Unequal Compulsory Education in Rural and Urban China

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【Abstract】In this essay， the author will mainly discuss the situation and problems in compulsory education by looking at the unequal opportunities and resources between rural and urban areas in China， then try to illustrate the reasons about the inequity.

【Key words】compulsory education； Unequal； rural； urban

1. Introduction

Nowadays， the education right is the basic right of each citizen. Equal education opportunity is the prerequisite of this right. Compulsory education is a major part of citizens’ education right that enforced by the state. It is implemented by the public schools that run by the state， but the funding of public schools mainly comes from taxpayers. Therefore， compulsory education must emphasis equality. However， china is a large country， because of the unbalanced economic development of each areas and the deep influence by tradition in people’s thought， many unequal phenomena for students to receive compulsory education.

2. Background of Compulsory Education in Rural and Urban China

2.1 Opportunities of Compulsory Education

First， the different access between urban and rural China. Due to differences in economic development， there is a difference in the ability of urban and rural education input， especially in primary secondary education stage， the enrollment rate of secondary school in city is significantly higher than the countryside. For example， in Hubei province， in 1998， there were 216， 607 graduates from elementary schools in city， the enrollments of secondary school were 210， 384， and the enrollment rate was 97.13%. While in rural areas， the graduates from elementary were 747， 857， the enrollments of secondary school were only 657， 305， and the enrollment rate was only 87.89%， it was nearly 10% gap between these areas （Ministry of Education， 1999）. Although as a country’s citizens， even in the same province， because the township and village government does not set up enough schools， some rural students’ opportunities to receive the compulsory education have been deprived ruthlessly， which was significantly unfair.

Secondly， the right for girls to receive compulsory education is always not guaranteed. According to the research from Tan（2001）， the enrollment rate of primary for school-age children in these areas where people’s net income per capita is less than 300 yuan as follows： male is 96.92%， female is only 83.74%， which is 13% gap between them. From the above， the education opportunity inequality for male and female school-age children not only occurs in poor areas， but also in well-off areas.

2.2 Resources of Compulsory Education

First， there is a big gap of teachers’ quality between urban and rural. Because of the difference of economic development， excellent teachers constantly leave backward areas for developed areas， to flow from rural to urban areas， which lead to the bigger gap of teacher quality gap between undeveloped regions and developed regions. Some research showed that the rate of the first-grade teachers in elementary school was 87%， the second-grade teachers and under was 85%. Besides， the qualified rate of degree is so low. The data from article 1 shows the degree qualified rate of full-time teachers in the local elementary school is only 40%， but the average rate of the country is 86.6% in the same year， so the gap is more than twice. It is clear that the big difference of teacher quality leads to the imbalance resources of compulsory education in rural and urban areas.

Second， the conditions of compulsory education between schools is different. Overall， the education condition in developed regions is better than the backward areas， city is better than the countryside. In the urban schools， students can enjoy the good teaching facilities， such as the school buildings， laboratory buildings， multimedia classrooms and other modern teaching equipment. However， in the rural schools， there are not only broken buildings， even the most basic teaching conditions are impossible. The dangerous teaching building and dormitory is increasing.

According to standard from Ministry of Education， it can have only 40-45 students are contained in one class of elementary school， forward for 40. But due to the low rural education investment， school buildings cannot meet the need of compulsory education， so the excess of students’ number is a common phenomenon. In the crowded classroom， how the teacher guides students closely？ A class in elementary school is only 40 minutes. For instance， if there are 40 students in an oral class， each of them has one minute to practice. But if there are 80 students， each of them only has half a minute， that is， half of their education opportunity has been deprived.

3. Reasons of Unequal Compulsory Education

There are some major reasons why the compulsory education in China is unequal. Xionglong argues that funding and household income may be the major reasons. However， Xiaohong and Yanxia believes that the arrears of wage and the implementation of new tax reform in rural areas will be the major reasons.

3.1 Insufficient Funding for Compulsory Education in Rural Areas.

Over the years， funding for rural compulsory education is from tuition fee and education surcharges instead of the government’s fiscal spending， which may cause the big financial burden for the local government. With the development of universal compulsory education， more and more children go to school. However， the local government in rural areas is hard to raise the finance to support the education because of the poor development of economy， and the funding in rural areas is lower than the standard published by Minister of Education.

3.2 Poor Income in Rural Areas

There is an income gap between urban and rural areas. According to the National Bureau of Statistics of China， China’s urban-rural income gap ratio was 2.37： 1 in 1978， then， this ratio expanded to 2.54： 1 until 1993. Since 1999， the proportion reached to 2.65： 1. Recently， the net income of urban residents per capita was 13， 786 yuan in 2007. By comparison， the net income of rural residents per capita was only 4， 140 yuan. It is referred that the gap of income per capita between urban residents and rural residents was 9， 646 yuan. By 2008， the net income for urban residents increased to 15， 781 yuan， while there was only 4， 761 yuan for rural residents. It is seen that the gap between urban and rural areas was 11， 020 yuan. To sum up， the income gap between these two areas is keeping expand， which will lead to the spending in compulsory education in rural areas less than the urban areas.

3.3 Tax Reform in Rural Areas

The reform of rural taxes hinders the investment for the educational spending in rural areas. The implementation of new tax reform in rural areas is to standardize the collection of taxes and try to relieve the financial burdens for farmers. In 2000， the State Council decided to implement tax reform in rural areas such as Anhui， Hunan， Fujian and other under-developed provinces. The result demonstrated that tax reform is helping farmers to reduce the burden. However， this tax reform is also significantly reducing the rural tax for government， which will have impact on the expenditure for compulsory education in rural areas.

4. Conclusion

To sum up， the unequal compulsory education will have impact on the implementation of Education for All， and hinder the comprehensive development in China. In the analysis， I tried to argue these main opinions with relative critiques. There are still other problems and reasons for compulsory education between rural and urban areas that author did not mention in this review essay because of the word limitation. In the future， the author hope to conduct more literatures on this subject， and try to provide some recommendations to improve the situation of compulsory education in China.

References：

[1]Bo Y.（2001）The Tax Reform in Rural China：How to Cope with Education.China Education Newspaper.

[2]Minghe J.（2001）Investment of Compulsory Education in Rural China.Education Science Research.Vol.2.

[3]Xilong T.（2001）.Unequal Compulsory Education Opportunities in Rural and Urban China.Education Science.Vol.17，No.4.

[4]Xiaohong Z.and Yanxia S.（2002）.On Troubles and Measures about Investment in Rural Compulsory Education.Journal of Northeast Normal University.Vol.2.