China's underprivileged areas continue to lag in overall socioeconomic development, observed Deputy Minister of Education Liu Limin at a State Council Information Office press conference on improving teaching conditions for compulsory education in China's rural area held on February 13. Liu indicated that this gap is reflected in high education costs, poor teaching conditions, and unstable teaching staff. It is a weak point in China's compulsory education and will be the focus for its balanced development, said Liu.

 

The press conference addressed the "Suggestion Relating Fully Improving Basic Conditions of Compulsory Education in Poor Areas" published at the end of 2013 by the Ministry of Education, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Finance. The "Suggestion" provides detailed advices for improving the conditions of compulsory education in weak schools and in underprivileged areas. It focused on the integration of urban and rural areas and the coordinated and balanced allocation of resources for compulsory education between these areas, giving special attention especially to rural, distant and disadvantaged areas as well as the minority ethnic districts. The "Suggestion" proposes six tasks for achieving better integration: guaranteeing basic educational conditions, improving living facilities at schools, channeling further efforts for affiliated rural schools, solving the problem of overcrowded classes at the county level, promoting information technology, and improving the quality of teachers.

 

Wu Zhihui, a professor from the Institute of Rural Education at Northeast Normal University, commented that between 2004 and 2011, China achieved the goal of facilitating overall access to nine-year compulsory education and eliminating youth illiteracy. China solved the basic problem of providing schooling, he said, but now this report is aimed at improving the quality of that schooling.

 

Wu believes that the "Suggestion" will fundamentally change the poor conditions of education and living rural areas. By implementing these polices, China can improve the quality of schooling in rural areas, he affirmed. Overall, the Suggestion provides solutions to broad problems related to teachers in rural areas, which remain the most important and strenuous area in improving rural education quality, he concluded.

 

The Chinese version appeared in Chinese Social Sciences Today, No. 559, Feb.14, 2014

Translated by Jiang Hong,

Revised by Charles Horne