Universalizing Nine-Year Compulsory Education for Rural Human Resources Development

1. Universalizing Nine-Year Compulsory Education for Rural Human Resources Development --China’s Experience Presented by Zhang Tiedao Beijing Academy of Educational Sciences P.R. China Apr. 8, 2004

2. By the end of 20th century, China has achieved its national dual goal for basically universalizing nine-year compulsory education and eliminating illiteracy among youths and adults.

3. Contents of Presentation 1.Background 2.Implementation Strategies 3.Achievements and Impact 4.Lessens Learned 5. Problems and Countermeasures

4. I. Background 1. Status of Basic Education in the 1980s: • Early 1980s: National average years of schooling less than 5. • Enrolment at primary level (1985): 133.7 million ( 95.9% of the cohort). • Total enrollment of lower secondary schools (1985): 39.6 million, (36.76% of the cohort).

5. I. Background 2. New demand for human resources rising from the successful rural economic system operated at household, in place of thecommune system • Farmers’ basic learning needs was stimulated with their expectations for further learning of new agro-technologies for more productive use of lad resources • Reemployment from traditional labor-intensive farming to more skill-based economic engagement either in rural and urban communities • Rapid urbanization and surplus of rural labor i.e. rural-urban migration

6. 3. National goal for 9-year compulsory education and adult literacy by 2000 85% coverage in populated areas nationwide Enrollment rate: 85% at lower secondary level, 99% at primary level I. Background

7. II. ImplementationStrategies 1. Decentralization of funding system • Shared responsibility among governmentsand the rural community (since 1985) • Regulated funding system primarily at county level （since 2001）

8. II.ImplementationStrategies 2. Establishment of judiciary arrangement • Law for Compulsory Education of P. R. China（1986） • Measures on Enforcing the Law for Compulsory Education（1992） • Regulations for education inspection • Local regulations for field implementation

9. II. ImplementationStrategies 3. Increase of government special projects

10. II. ImplementationStrategies 4. Extensive mobilization of resources from the community and other donors • During the 1996-2000 period, 31 billion RMB Yuan was donated to rural compulsory education programme by the community including overseas contributions. • The Project of Hope raised 2 billion RMB Yuan for construction of 8,300 new schools in rural villages, which attracted 2.3 million dropout children back to schools. • Spring Bud Project has raised 500 million RMB Yuan which assisted 1.3 million girls from poor rural and ethnic families to access schooling and built over 200 “Spring Bud Schools” for 14 years.

11. II. ImplementationStrategies 5. Developmental project aided by international agencies • World Bank • Unicef • UNDP • UNESCO • DFID

12. II. ImplementationStrategies 6. Inspection and accreditation system • Frequency—Once a year • Indicators—government funding, changes with enrollment, retention and achievement, qualification of teachers • Process: self-evaluation, field inspection, random-selected re-evaluation, rewarding/punishment

13. II. ImplementationStrategies 7.Improvement of Quality of Compulsory Education • To promote curriculum and pedagogical renewal at rural primary and secondary schools • To strengthen teacher and principal training • To implement distance education programme in poor areas

14. Ⅲ. Achievements and Impact Figure 1: Number of population receiving NYCE out of every 100,000 people in 1990 and 2000 1.Considerable increase in universalization of rural compulsory education provision

15. Ⅲ. Achievements and Impact 2. Positive changes in teachers’ qualification Figure 2: Changes with Primary and Secondary School Teachers Nationwide

16. Ⅲ. Achievements and Impact Figure 3: Regional gap of enrollment rate at primary level 3、普及农村九年义务教育的成就与效益 3. Reduction in Regional Disparity

17. Ⅲ. Achievements and Impact Reduction of Disparity in Education Reduction of Gender Disparity Figure 4: Enrollment Rate for Basic Education by Gender

18. Ⅲ. Achievements and Impact Reduction of Ethnic Disparity Figure 5: Gap between Enrolment rate of primary School-age children in Minority Areas and the National Average Enrollment Rate of Primary Education by Ethnic Minority

19. Ⅲ. Achievements and Impact 4. Increase of economic growth contributed by universal rural compulsory education Upon universalizing primary education, with 1% increase in entrance rate of school agers, per capita GDP may grow by 0.36-0.59% annually.

20. Ⅲ. Achievements and Impact 5.Education for Increase of Peasants’ Income Table 1: Relationship between Farmers’ Education and Incomes

21. Ⅲ. Achievements and Impact 6. Educational Investment stimulates productivity growth and farmers’ income generation Table 2: Impact on the Agricultural Productivity and Poverty Reduction by Various Investment

22. Ⅲ. Achievements and Impact 7.Education Contributes to the Transference of Redundant Labourers in Rural Areas • Compulsory education is foundation and backup for transference of redundant labourers in rural areas • The transferring labourers have reached 23.85 million in 2002, among which 62.7% have got the secondary education attainment, and youth and adults accounted for the majority.

23. Ⅳ. Lessons Learned • Governmental firm commitment and effective measure are reliable ensurance for universal NYCE. • Different planning and implementing strategy for NYCE responsive to regional development disparities in economy and education. • Readjustment of management and financing system based on contextual economic and financial system. • Special favorable policies for the disadvantaged have been adopted to promote the equity of education provision. • Establishment of long-term monitoring mechanism by strengthening inspection and accreditation. • Ushering in international expertise and effectively utilizing overseas fundings

24. Ⅴ. Problems and Countermeasures • Challenge with wide gap between rural and urban educational status • Challenge with county-based funding and management system • Challenge with educational quality. Problems

25. Countermeasures Countermeasures • To make efforts to improve level and quality of universalizing NYCE and lay groundwork for generally universalizing NYCE and upgrading quality of compulsory education by 2010. • To establish the guarantee mechanism of compulsory education in rural areas, implement compulsory education administration system with county government as the main management body, strengthen the obligation of central and province financial departments’ investment in the compulsory education in rural areas • To promote quality education through the experiment of the national new curriculum and massive in-service teacher training programs • To initiate the national priority project on rural distance learning in all rural schools for rural urban sharing of quality educational resources and thus enhance quality of rural education provisions

26. Countermeasures Countermeasures • To deepen rural education reform, promote rural vocational and adult education with the strategy of “integration of basic education, vocational education and adult education” and “combination of agricultural production, technological innovation and education development”. • To establish and improve stipend system to support students from rural poor families to access compulsory education • To mobilize more extensive international cooperation in pursuit of external support

27. Thanks!