 98.58%. 97.02% of the graduates enjoyed the access to junior secondary schools and the full-time teachers in primary schools had reached 5,778,900. In addition, there were 65,600 junior secondary schools with an enrollment of 66,874,300 students and the net enrollment rate of junior secondary schools had been raised to 90%. Those schools employed totally 3,467,700 full-time teachers and 58.3% of the junior secondary school graduates continue their study in senior secondary schools. By the end of 2002, the Nine-Year Compulsory Education (NYCE) had been universalized in the area where 90% of the population inhabits, the highest rate among the E-9 countries.
----Education at senior secondary stage has also made big strides. In 2002, there were 32,800 senior secondary schools including regular upper secondary schools, senior secondary vocational schools, regular specialized secondary schools, technical worker schools, upper secondary schools for adults and specialized secondary schools for adults. The total enrollment of these schools had reached 29, 081, 400 and the net enrollment rate was as high as 42.8%. Among the different secondary schools, there were 15, 400 regular upper secondary schools with an enrollment of 16, 838, 100 students and 15,900 secondary vocational schools, including vocational upper secondary schools, regular specialized secondary schools, specialized secondary schools for adults and technical worker schools, with an enrollment of 11,908,000 students. Besides, there were 15,000 senior secondary schools for adults with an enrollment of 335,200 students.
----Higher education in China has also made remarkable process and its quality has been continuously improved. By the end of 2002, there were 2003 Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) with a total enrollment of 16,000,000 students. With the net enrollment rate of HEIs of 15%, a mass higher education has been established in China. Guided by the principle of ‘joint establishment, adjustment, cooperation and mergence’ and after more than 8-years’ efforts, the management system of higher education has been deeply changed and the educational resources deployment has been optimized. 597 HEIs has been merged into 267. Among the 367 HEIs which were previously under the direct administration of central ministries, about 250’s administration has been shifted to the provincial governments, setting up the system of joint establishment by central and local governments. The previous disadvantage ofirrationaland segmented education structure,OVERLAPPEDdisciplines and waste of resources has been recovered. A new two-level management system consisting of central and local governments with the latter as the main management body has taken shape, mobilizing the initiative of the local government in developing higher education and enhancing the close relationship between HEIs and regional economic and social development. The quality of teaching and education provision by HEIs has been further improved and their research capacity has been developed as well. The commitment of HEIs to the national economic and social development has been increasingly expanded.
----The Chinese government attaches great importance to the eradication of illiteracy. Before the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, the illiteracy rate was as high as 80%. Since 1949, 2300 million illiterates have become neo-literate as the result of anunremittingeffort in literacy work. By 2001, the illiteracy rate of China has been reduced to less than 6.72%, and the illiteracy rate among the 15-50 age group has been declined to less than 4.8%.
----The Chinese government pays much attention to the rights of education for women and children. In 1949, the enrollment rate of primary school-age girl was merely about 15%. By 2002, the net enrollment rate of primary school-age girls has reached 98.53% and the genderdisparityof enrollment ratio has been reduced to 0.09%, indicating gender equity. In 1951, girls only accounted for 28% of the total primary school students and in 2002 this proportion was raised to 47.2% which is higher than the international average of 45.7%. In 2002, female students enrolled in regular secondary schools reached more than 47.23% and that in HEIs reached over 44%.
----The Chinese government shows deep concern to the development of special education. In 2002, there were 1540 special education schools in China with an enrollment of 374,500 students. 68.29% of the disabled students involved in special education receive their education in regular classes and the specially affiliated classes in regular schools.
----The achievements in the education of ethnic minorities are enormous. In 2002, there were 12 colleges (universities) for ethnic minorities. 19,910,000 minority students received their education in educational institutions of various forms at all levels with 980,000 full time teachers. Among the students enrolled in HEIs, 541,000 were ethnic minorities, accounting for a 5.99% of the total enrollment.
----China is the country which sends the most students abroad for further studies and researches. In the last 20 years, 450,000 Chinese students have been sent to 103 countries and regions, among which 160,000 have returned after completions of their studies and researches. At the same time,this period has also witnessed the fastest growth of the number of international students since the founding of the People's Republic Of China .86,000 international students from 170 countries came to china for study in 2002.
----The Chinese government encourages and supports non-state/private entities to set up and operate educational institutions. By now, there have been 61,200 non-state schools of various forms and levels with a total enrollment of 11,159,700 students. Of them, there were 1202 non-state/private HEIs with a total enrollment of 1,403,500 students. In addition there are other 133 non-state/private HEIs authorized to award formal academic degrees, with a total enrollment of 311,200 students. Other 530,500 students are enrolled in facilitating classes for self-taught examinations. Moreover, there are 5362 non-state regular secondary schools with an enrollment of 3,059,100 students, 1085 non-state vocational secondary schools with an enrollment of 470,500 students, 5122 non-state primary schools with an enrollment of 2,221,400 students and 48,400 kindergartens with an enrollment of 4,520,000 young children.
----In China, intensive application of IT in education is beingactivelypromoted and distance education is energetically developed. Since 1999, 68 regular HEIs and the China Central Radio and Television University (CCRTVU) have been approved by the Ministry of Education to carry out the pilot of modern distance education. By the end of 2002, 140 programmes in 10 disciplines had been developed with a total enrollment of 1,373,000 students. These 68 HEIs had opened 2027 learning centers outside their campuses and the pilot project had effectively promote the leap development from the second era of distance education featured by radio and television education to the modern distance education characterised by computer network. A modern distance education system consisting of 68 regular HEIs with their 2000 learning centers and the CCRTVU system, which covers the whole country, has taken shape. Moreover, the China Education and Research Network (CERNET), initiated in 1994, has developed into an operative education network consisting of three tiers, i.e. national level backbone network, local area networks (LANs) and campus intranet. The integration of CERNET and CEBSat, i.e. China Education Network with Satellite and Broadband, has constructed the transmission platform with space and land together, providing a support network environment for the modern distance education in China.
----In 2002, there were altogether 15,790,000 teachers in China, among which 12,390,000 were full time teachers. In 1985, September 10 of each year was named as the Teacher’s Day and this is the first time that a Day was set up for a profession. At the same time, the Chinese government is always committed to improving the social status and welfare of teachers. The Law on Teachers explicitly states that ‘Teachers’ average salary shall not be lower or shall be higher than that of the civilservantsand shall be raised gradually’ and ‘Teachers shall enjoy equal medical care as the civil servant of the localities’. In order to improve the quality of teachers, a National Net Alliance on Teacher Training has been launched in China. This programme aims at developing teacher training through informationlization. By integrating the system of teacher training, satellite network and the Internet, it can provide continuous support and service to the teachers for life long learning and quality improvement. Teacher training can be then carried out at large scale in high efficiency with high quality. All the teachers in primary and secondary schools can receive training and further education, which can lead to a remarkable improvement of the overall quality of primary and secondary school teachers.
II Financial Input in Education
In 2002, the total educational expenditure of the whole country reached 548.003 billion Yuan (RMB), representing an increase by 18.16% compared with a 463.766 billion of 2001. Among the total expenditure, 349.14 billion came from the State’s fiscal resources, which indicated a 14.21% increase compared with a 305.701 billion of the last year. The input from the State’s fiscal resources accounted for 3.41% of GNP in 2002, which again represented an increase by 0.22% compared with that of 3.19% of the year before and marked as the highest proportion of GNP since 1989 when the index was first supervised. The goal of education finance set by the Chinese government is to try to raise the level of public expenditure on education to 4% of GNP within a relatively short duration.
The Chinese government prioritizes education as a fundamental and guiding cause with an overall importance to social and economic development. Financial input into education has been increased constantly by the Chinese government.
Educational expenditure comprises two parts, recurrent expenditure and capital construction expenditure. An educational budget includes a component on recurrent expenditure and a component on capital construction. The financial department and the planning department of the governments at various levels are jointly responsible for drawing up and submitting draft educational budgets to the People’s Congress at the sale level, which then is responsible to examine and approve the draft budget. Once an educational budget is determined, no governmental body or individual has the right to amend it without the approval of the People’s Congress concerned. In the process of implementing the educational budget, the financial and planning departments are responsible for monitoring and allocating recurrent funds and capital construction funds respectively.
With the establishment and perfection ofsocialisticmarket economy, a cost sharing system has been introduced into non-compulsory education. Tuition fees are charged from students at a reasonable percentage based on the full educational cost. Simultaneously, the Chinese government has also taken a series of policies and measures to ensure that students fromeconomicallypoor background will not bedeprivedof access to education. Such measures include mainly a system of scholarships, part-time job facilitating system, special subsidiary system,remissionor reduction of tuitions, and national educational loans. The implementation of these measures has effectively guaranteed that students from poor families can complete their studies successfully.
III The Latest Development in 2003
In 2003, guided by the grand objectives of establishing a well-off society, new progresses have been witnessed in educational reform and development based on the principle that education in China should be overall planned and oriented for the future and should be satisfactory for the whole public.
----In September 2003, the National Conference on Education in Rural Areas was held by the State Council. This is the first conference focused on education in rural areas since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. The ‘Decision on Further Intensifying the Efforts on Rural Education by the State Council’ was promulgated afterwards, identifying explicitly the strategic status of education in rural areas as the ‘priority among priorities’ in China. Three grand objectives, namely a strategic breakthrough in the West, further consolidation and improvement, and deepening the comprehensive reform on education in rural areas, were finalized in this conference. This conference has promoted the overall development and improvement of basic education and rural education in China. In 2003, 51 more countries have universalized the NYCE and eradicated illiteracy among middle-aged and young group, among which 42 are in western areas.
In 2003, the earmarked fund from central fiscal to the compulsory education in rural areas was increased. By now, 3 billion RMB has been available for the second round of ‘National Compulsory Education Scheme in Poor Areas’. Additionally, the Chinese government also aims at allocating 6 billion RMB for the ‘Reconstruction Programme of Dangerous School Buildings in Rural Areas’. In 2003, 2 billion has been allocated already. Another 1.344 billion was contributed to the pilot of ‘National Modern Distance Education Programme in Rural Areas’. As a result, the pilot project, including 10,000 primary and secondary in countryside launched previously under the framework of ‘Modern Distance Education Programme in Western Primary and Secondary Schools’, has been completed successfully. The fund for free textbooks has been increased from 200 million to 400 million RMB each year. Students in 56 poverty-strickencountries in XinJiang have received free textbooks and remission of school fees blessed by the joint financial support from both central and local governments. Local governments also have increased their input into education and promoted actively the implementation of counterpart facilitation programmes. Universilisation of NYCE and eradication of illiteracy among the middle-aged and the young have been taken into reality in 86.6% of the countries in China.
----Higher education in China enjoyed a rapid development in 2003. The total enrollment of regular HEIs in 2003 reached 3.82 million, 617,000 more than that of last year, indicating an increase by 19%. The total enrollment of postgraduate students in 2003 has reached about 269,000, 68,900 more than that of last year, representing an increase by 34%. The total enrollment rate of HEIs of various forms has amounted to 19 millions and the gross enrollment of higher education has reached 17%.
----The establishment of world class university, the development of key disciplines and the training of high-qualified talents were intensified in 2003. At the same time, the efforts in implementing the Quality Programme in higher education was strengthened and the guidance and planning for the innovation of science and technology in HEIs and for the research of humanities and social science was improved as well. New progress was made in the reform of higher education management system and higher education structure adjustment, promoting further the real integration of merged universities. A leading mechanism and a policy framework for higher education graduates employment have taken shape. By this September, more than 70% of the newly higher education graduates has successfully found their employment, indicating a smooth development of graduates employment.
----In order to meet the requirement that vocational education should be more adaptive to the economicrestructureand the development of townships, the national government calls for a new notion that vocational education shall be oriented by employment. Under this notion, the reform, restructure and development of vocational education will be fastened with the expectation that the overall structure of vocational education will be more reasonable with a better development trend.
----Efforts in administrating inaccordancewith laws and in developing legal system for education were further intensified in 2003. Obvious achievements have been made in the management of casual charge.
----Openness in education has been expanded and the international educational cooperation and exchanges have developed in more depth and at higher level. In order to protect the entitled rights of students and parents, efforts in reorganize the order of international education service has been strengthened as well.
IV Planning for the Educational Reform and Development in 2004 and Near Future
During the process of implementing the strategy of ‘Rejuvenating China through Science and Education’ and ‘Develop China by Talent’ and developing an overall well-off society, the Chinese government will further promote the sustainable, healthy, cohesive and rapid development of education, build up a perfect national educational system and a lifelong learning system, produce billions of high qualified labors, millions of specialized professionals and a large group of outstanding innovative talents, and promote a close integration between education and innovation in science and technology,Economic construction, culture prosperity and social development.
On December 30, 2003, the National Steering Group for Science, Technology and Education under the new cabinet held the second meeting and heard the report by the Ministry of Education on ‘Action Plan for Rejuvenating Education 2003-2007’ and ‘The Programme for Strategic Breakthrough in the Universalisation of Nine-Year Compulsory Education and Eradication the Illiteracy among Middle-aged and Young Group in the West’. The ‘Action Plan for Rejuvenating Education 2003-2007’ identifies the direction, tasks and objectives of educational development in China for the next 5 years, clarifying the detailed requirements for educational reform and development. Meanwhile, ‘The Programme for Strategic Breakthrough in the Universalisation of Nine-Year Compulsory Education and Eradication the Illiteracy among Middle-aged and Young Group in the West’putsforward the details on the universlisation of NYCE and the eradication of illiteracy among middle-aged and young group in the western areas. The implementation of these two Programmes will play an important role in improving the overall national quality and pursuing cohesive and sustainable development of economy and society. The Ministry of Education will comply with the requirement set by the meeting and carry out the two programmes carefully from the strategic perspective of rejuvenating China through science, technology and education, developing China through talents, and promoting the process of Grand Western Development.
In the future, the educational work in China will follow the principle of ‘consolidating existing achievements, deepening reform, improving quality and pursuing sustainable development’ to promote the overall, healthy, rapid and sustainable development of education of various forms and at all levels.
The first priority is to promote the educational reform and development in rural areas. In China, 70% of the population inhabits in rural areas and the students in primary and secondary schools in rural areas have amounted to 160 million. 2004 will witness the implementation of ‘The Programme for Strategic Breakthrough in the Universalisation of Nine-Year Compulsory Education and Eradication the Illiteracy among Middle-aged and Young Group in the West’. It is planned that in the next five years, the universalisation of NYCE and eradication of illiteracy will be realized in the western areas so that all the children in the west can have access to education, fulfilling the purpose of the Programme. In those western and central areas where the NYCE has been universalized, the achievements are to be consolidated and quality of the NYCE and compulsory education should be further improved. In the areas with developed economy, the NYCE should be universalized at a higher level with better quality. At the same time, we will promote the development of Modern Distance Programme for Primary and Secondary Schools in Rural Areas and try to improve the management system for compulsory education in rural areas in which the county will act as the main management body
We will intensify our efforts in implementing the ‘Programme on Teaching Quality and Teaching Reform in HEIs’ and in the deepening of teaching reform in HEIs so that the quality of higher education and the quality of talents produced by higher education can be further improved. We will concentrate our resources to strengthen the efforts in developing world class universities and key disciplines. By carrying out the second round of 985 Programme and 211 Project, a system for key disciplines with reasonable structure and individual advantages and characteristics can be built up. In addition, the Postgraduate Education Innovation Programme, the Programme for Scientific and Technological Innovation in HEIs, the Programme on Higher Qualified Innovative Talents will all be continued in 2004 so that HEIs can become a forceful drive in the national innovation system and the land for gathering high qualified talents. It is expected that through these efforts, the capacity of national knowledge innovation and the capacity of training high level excellent talents will both be strengthened so that higher education can contribute its own commitment in terms of knowledge and talents to the overall comprehensive national capacity.
We will promote the close integration of vocational education and economical and social development. Focus will be devoted on the programme of training talents urgently needed by manufacturing industry and service industry and on the programme of training for the shift of rural workforce. Employment will be the orientation of vocational education. Vitality of vocational schools will be expanded for new development and breakthrough in vocational education to meet the sharply increasing need from the society on high qualified and skillful talents.
We will take full advantage of the valuable resources from the whole society, fully support and encourage the healthy development of non-state/private education. It is expected that a mechanism will be established in which public education and private education can jointly develop themselves, which then will lead to the continuous increase of educational services and the continuous deepening of educational reform.
We will implement the Programme on Quality Education in the New Century to development quality education at all levels so that the overall development of the students can be promoted and a solid foundation for their life long sustainable development can be established.
We will also try our best to serve the establishment of a learning society for lifelong learning, serve the remarkable improvement of national quality ofmorale, science, technology, culture and health, serve the establishment of a modern national education system, as well as the national science, technology and culture innovation system and serve the overall development of human beings.
We will carry out the Programme on Education Informationlization, accelerate the pace in infrastructure construction, resource construction and talent production and improve the overall application of IT in educational system.
We will implement the Programme on High Qualified Teachers and Teaching Management, improve the system of teaching training and life long learning of teachers, deepen the reform in personnel system and speed up our process in establishing acohortof high qualified teachers and a high qualified management team.
We will continue the implementation of policies on graduate employment and intensify the construction of employment service system for graduates. The reform on graduate employment system will be accelerated and the guidance and policy mechanism for graduate employment will be improved so that the integration, openness and normalization of graduate employment market can be further developed. It is expected that a better information network and an improved guidance and service system for graduate employment can be built up.
We will deepen the reform on personnel system in education to improve the system and mechanism of talents. The strategy of developing schools through talents will be proactively promoted with the priority on high level talents. Various measures will be taken to train and attract more oversea Chinese talents.
We will improve the policy and system on facilitating students from poor families. National Loans for HEI students will be further promoted and the system of Green Pass will be improved to ensure that students in HEIs will not drop out due to the economic difficulties. Thesubsidysystem for rural students from poor families to receive compulsory education will be improved. We will try out best to raise more funds to expand the coverage of free textbooks to guarantee the entitled right of compulsory education for the students from poor families in rural areas and students from low-income families in urban areas
We will adhere to the principle of comprehensive administration to deepen the efforts in managing casual charge in education. Our commitment in this aspect will be continued and a ‘Single Fee System’ will be disseminated nationally in compulsory education. The policy of ‘Three Limitations’ on public high schools recruiting students who select their schools will be improved and the fee charging by HEIs will be stringently restricted. All forms of expense apportion and hijacked fees will be prohibited. The efforts in governing themalpracticesuch as recruitment and examination will be intensified.
We will expand the openness to the outside world and strengthen the international cooperation and exchanges in the field of education.
The Chinese government attaches great importance to the reform and development of education. The objective of developing a well-off society has already clarified that the strategy of ‘Rejuvenating China through Science and Education’ and ‘ Developing China through Talents’ has brought the valuable historic opportunity for the educational reform and development in China. We have every confidence that with the joint endeavour of the Chinese government and the Chinese people, the educational reform and development in China will surely experience a new and historic leap in the near future.
本文标题：education in china-Whats lacking in our education?
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