Achieving Universal Primary Education in China - Report Example

Achieving Universal Primary Education in China Executive Summary This paper explores China’s trajectory towards achievinguniversal primary education by tracing the historical foundations of educational inequalities between rural and urban China to the period before the formation of the People’s Republic of China, when the national government only supported national schools while the local communities supported village schools due to limited educational resources. The progress towards universal primary education has been marked by a number of educational policy options, which have sought to provide equal educational opportunities for all children both in rural and urban China, largely by exempting rural children from paying tuition and fee. The prevailing national education policy requires that 4% of the country’s GDP be invested in the provision of education, which is still below the world’s average of 6%, but ironically, many provinces still struggle to hit this minimum target. Consequently, inadequate funding, largely due to the difficult socio-economic as well as environmental conditions in a majority of the provinces (particularly those found in rural China) has been and still remains the greatest challenge in the push for universal primary education. As a way forward, the government of the People’s Republic of China should explore alternative policy options including a central education-funding scheme, which will redistribute national resources to ensure equal provision of educational opportunities while ironing out the obvious educational inequalities between rural and urban China. Statement of Issue Achieving universal primary education in China remains largely elusive due to a number of factors, including difficult socio-economic and environmental conditions, which continuously hamper advancements and efforts towards this end, thereby making this topic a major debatable issue in the country (Chunling). Evidently, China’s primary education is based on very weak foundations, which explains why the country’s basic education has remained backwards over the year; surveys have consistently indicated that the basic 5-years primary education has not been universal and more so, it has been yielding a continuously growing number of illiterates every year. Nonetheless, the government of China has taken several steps in the past to try to rectify the situation by reforming the primary education system to make it more effective in producing quality education for all in the country. Notably, the government has shown deliberate efforts in revamping the primary education system since 1978, all of which have been calculated steps in the right direction for the country as a whole; nonetheless, that is not enough, given the dire state of basic primary education in China. Poor villages in the country are the worst hit by a myriad of unexpected challenges including tough environmental conditions and insufficient funding, which continue to constrain the provision of universal primary education to all children irrespective of their backgrounds. In view of these present conditions, this paper deems it necessary to trace the steps being undertaken towards the achievement of universal primary education in china, to highlight the challenges facing policy implementation, and to process alternative policy options that can be helpful in promoting that goal. History of Problem The history of the current problem facing the China’s education system can be traced back to the period preceding the founding of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in 1949, a time when the national government only supported national schools while the local communities supported village schools to provide education, due to limited educational resources (Margaret Fu 4). Due to insufficient funds, there was a great disparity in the quality of education that was being offered in the urban schools and the quality of education that was being provided in the village schools; in that respect, educational opportunities in the country have always been unevenly distributed up to date in the contemporary China. As mentioned before, throughout the 80’s and 90’s, national funds mainly targeted to improve the education provision on China’s east coast while local governments remained in charge of the local schools. Unfortunately, the local governments have traditionally diverted educational funds to other projects that promise to yield more returns on their investments thereby leaving the state of education at the local schools in such a horrible condition. Consequently, rural schools have conventionally been so financially constrained that they have in most cases been unable to meet all their needs, with teachers being paid with locally produced goods such as baijiu and cigarettes to resell them for pay. In the end, the villages lost a great deal of good teaching talent as the best teachers who could not survive in the village schools often fled to seek for better teaching conditions, particularly in urban China. Due to the acute shortage in the teaching workforce at the rural schools, the gap in education quality at the rural and the urban schools grew even further, thereby enhancing educational disparities in the two contexts. Critique of Current Policy Option The Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China (MOE) is the main agency responsible for the provision of education in China, and it is solely responsible for the regulation and coordination of the entire education system in the country, starting from the compulsory basic education, to vocational education, to tertiary education respectively. Most importantly, China’s Ministry of Education is responsible for the formulation and publication of all educational policies for all the different levels of education in the country, making the system whole and unified at the national level. One of the greatest and most influential decision makers that have consistently contributed to the journey towards actualization of universal primary education in the country is undoubtedly Zhou Ji, the Chinese politician who once served as the Minister of Education of the People’s Republic of China in the period starting 2003 to 2009. Among his notable contributions towards the achievement of universal primary education is the introduction of the National Rural policy, which exempts children from rural backgrounds from paying the compulsory education tuition and fees. Additionally, the national implementation of Free Teachers Education policy under the Ministry of Education in the country has greatly enhanced the progress towards universal primary education by cultivating outstanding schoolteachers and educators thereby ensuring that teaching talents in the countryside are not lost. Other major policy formulations in the country have also been implemented to fast track the progress towards universal primary education, detailing the government’s present commitment to provide special financial as well as any other kind of assistance that would promote the establishment of free education (Bao-heng 104). These policies target the old revolutionary bases that have traditionally suffered neglect and abandonment due to isolation in the remote villages and mountainous districts in particular, where extremely difficult economic conditions have always been a major hindrance to the achievement of universal primary education. In view of these policy changes, the Ministry of Education for the People’s Republic of China reiterates the government’s trajectory towards achieving universal primary education in the whole country, to achieve educational parity between urban and rural China by eliminating all possible sources of inequality. However, while the world’s average investment in education is roughly 7% of GDP, China targets to invest at least 4% of its GDP in the provision of education (Biao); ironically, this percentage is low but numerous provinces, particularly those in the countryside or in rural China, cannot hit the target. In that respect, the poor provinces in rural China cannot adequately fund the ambitious universal primary education goal due to insufficient funding at their disposal; consequently, the adverse socio-economic and environmental conditions in rural china have been, and still are the greatest challenges to the achievement of universal primary education in the People’s Republic of China. Policy Recommendation As a way forwards towards achieving universal primary education in the People’s Republic of China, it is imperative that the national government takes a much more affirmative action in the education sector such as establishing a central system of funding and provision of educational opportunities in the country. Given that, most provinces in rural China cannot even afford the average target of 4% investment in the provision of education, the government must take a more proactive role in the provision of education through funding educational opportunities directly from the national budget. Funding of education directly from the national budget will enable the government to redistribute resources while eliminating economic disparities that afflict the varying educational setups in the rural and urban China, thereby facilitating equal access to educational opportunities effectively. Conclusion Overall, it is clear that despite the various efforts initiated by the government to ensure that universal primary education becomes a reality, primary education in the People’s Republic of China is still lagging behind, and there exists huge disparities in educational opportunities in rural and urban China. Inadequate funding for education in rural China due to the difficult socio-economic and environmental conditions in a majority of provinces is still a major hindrance to the achievement of universal primary education in the country. Consequently, the government of the People’s Republic of China should explore alternative policy options including a central education-funding scheme, which will redistribute national resources to ensure equal provision of educational opportunities while ironing out the obvious educational inequalities between rural and urban China. Works Cited Bao-heng, Zhao. “Education in the countryside today.” Comparative Education, 20.1. (1984):p.103-106. Margaret Fu, Teng. “Unequal Primary Education Opportunities in Rural and Urban China.” China Perspectives. 2005. Web. 20th Feb 2014. < http://chinaperspectives.revues.org/500> Chunling, Li. “Education inequality in China. The University of Sydney. ”2013. Web. 20th Feb 2014. Biao, Teng. “The state of rural schools in China and the broken educational system.” Seeing Red in China 2011. Web. 20th Feb 2014. Read More