China's Education Development and Policy, 1978-2008 (Social Scientific Studies in Reform Era China)

China’s Education Development and Policy, 1978–2008

Social Scientific Studies in Reform Era China VOLUME 9

BEIJING 2011

China’s Education Development and Policy, 1978–2008 Edited by

Zhang Xiulan

LEIDEN • BOSTON 2011

This book is the result of a copublication agreement between Social Sciences Academic Press and Koninklijke Brill NV. These articles were translated into English from the original <<张秀兰: 中国教育三十年>> (Zhang Xiulan: Zhongguo jiaoyu sanshi nian) with the financial support of the Ford Foundation and the Chinese Fund for the Humanities and Social Sciences. This book is printed on acid-free paper. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data China’s education development and policy, 1978–2008 / edited by Zhang Xiulan. p. cm. — (Social scientic studies in reform era China ; v. 9) Includes index. ISBN 978-90-04-18815-0 (hardback : alk. paper) 1. Education and state—China— History—20th century. 2. Education and state—China—History—21st century. 3. Education—China—History—1976– I. Zhang, Xiulan. II. Title. III. Series. LC94.C5C4718 2011 379.51—dc23

2011022964

ISSN 1879-7539 ISBN 978 90 04 18815 0 Copyright 2011 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Global Oriental, Hotei Publishing, IDC Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change.

CONTENTS List of Figures ............................................................................. List of Tables .............................................................................. Preface ......................................................................................... John Fitzgerald Acknowledgements ..................................................................... List of Contributors .................................................................... Introduction Establishing a New Policy-Making Mechanism and Actualizing the Transformation of the Policy-Making Models: Reflections on How to Build a Modern People-Oriented National Education System ........................ Zhang Xiulan, Hu Xiaojiang, and Qu Zhiyong

vii xi xiii xv xvii

1

Chapter One From Welfare to Socialization: A Review of Early Childhood Care and Educational Policies in China ... Zhang Ying, Zhou Peiran, and Zhang Qiujie

61

Chapter Two Policies on China’s Basic Education over the Last Thirty Years .................................................................... Chai Chunqing and Cheng Gang

111

Chapter Three Thirty Years of Special Education in China: Policy Construction of the Modern Special Education System ..................................................................................... Zhao Xiaohong, Tang Min, and Chen Jiao

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Chapter Four Compulsory Education of Migrant Children: Problems and Policy Reaction, from the Angle of Equity .... Qu Zhiyong and Wang Li

223

Chapter Five An Overview of Studies in Vocational Education Policy in China over the Past Thirty Years ......... He Zhen, Wang Qiu, Zhang Mei, and Cui Jian

255

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Chapter Six Chinese Higher Education during the Past Thirty Years: The Transformation of Public Policy ............. Yang Dongping Chapter Seven A Review and Analysis of Ethnic Minority Education Policies in China over the Past Thirty Years ...... Chen Lipeng, Liu Yanqing, Hao Xiaoming, Kong Wei, Ma Ming, and Su Yang

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Chapter Eight The Report of China’s Private Education Policy Development ................................................................ Wu Hua and Wen Dai

425

Index ...........................................................................................

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LIST OF FIGURES Fig. 0.1. The Popularization of Compulsory Education, 1978–2007 ................................................................................. Fig. 0.2. Illiteracy Rates, 1964–2006 .......................................... Fig. 0.3. Trends in the Gross Entrance Rates at Colleges and Universities, 1990–2006 ........................................................... Fig. 0.4. Proportions of GDP and Fiscal Expenditure That are Spent on Education, 1990–2006 .............................................. Fig. 0.5. International Comparisons of the Proportions of GDP That are Spent on Education, 2005 .............................. Fig. 1.1. Kindergartens and Children Enrolled in Kindergartens, 1987–2006 ....................................................... Fig. 1.2. Dorm Area per Kindergarten Student, 2001–2005 ..... Fig. 1.3. The Number of Books per Kindergarten Child, 1998–2005 ................................................................................. Fig. 1.4. The Number of Kindergarten Teachers, 1987–2005 ... Fig. 1.5. Kindergarten Teacher-Children Ratio, 1987–2005 ..... Fig. 1.6. Levels of Educational Attainment of Kindergarten Teachers, 1981–2002 ............................................................... Fig. 1.7. The Number of Private Kindergartens and the Number of Children Enrolled in Private Kindergartens, 1994–2006 ................................................................................. Fig. 1.8. The Ratio of Rural Kindergartens to the Total Kindergartens in China, 1994–2006 ....................................... Fig. 1.9. The Number of Girls and Boys in Kindergarten, 1994–2005 ................................................................................. Fig. 1.10. Kindergarten Enrollment Rates, Girls and Boys, 1997–2005 ................................................................................. Fig. 1.11. Levels of Educational Attainment of Kindergarten Principals ................................................................................... Fig. 1.12. Levels of Educational Attainment of Rural and Urban Kindergarten Teachers, 2006 ...................................... Fig. 1.13. The Ratio of Private Kindergartens to the Total Number of Kindergartens, 2001–2006 .................................... Fig. 1.14. Proportions of Government Expenditures on Different Types of Education, 2005 .........................................

11 11 13 23 23 63 63 64 64 65 65 67 67 68 68 70 70 85 87

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Fig. 1.15. Expenditure on Different Types of Education per Student in 2006 ...................................................................... Fig. 1.16. Local Governments’ Spending on ECCE, 2005 ...... Fig. 1.17. The Numbers of Public Kindergartens and Private Kindergartens, 2001–2006 ..................................................... Fig. 1.18. Level of Educational Attainment of Kindergarten Teachers .................................................................................. Fig. 2.1. The Development of Compulsory Education (1995–2005) ............................................................................. Fig. 3.1. The Collaboration between Ordinary Education and Special Education ................................................................... Fig. 3.2. Education Fund and Education Allocation within Budget Each Year ................................................................... Fig. 3.3. Education Fund Expenditure and Education Fund Expenditure within Budget per Person for Special Education Schools .................................................................. Fig. 3.4. Construction Area of Special Education School Buildings Each Year ............................................................... Fig. 3.5. Expenditures for Purchasing Equipments of Special Schools each Year .................................................................. Fig. 3.6. The Increase of the Numbers of Special Schools ...... Fig. 3.7. The Situation of the Enrollment Rate, the Number of Enrolled Students, and Graduates of Disabled Children Each Year ............................................................................... Fig. 3.8. The Quantity of Professional Teachers in Special Schools .................................................................................... Fig. 3.9. The Distributions of Special Schools in Provinces and Municipalities in 2005 ..................................................... Fig. 3.10. Comparison of the Number of Enrolled Students in Different Grades ................................................................. Fig. 4.1. The Trend of Migrant Population in China .............. Fig. 4.2. The Proportion of Migrant Children within the Migrant Population in Beijing ................................................ Fig. 4.3. Geographic Migration Patterns of Migrant Children .................................................................................. Fig. 4.4. Provinces with a High Number of Hukou of Children .................................................................................. Fig. 4.5. The In-School Situation of Migrant Children, by Age .....................................................................................

88 90 96 98 114 168 178 178 179 179 180 181 181 183 185 224 225 226 227 230

list of figures Fig. 4.6. Education Situations of Children of Different Migration Patterns .................................................................. Fig. 5.1. The Chinese Vocational Education System ............... Fig. 5.2. Numbers of Professional Vocational School Teachers, 1980–2006 ............................................................. Fig. 5.3. Titles and Levels of Educational Attainment of Vocational School Teachers, 2004–2006 .............................. Fig. 5.4. Incomes and Expenditures of Vocational Schools (Including Skilled Worker Schools), 1996–2004 .................... Fig. 5.5. Number of Vocational Schools and Ordinary High Schools, 1990–2006 ...................................................... Fig. 5.6. Numbers of Students Admitted and Numbers of Total Enrollment, by Types of Secondary Schools, 1980–2006 ............................................................................... Fig. 5.7. The Relative Numbers of Secondary School Students Enrolled in Secondary Vocational Schools as Opposed to Ordinary High Schools, 1965–2006 ...................................... Fig. 5.8. The Student-to-Teacher Ratios by Type of Secondary Schools, 1992–2006 ................................................................ Fig. 5.9. Proportions of Education Budget on Secondary Vocational Schools and Ordinary High Schools, 1996–2004 ............................................................................... Fig. 5.10. Tuition per Academic Year, Secondary Vocational Schools, and Ordinary High Schools, 1996–2004 ................ Fig. 7.1. Number of Ethnic Minority Students, by Types of School, 1978–2006 ................................................................. Fig. 7.2. Enrollment of Minority Students, Middle School, and Primary School, 1978–2004 ............................................ Fig. 7.3. Percentage of Ethnic Minority Students in Total Enrolled Students, Primary School, and Middle School, 1978–2003 ............................................................................... Fig. 7.4. Percentages of Schools and Students using Minority Languages in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region ............. Fig. 7.5. Percentages of Bilingual Teachers having Certificates of Competency ........................................................................ Fig. 7.6. Types of Difficulties Encountered in Learning Mandarin ................................................................................ Fig. 7.7. Mongolian Students’ Attitudes toward Mandarin Classes .....................................................................................

ix 231 256 260 261 261 264 265 266 267 268 269 376 377 377 401 402 403 404

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Fig. 7.8. The Quality of Mongolian Textbooks ....................... Fig. 7.9. Funds for Compiling and Translating Minority Language Textbooks, Inner Mongolia .................................. Fig. 8.1. Enrolled Students in Private Schools in China, 1996–2007 ............................................................................... Fig. 8.2. The Number of Private Schools in China, 1996–2007 ............................................................................... Fig. 8.3. The Increase of Private Preschool Education, 1997–2007 ............................................................................... Fig. 8.4. The Increase of Private Primary Schools, 1997–2007 ............................................................................... Fig. 8.5. The Increase of Private Middle Schools, 1997–2007 ............................................................................... Fig. 8.6. The Increase of Private High Schools, 1997–2007 ... Fig. 8.7. The Increase of Private Middle Vocational Education, 1997–2007 ............................................................ Fig. 8.8. The Increase of Private High School Education, 1997–2007 ...............................................................................

404 405 427 428 428 429 429 430 430 431

LIST OF TABLES Table 0.1. Per Capita Education Budgets and per Capita Public Use Budgets, Selected Provinces, and Cities in China, 2006 ............................................................................ Table 1.1. Facilities for Public and Private Kindergartens, 2005 ......................................................................................... Table 1.2. Number of Employee and Child Enrollment in Public and Private-Kindergartens .......................................... Table 1.3. ECCE Related Regulations ..................................... Table 1.4. Public Expenditure on ECCE Since 2003 .............. Table 1.5. Kindergarten Area and Outdoor Activity Area, 2003–2005 ............................................................................... Table 1.6. Teaching Facilities in Kindergartens, 2003–2005 ... Table 1.7. Public Expenditure on ECCE ................................. Table 2.1. Urban Family Expenditure on Selective Education, Spring Semester of 1999 ........................................................ Table 2.2. Policy Documents for Regulating Arbitrary Charges since the 1990s ......................................................... Table 2.3. Policy Documents for Rectifying Exam-Oriented Education, 1983–1993 ............................................................ Table 3.1. Major Laws, Regulations, and Documents Related to Special Education since 1982 in China ............................ Table 3.2. The Enrollment Rate of Disabled Children from the Eighth Five-Year to the Tenth Five-Year ....................... Table 3.3. The Number of Enrolled Students in Some Provinces and Financial Allocations within the Budget ........ Appendix 3.2, Table 1. Main Laws, Regulations, and Documents on Special Education since the Reform Era in Time Sequence ....................................................................... Table 4.1. The Type of Household Registration and Home Addresses of Migrant Children .............................................. Table 6.1. The Enrollment Expansion of Universities since the 1990s ................................................................................. Table 6.2. Enrollment Expansion .............................................

26 71 72 81 94 96 97 103 136 141 149 175 180 184 216 227 318 337

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list of tables

Table 6.3. The Percentage of Rural Students at Tsinghua University, Peking University, and Beijing Normal University since the 1990s ...................................................... Table 6.4. The Distribution of Students’ Social Stratification and Family Backgrounds among 37 Universities .................. Table 6.5. The Distribution of the Stratification of the College Students’ Family Backgrounds among 34 Universities in 2004 ........................................................... Table 6.6. Project 985’s 34 First-Stage Universities: Approval Time, Sponsored Funds, and Objectives .............. Table 7.1. School Enrollment Rates, Han Students and Ethnic Minority Students, 2004 ............................................. Table 8.1. The Statistics of the Development of Chinese Private Education ................................................................... Table 8.2. Public Education Funds Assumed by Private Education in 2007 .................................................................. Table 8.3. Policy Themes of Chinese Private Education from 1978–2008 during Different Stages .......................................

342 343 345 357 378 426 433 434

PREFACE The year 2008 marked the 30th anniversary of China’s reform era. In 2009, the country celebrated the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the People’s Republic. The convergence of these two landmark anniversaries presents a unique opportunity to reflect on where the country has come from and where it is heading. Understanding what has happened in China over the last thirty years is the first aim of this series. For much of this time, the Ford Foundation was privileged to witness developments in China from close at hand. Beginning in 1979/80, when the Foundation made its first grants for Chinese students and scholars to study abroad, the Foundation has supported outstanding researchers, talented government officials, and committed social and cultural practitioners to promote international co-operation and exchange in support of China’s Reform and Opening. In 2007, Representative Andrew Watson invited leading researchers and practitioners to produce a series of volumes commemorating the 30th Anniversary of Reform and Opening covering the nine major fields in which the Foundation has provided support over the years. The outcome is a landmark set of volumes that show how far China has come since 1978. The series is built on the assumption that to understand what happened in the world over the last 30 years we need to understand what happened in China. A second aim of the series is to draw on the experience of three decades of Reform and Opening to plot some of the challenges that lie ahead for China. There is every reason for self-congratulation when comparing China’s development and prosperity today with the country’s situation at the end of the Cultural Revolution. Many practitioners and researchers in China are not, however, content with self-congratulation. They want to know whether China’s success in economic reform can be translated into comparable success in other areas of need, including legal, social, administrative, and governance reform. Not all of their comments and conclusions are the same. Economists have good reason to celebrate China’s achievements in exceeding its historical growth targets. In looking to the future they aim for higher targets still. Social, legal and administrative specialists, on the other

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hand, are only beginning to define the goals and indicators necessary for measuring progress toward implementation of rule of law or social and governance reforms. A third aim of the series is to draw the attention of the world to China’s experience of Reform and Opening. People outside of China need not only to understand what has happened in China but also to make room for China in their understanding of the world more broadly. Many fine empirical studies of China’s reform experience have been published. To date, however, China’s experience has not made a great impression upon international scholarship in a wider theoretical or universal sense. By enhancing international understanding of what has happened in China these thirty years past, the series provides material for comparative and theoretical reflection on the significance of China’s recent experience in world history, and for promoting finer appreciation of China’s role in the world in decades to come. Finally, this series aims to provide a comprehensive overview of China’s major achievements and challenges since the start of the reform era. There is no comprehensive field of study in China that is fully capable of integrating thirty years of Reform and Opening across all of the fields represented here—the economic, social, cultural, legal, administrative, international relations, educational, health and environmental fields. The series takes a first step in this direction by bringing experienced and expert voices from all fields together in a single publication. The series could not have been produced without the tireless efforts of the editors, of the authors, and of CASS Press. Thanks are due to each of the editors and authors, to Xie Shouguang and his able staff for bringing the books to production, and to my valued colleagues in the Beijing Office of the Ford Foundation. John Fitzgerald Representative The Ford Foundation January 26, 2010

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Publication of China’s Education Development and Policy: 30 Years of Reform would not have been possible without the generous contributions of several parties. Meng Xiafan contributed to plan all stages for this book and special thanks are reserved for the staffs in School of Social Development and Public Policy, Beijing Normal University for continuous support. Social Sciences Academic Press editor Tong Genxing compiled the final draft of the Chinese version. Special thanks and commendation is reserved for Michelle Wan for revising and editing the initial translation to meet international standards of high-level academic English. Social Sciences Academic Press President Xie Shouguang oversaw the general publication process, while Qiu Yang and Guo Rongrong of the International Publishing Center assisted throughout the course of publication, including facilitating communication between Brill and the editors and translators. The translation of this book, published by Brill in collaboration with the Social Sciences Academic Press, was made possible through financial support from the Ford Foundation. Social Sciences Academic Press Beijing

LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS

Chai Chunqing, Master of Science, Chinese Academy of Science, is Director of the Non-Governmental Education Research Department at the 21st Century Education Research Institution. Chen Jiao, is a graduate student at the School of Social Development and Public Policy, Beijing Normal University. Chen Lipeng, Doctor of Laws, Minzu University of China, is Deputy Director and Associate Professor at the Renmin University of China Institute of Education and Leading drafter of Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Ethnic Minorities Education. Cheng Gang is a doctoral candidate at the Graduate School of Capital Basic Education Research, Beijing Normal University. Cui Jian, is a graduate student at the School of Social Development and Public Policy, Beijing Normal University. Hao Xiaoming, is a graduate student of higher education at the China Institute of Education of Renmin University. He Zhen, Ph.D. in Education, Beijing Normal University, is Deputy Director and Associate Professor Beijing Normal University School of Education Vocational Education Research Institution and Director of Scientific Research Committee at the China Vocational Education Association. Hu Xiaojiang, PhD in Sociology from the University of Harvard is Vice Dean and Associate professor in the School of Social Development and Public Policy, Beijing Normal University. Kong Wei, is a graduate student of educational administration at the China Institute of Education of Renmin University.

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Liu Yanqing, Dong Minority, is a graduate student of educational administration at the China Institute of Education of Renmin University. Ma Ming, Man Minority, is a graduate student at the School of Social Development and Public Policy, Beijing Normal University. Qu Zhiyong, Ph.D. in Psychology, Beijing Normal University, is Associate Professor at the Beijing Normal University School of Social Development and Public Policy. Qu Zhiyong, PhD School of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, is Vice Dean and Associate professor in the School of Social Development and Public Policy, Beijing Normal University. Su Yang, is a graduate student at the School of Social Development and Public Policy, Beijing Normal University. Tang Min, is a graduate student at the School of Social Development and Public Policy, Beijing Normal University. Wang Li, is a graduate student at the School of Social Development and Public Policy, Beijing Normal University. Wang Qiu, is a graduate student at the School of Social Development and Public Policy, Beijing Normal University. Wen Dai, is a doctoral candidate at the School of Education Administration, East China Normal University. Wu Hua is Professor at Zhejiang University School of Education. Yang Dongping is Director and Professor at the Beijing Institute of Technology Institute of Educational Science and Dean of the 21st Century Education Research Institution. Zhang Mei, Master of Comparative education, Beijing Normal University, Project Officer of 21st Century Education Research Institution.

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Zhang Qiujie, is a graduate student at the School of Social Development and Public Policy, Beijing Normal University. Zhang Xiulan, PhD School of Social Welfare, University of California at Berkeley, is Dean and Professor at the Beijing Normal University School of Social Development and Public Policy. Zhang Ying, PhD in Economics, Nankai University, is Researcher at School of Social Development and Public Policy, Beijing Normal University. Zhao Xiaohong, Master of Education, Beijing Normal University, is Research Assistant in Psychology and Special Education Department of the China National Institute for Educational Research. Zhou Peiran, is a graduate student at the School of Social Development and Public Policy, Beijing Normal University.

INTRODUCTION

ESTABLISHING A NEW POLICY-MAKING MECHANISM AND ACTUALIZING THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE POLICY-MAKING MODELS: REFLECTIONS ON HOW TO BUILD A MODERN PEOPLE-ORIENTED NATIONAL EDUCATION SYSTEM Zhang Xiulan, Hu Xiaojiang, and Qu Zhiyong 0.1. Introduction The new policy-making mechanism discussed in this paper refers to the policy-making mechanism that enables educational policies to respond appropriately to national strategies. The transformation of policy-making models refers to a shift from an experience-based policymaking model to a modern, scientific, and democratic policy-making model. 0.1.1. Why Analyze Educational Policies of the Past Thirty Years It marks tremendous advance in the field of practice when policies themselves become the objects of analysis. Policies are large-scale plans that are put forward by the government. Policies have targets, values, and tactics. Educational policies are the blueprint for the development of an education system. Studies on educational policies are important because it is unthinkable to explore the internal logic of an education system without examining the educational policies that shape it. Studies on educational policies also provide the theoretical base for the development of a healthy and comprehensive education system. In implementing the strategy of revitalizing China through science and education, it is necessary to review educational policies over the past thirty years. This paper fills this task and reviews the development of China’s educational policies over the past thirty years.

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In the past thirty years, Chinese educational policies have focused on many things.1 According to Professor Xie Weihe, education polices can be classified into education management policies and educational policies on teaching. In this paper, we focus on education management policies. 0.1.2. Perspectives on Analysis of Educational Policies: Equality in Education Educational policies can be analyzed from different perspectives. In this paper we choose the perspective of educational equality to analyze the development of educational policies over the past thirty years. Educational equality is the basis of social equality. It is the guiding principle of educational administration.2 Educational equality is the most fundamental ethical principle in a society because education concerns everyone’s welfare. Educational equality not only determines equal access to social resources but also the sustainable development of a society. Because of the importance of educational equality, Professor Xie argues that equality in education is an absolute in society, and is a principle that does not need to be proved. Educational equality is the most fundamental factor to measure the quality of an education system.3 Nevertheless, it is difficult to put the principle of equality in education into practice. Many factors are responsible for the gap between ideals and realities. This situation also motivated current study. We choose the perspective of educational equality to evaluate educational policies over the past thirty years because we believe that research on educational equality has profound political and ethical implications.

1 According to Xie Weihe and Chen Chao, there are 352 policies on higher education and 343 policies on basic education. Xie Weihe and Chen Chao, “Direction and Analysis of Policies on the Development of Education Reforms in China: Research on Quantity of Education Policies and Their Changes since the 1980s,” Education Research of Tsinghua University (2006). 2 “Education justice” was first proposed in the communiqué of the 6th conference of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in 2006. General Secretary Hu Jintao stressed it again in his report to the 17th Congress of CPC. 3 Professor Xie Weihe elaborates well on this: “As an ‘absolute order’ of education, education justice actually embodies people’s dignity. This dignity does not need an explanation, or regulations. It is a basic faith or belief.” “Education justice has a meaning of ‘noumenon.’ Education justice is the most important and essential quality of education.” Xie Weihe, “Justice: ‘Absolute Order’ of Education,” China Education Newspaper, September 11, 2008.

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Educational Equality Is An Important Basis for Social Equality Equality in education is a basic measure of the quality of a modern education system. Social justice is the political-ethical basis of a modern civilized society. “Justice in education is an important part of social justice.”4 It is the key to implementing social justice,5 which determines whether a person can learn basic skills to survive in the society, whether a person can enjoy the benefits of living in a modern civilized society, and whether the person can be happy in his or her life. Educational Equality Is An Essential Part of People-Oriented Educational Policies People orientation is an administrative principle. This is in contrast to the excessive pursuit of GDP, representing a fundamental shift in the relationship between person and object. The realization of the people-orientated administrative principle depends on correct interpretations of its values and the establishment of a system that embodies the people-oriented principle. The word “people” found in “people orientation” refers to three groups. It refers to (1) human beings (as contrasted to objects and other species), (2) social beings as opposed to individuals, and (3) individuals as opposed to society. In China, collective interests have always been placed above personal interests. Protection of individual rights is lacking. The principle of people orientation discussed in this paper is different from the Confucian people-oriented thought that argued that people were more important than the emperor. The boat can be above the water; it also can be below the water. Specifically, the people-oriented principle discussed in this paper differs from Confucian people-oriented thoughts in the following aspects. First, the Confucian people-oriented thought regards people as the object to be ruled and also the measure to rule. The modern principle of people orientation has a deep concern over people’s rights. According to the modern principle of people orientation, people are the subjects of rights, and people’s rights are protected by the law. This is the essence of the modern principle of people orientation. Second, according to the principle 4 Hu Jintao, Holding Highly the Great Banner of Chinese Styled Socialism, Work Hard for Comprehensive Construction of Relatively Wealthy Society: Report at the 17th Congress of CPC October, 2010. 5 UNESCO, Education: With Property Inside (Beijing: Beijing Science Publishing House, 1996), 5; M. Demeuse, M. Crahay, and C. Monseur, “Efficiency and Equity,” in Pursuit of Equity in Education: Using International Indicators to Compare Equity Policies, ed. W. Hutmacher, D. Cochrane, and N. Bottani (Dordrecht: Kluwer, 2001).

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of people orientation, collective interests and individual interests compose a unit. Under this framework, priority is given to the realization of individual rights. (Here the meaning of right refers to entitled rights. For details, see the following).6 Equality in education and equal access and equal rights to education for everybody is what people orientation means as we use it here. Equality in education is an expression of the people-oriented educational policy. Equality in Education is Essential to Social Stability A modern society is made up of people that belong to different social classes and occupational groups. A big gap between the poor and the rich and rigid boundaries that separate different social classes will threaten social stability and national security. A rigid class boundary not only impedes social integration but is also a major source of social conflicts. Many social problems do not lie in social differentiation but in the rigidness of a class system. Education is a way to break down class barriers. Under the imperial examination system, for example, ordinary people believed that a countryside boy could turn into an official overnight. If education keeps the channels of upward mobility open, people will remain hopeful about their future and society will remain stable. Equality in education is therefore a social issue that is essential for social stability and long-term peace and order in China.

6 Whenever individual rights are mentioned, some people worry whether it will lead to selfishness. It should be stressed that prioritizing individuals’ rights is different from promoting “self-centeredness.” Mr. Fang Liufang makes a clear distinction between the two: “Individualism and selfishness are two different concepts. The former proposes individual rights, focuses on the development of character and honors individual dignity. The attitude towards life is ‘live and let live.’ The latter is egoism, which is self-centered, arrogant and selfish. The attitude towards life is ‘not to do good things for others,’ ‘live but not let live.’ To see individualism as selfishness is a misunderstanding. Individualism negates self-centeredness. Original Christian humanism has two implications: first, everyone is valued equally, regardless of their class. Second, self-centeredness should be negated. Humanism has been developed as a modern philosophy of individualism by western thinkers. The Latin root of the word ‘humanism’ is ‘humus,’ which means ‘earth.’ It comes from the story in Genesis where God made humans from mud. The meaning is: people should understand that they come from mud. Therefore, people should not be arrogant or feel self-important. Rather, they should have a rational understanding of their limitations and be humble towards life.” Fang Liufang, “Natural Ideology of Individual Rights and Cultural Background of Modern Private Law,” Legists 6 (1988).

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There Is an Urgent Need to Improve Educational Equality in China Equality in education is an issue of great public concern. In China, educational inequality is still serious and greatly limits the promotion of China’s international competitiveness. On the other hand, the Chinese people place a high value on education. They therefore have a low degree of tolerance toward educational inequality. Educational inequality has attracted a number of criticisms. There is an urgent need to address the issue of inequality in education in China. This paper evaluates the role of educational policies in promoting educational inequality. This paper concludes by offering suggestions on how to build a just education system. 0.1.3. Measuring Justice in Education To evaluate the role of educational policies in promoting equality in education, it is necessary to define equality in education. There are several definitions on equality in education. In this paper we choose the OECD definition. In 2001, Demeuse and colleagues reviewed the OECD publications and summarized the four characteristics of educational equality: (1) Equality in Educational Opportunities Does every individual or sociodemographic group have the same opportunity to access education at any point of their life courses? (2) Equality in Educational Environment Is every individual educated under the same environment? (3) Equality in Achievements Does every student acquire the knowledge and skills that are taught at school (in particular, whether educational outcomes are the same for people of different social backgrounds)? (4) Equal Returns to Education Do different individuals or social groups have the same opportunities to use their knowledge and skills to find a job?7 This paper focuses on the first two aspects of educational equality, that is, equal opportunities to enter schools and access educational resources.

Fan Wenqu and Xie Weihe, eds., Analysis of Education Policies 2003 (OECD Translations of Analysis of Education Policies) Beijing: Education Science Publishing House, 2006), 5. 7

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zhang xiulan, hu xiaojiang, and qu zhiyong 0.2. A Review on the Development of Education and Educational Policies

Before the Gang of Four was imprisoned thirty years ago, education was seriously damaged during the ten years of the Cultural Revolution: the college entrance exam was suspended, and the person who handed in his exam paper unanswered was regarded as a hero.8 The Chinese education system experienced several phases of restoration and rapid development after the Cultural Revolution. The development of education over the past thirty years has transformed China, the most populous country with 1.3 billion people, into a country that is rich in human resources. China is now making its efforts to build a modern national education system that is qualitatively different from the old one. How have these achievements been made? Or, what is the logic underlying the development of the education system? In the following parts of this section, we will first review China’s major achievements in educational policies over the past thirty years, followed by a discussion of the problems that confront the development of educational policies. Achievements Generally speaking, educational policies have played an important role in social and economic development and with meeting the needs of society in the past thirty years. Policy makers have continuously adjusted educational policies in response to the needs of economic reforms. The quality of educational policies has also greatly improved. Educational policies are aimed to improve educational equality. China’s achievements in educational reform are also reflected in the unprecedented expansion of educational opportunities. The average level of educational attainment of the Chinese people is above the average level of educational attainment of less developed countries. The past thirty years have witnessed an obvious improvement in the quality of the nation. Equality in education is the goal of 8 The college entrance exam system was suspended in 1966. The system was restored again in 1973. Zhang Tiesheng was a student who took the college entrance exam in 1973 as an “educated youth.” Instead of answering the questions, he wrote a letter on his exam paper. The incident caught public attention and the college entrance system was abolished once again. Zhang Tiesheng dismissed the exam as “the restoration of the capitalist model of education.” Zhang Tiesheng became a hero who was brave enough to fight against “the capitalist education model.” He was given the title “exam boycotting hero.”

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policy making at nearly every level of the education system, which thus has dramatically promoted equality in education. After years of exploration, educational policy making in China is heading in the right direction. The goals of educational policies are to promote equality in education and to transform China from simply being the most populous country into a country that is rich in human resources. Column 0.1. The Development of Education has Transformed China from a Populous Country of 1.3 Billion People to a Country Abundant in Human Resources On August 15, 2008, Zhang Xinsheng, vice minister of education, told reporters at the Beijing International Press Center that China has made numerous achievements in the development of education, contributing to the transformation of China from a country of 1.3 billion people to a country of great talent resources. According to Zhang Xinsheng, China’s achievements in the development of education is reflected in two big leaps: a breakthrough and an important stride. China is now a country of great human resources. The two big leaps refer to (1) the popularization of nine-year compulsory education and the realization of free compulsory education in rural China, two historical achievements in the development of the Chinese education; and (2) the shift of higher education from elite-centered to mass-centered. By 2007, higher educational institutes have enrolled 5.7 million students with gross admission rate reaching 23%. The total number of students enrolled in higher educational institutes reached 27 million, more than any other country in the world. The breakthrough refers to the fact that vocational and technical education is now on the fast track of development that is oriented towards employment and encourages collaboration between industry and education. In 2007, secondary vocational schools admitted eight million students. Vocational education has developed in a coordinated way together with general education. Enrollment in secondary vocational schools is 50% that of general high schools. Enrollment in higher vocational schools is 50% that of higher educational institutes. An important stride refers to the achievement in educational equality under the leadership of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the State Council. All rural students engaged in compulsory education are not only exempted from tuition but are also offered free textbooks. Students from poor families qualify to receive financial aid. About 150 million students and 7.8 million poor boarding schools students have received some form of financial aid from governments. A state scholarship system has been established, covering more than 20% of the students of ordinary higher educational institutes and more than 90% of vocational school students (People’s Daily (overseas edition), August 16, 2008).

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0.2.1. Remarkable Progress in Educational Policy Making in Promoting Educational Equality over the Past Thirty Years The past thirty years have witnessed tremendous achievements in educational policy making in promoting equality in education. Basic Education Policy Making Focuses on Rural Compulsory Education After nearly thirty years of experiment and exploration, a system of free compulsory education was eventually established in China. In 1985 the Central Committee of the CPC issued the Decision on Reforms of the Education System (关于教育体制改革的决定), setting forth the goal of popularizing nine-year compulsory education. In 1986 the Education Law of the People’s Republic of China (中华人民共和国义务教育法) was enacted. Nine-year compulsory education was written into the law. According to the law, local governments at different levels have the responsibility of implementing and monitoring the implementation of nine-year compulsory education. Since 1995, both the central and the local governments have made huge investments to initiate several important projects to promote compulsory education. These endeavors have proved very effective at promoting compulsory education.9 On September 1, 2006, the amended Compulsory Education Law of the People’s Republic of China (中华人民共和国义务教育法) was published. It stipulated that compulsory education should be offered for free. Governments at various levels have the responsibility of guaranteeing funding for compulsory education. On August 12, 2008, the State Council issued the Notification on Exempting Education Students in Urban Areas from Tuition (国务院关于做好免除城市义务教育阶段学生学杂 费工作的通知). It represented another important step following the issuing of the 2007 policy on popularization of compulsory education and exemption of tuition in rural areas. The publication of Notification signified that a national compulsory education system that covers both urban and rural areas was established. In addition, given the fact that China has a vast territory with substantial variation in levels of social and economic development, enactment of educational policies on compulsory education has played an

The projects included: compulsory education projects in poor areas across China; projects to improve unsafe classrooms in middle and primary schools; projects to build boarding schools in rural areas, the Two Exemptions and One subsidy policy; and the project for remote education in middle and primary schools in rural areas. 9

transformation of the policy-making models

9

important role in promoting compulsory education across the country and improving the overall quality of the nation. In 2005, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Education, and the State Council collectively formulated two important policies to compensate the poor. For example, in order to reduce the financial burden of poor families sending their children to schools, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Education issued Opinions on Accelerating Implementation of “Two Exemptions and One Subsidy” in Key Counties of the State Poverty Elimination Project (关于加快国家扶贫开发工作重点县 “两免一补” 实施步伐有关工 作的意见) in February 2005.10 At the end of 2005, the State Council’s Notification on Deepening Reforms of Funding Guarantees for Compulsory Education in Rural Areas (国务院关于深化农村义务教育经费保障机 制改革的通知) was published, which clarified the fiscal responsibilities between the central government and local governments, created a timetable for the realization of free compulsory education across the rural areas, increased the scope of the beneficiaries of the “Two Exemptions and One Subsidy,” and requested the establishment of reform leading groups and offices to guarantee sufficient funding for compulsory education in rural areas. The 2005 Notifications contained a variety of policy tools. The policies are very authoritative because they are formulated by the State Council, and they have effectively promoted equality in education since they were enacted. Statistics have shown that great progress has been made in popularizing compulsory education and lowering the rate of illiteracy over the past thirty years. After nearly ten years of development, the Chinese government set two basic objectives in the 1990s, that is, popularization of nine-year compulsory education and elimination of illiteracy among youth and young adults. By 2000, 2,541 counties (cities and districts) met these two goals, which represented 85% of the population in the counties. By 2005, 2,890 counties (cities and districts) met these two goals, which represented 95% of the population living in the counties. The illiteracy rate for youth and young adults is less than 5%. The objectives have been met in twelve provinces and in the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (see figures 0.1 and 0.2).

10 Two Exemptions and One Subsidy is a program that exempts poor students from the cost of textbooks and tuition for compulsory education in rural areas and gives students at boarding schools living subsidies. This program is simplified as “TEOS.”

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Fundamental Changes in Educational Policies for the Floating Population The year 2001 is a turning point in that the Chinese government fundamentally changed its educational policies for the children of migrant workers. By 2001, twenty years after the emergence of the floating population, the education system became characterized as a dual structure of city and countryside. Governments of places where the populations flowed out are the primary providers of education to children of migrant workers. Educational policies of the places where the population flowed into created all sorts of restrictions limiting the children of migrant workers to access local educational resources.11 Educational policies fundamentally changed after the State Council’s Decision on Reforms and Development of Basic Education (国务院关于基础教育改革与发展的决定) was published in 2001. The 2001 Decision requests that more attention be given to provisions of compulsory education to children of migrant workers. Governments of places where the population flowed into should take the full responsibilities of providing compulsory education to children of migrant workers. The doors of all public full-time elementary and secondary schools should be open to children of migrant workers. Governments of places where the population flowed into should take all measures to protect the rights of children of migrant workers to receive their nine-year compulsory education. In September 2003, the Ministry of Education and five other ministries issued the Opinions on the Provision of Compulsory Education for the Children of Migrant Workers (关于进一步做好进城务工就业农民子女义务教育工作的意见) and proposed a complete policy framework on the provision of compulsory education to the children of migrant workers. In 2006, the State Council’s Opinions on Migrant Workers (国务院关于解决农民工 问题的若干意见) further stated: “The rights of children of migrant workers to receive compulsory education should be protected. The governments of places where migrant workers found their jobs should take the responsibility of providing compulsory education to children of migrant workers. The provision of compulsory education for children of migrant workers should be included as a part of local plans for education development, and the cost for the provision of compulsory education for children of migrant workers should be included in the For example, some policies stipulate that local governments must strictly regulate the movement of compulsory education students. Only a child without guardians in the place of his/her registered residence can receive compulsory education in the place his or her parents migrate to. 11

transformation of the policy-making models

100.0

95.5

99.1

98.5

97.8

100.0 99.5 100.0 99.3 99.2 98.7 98.4 97.9 97.0

94.9

93.9

95.0

98.6

11

90.8 90.0

87.7

85.0 80.0 75.5

74.6

75.0 70.0 1978

1980

1990

1995

1978

2002

2003

2005

2006

2007

Net Ratio of School Age Children Enrollement Ratio of Primary School Students to Junior School Students

Data Source: “Social and Technical Statistics Sections of State Statistics Bureau,” China’s Social Statistics Year Book 2007 (Beijing: China Statistics Publishing House, 2007); Statistics Communiqué of Development of Education in China.

Fig. 0.1. The popularization of compulsory education, 1978–2007.

35.00 33.58 30.00 25.00 22.81 20.00 15.88

15.00

11.63

10.00

9.31 6.72

5.00 1964

1982

1990

2000

2003

2006

Data Source: “Social and Technical Statistics Sections of State Statistics Bureau,” China’s Social Statistics Year Book 2007 (Beijing: China Statistics Publishing House, 2007). Note: Relevant data for 1964, 1982, 1990, and 2000 are from the census. The 2006 data comes from random sampling of 1% of the population.

Fig. 0.2. Illiteracy rates, 1964–2006.

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budgets. Full-time public elementary and secondary schools should open their doors to children of migrant workers. Funding for schools should be appropriated according to actual enrollment. In the State Council’s Notification on Exempting Compulsory Education Fees for Children of Migrant Workers (国务院关于做好免除城市义务教 育阶段学生学杂费工作的通知) issued on August 12, 2008, a fourth of the document dealt with how to resolve the schooling problems that confronted the children of migrant workers. It is stressed that government of places where migrant workers are employed and local public full-time elementary and secondary schools are the primary providers of compulsory education for the children of migrant workers. These children are also exempted from tuition and other charges. These supportive measures are more implementable and practical than previous ones. In 2001, 2003, 2006, and 2008, another four documents were published in a row. These educational policies support rather than limit the children of migrant workers to receive compulsory education at places where their parents found their jobs. The responsibility of providing these children compulsory education was shifted from the governments and the schools of their hometowns to the governments and public full-time elementary and secondary schools of the places where they currently live. The responsibilities of the governments regarding migrant workers and their children increased. These policies show great progress in promoting equality in education. Popularization of Higher Education Higher education has developed at a rapid speed in China during the past thirty years. In 2006, higher educational institutes enrolled 5,460,500 students, five times as many as that in 1978 (which was 1,083,600). There were 1,867 colleges and universities in 2006, three times as many as that in 1978 (which was 598). In 2006, total enrollment of higher education institutes reached 25,000,000 and the gross enrollment rate reached 22%. Higher education is now popularized in China. Increased chances of attending higher education institutes greatly promoted equality in education (see figure 0.3). A multilevel, multiform, and multidiscipline higher education system took shape. Colleges and universities continued to expand their functions in terms of talent training, scientific research, and social services. In 2006, 24,182,200 researchers were engaged in scientific

transformation of the policy-making models

13

25 22 20

21 17

15

15 10.5

10

12.5

13.3

7.2 5 3.4 0 1990

1995

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2005

2006

Data Source: “The Development and Planning Section of the Ministry of Education,” Statistical Yearbook of Education in China (Beijing: People’s Education Publishing House).

Fig. 0.3. Trends in the gross entrance rates at colleges and universities, 1990–2006.

research and development in colleges and universities, which represented 16.1% of the scientists of the whole country; and published 243,485 scientific papers, which accounted for 60.14% of published scientific papers of the whole country. A Socialized Preschool Education System Replaced the Welfare Preschool Education System The number of children enrolled in kindergartens increased from 7,877,000 in 1978 to 22,638,500 in 2006, an increase of about threefold. The preschool three-year enrollment rate rose from 11.4% to 42.5%, an increase of almost four times. During the past thirty years, the preschool education system has played a critically important role in supporting women to work outside the house. Vocational Education Policies Greatly Promote the Development of Vocational Education A modern vocational education system was gradually established. It is estimated that about 60% to 70% of vocational school students are from rural areas. About 93.65% of secondary vocational

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school students are from families whose incomes are below the average. Support for vocational education then carries the function of promoting equality in education. Over the past thirty years, educational policies have become more oriented to support vocational education. An increasing proportion of vocational school students receive financial support from the governments, and the amount of financial support also increased. For example, from 2002 to 2007, the State Council issued five important policies to support the development of vocational education.12 According to the State Council’s Opinions to Establish and Improve a System of Policies to Support Students from Poor Families in Higher Education, Higher Vocational Education and Vocational Secondary Education (国务院关于建立健全普通本科高校、高等职业学校和中等职业 学校家庭经济困难学生资助政策体系的意见), which was issued in May 2007, beginning fall of 2007 a financial support system for poor students at higher educational institutes will be gradually established. All full-time rural secondary vocational school students and full-time poor urban secondary vocational school students qualify to receive state assistantship, which is RMB 1,500 a year. About 90% of students are covered by the financial support system. After thirty years of development, China has now established a modern vocational education system that is well-structured, open, flexible, and independent, and has distinctive features. The new vocational education system is attuned to labor market demands. Since its establishment, the new vocational education system has expanded at a fast speed. In 1978, there were 4,474 vocational schools in China, with 714,900 enrolled students. In 2007, there were 14,832 vocational schools with 8,100,200 enrolled students. The number of vocational schools in 2007 was 2.32 times more than that in 1978, and enrollment increased by 10.33 times. In the past thirty years, vocational schools have trained more than 70 million students and 1.4 billion 12 They were: the Decision to Improve Reforms and Development of Vocational Education (关于大力推进职业教育改革与发展的决定) (2002) issued by the State Council; Some Opinions on Further Improving Vocational Education (关于进一步加强职业教育工作的若干 意见) (2004) issued by seven ministries of the State Council; the Decision on Developing Vocational Education (关于大力发展职业教育的决定) (2005) issued by the State Council; Some Opinions on Improving Student Support Systems in Vocational Secondary Education (完善 中等职业教育贫困家庭学生资助体系的若干意见) (2006); and the State Council’s Opinions to Establish and Improve the System of Policies to Support Students from Poor Families in Higher Education, Higher Vocational Education and Vocational Secondary Education (国务院关 于建立健全普通本科高校、高等职业学校和中等职业学校家庭经济困难学生资 助政策体系的意见) (2007).

transformation of the policy-making models

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person/time workers. The proportion of secondary school students that are engaged in vocational education has greatly increased. For example, in 1976, 93.9% secondary school students studied at general high schools, while only 6.1% studied at secondary vocational schools. By the end of the 1990s, this situation fundamentally changed. About half secondary school students studied at general high schools, while the other half studied at secondary vocational schools. Ethnic Minority Education Policies Maintain a Healthy Development Educational opportunities for ethnic minorities are important measures of educational equality. From the founding of the new China to the beginning of the economic reforms in the late 1970s, the focus of ethnic minority education was to train ethnic minority cadres. After thirty years of development, a complete ethnic minority education system has been established. The system is made up of preschool education, basic education, vocational and technical education, adult education, and higher education. The scale of ethnic minority education has been continuously expanding. The quality of education has improved remarkably. By 2006 there were 21,975,700 ethnic minority students studying at various types of schools across the country. Among them, 1,561,800 ethnic minority students were engaged in higher education, accounting for 5.79% of the total students that are engaged in higher education. This number was 42.38 times more than that in 1978, which was 36,000. There were 760,660 ethnic minority students enrolled in secondary vocational schools in 2006, which represented 4.92% of the total students at secondary vocational schools and was 27 times more than the number of students that were enrolled in secondary vocational schools in 1978 (which was 28,400). There were 6,911,700 ethnic minority students at regular secondary schools in 2006, which represented 8.05% of the total general high school students and was 2.8 times more than the number of ethnic minority students that were enrolled in general high schools in 1978 (which was 2,467,500). There were 11,298,500 ethnic minority students enrolled in primary schools in 2006, which was 10.11% of the total students enrolled in primary schools and 1.47 times more than the enrollment in 1978 (which was 7,686,000). Building a Modern Special Education System Thirty years ago, special education was only for deaf-mute children and blind children. These disabled children were taught separately from other nondisabled

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zhang xiulan, hu xiaojiang, and qu zhiyong

children. Now, special education is also for children who are either visually handicapped, hearing-impaired, physically handicapped, intellectually handicapped, mentally handicapped (including autism), or multihandicapped. The mode of inclusive education was adopted. Disabled children were taught together with nondisabled children so that both disabled and nondisabled youths and young people have equal opportunities to receive education and access educational resources. The biggest achievement in special education is that modern special education, for the first time in the past thirty years, has embarked on a track of healthy development. This is reflected in that basic thoughts gained further development, more people received special education, and a special education system and a pluralistic pattern begun to take shape. In 1978, there were only 292 blind and deaf-mute schools with 30,000 enrolled students. There were no other types of special education schools. There were no special education classes. Disabled students had no chances of studying with nondisabled students in the same schools. In 2001, there were 1,531 special education schools (including 375 intelligence cultivation schools), 826 special education classes in regular elementary schools, and 14 special education classes in regular (vocational ) junior middle schools. The total enrollment of disabled students was 386,400 in 2001. Among them, more than 110,000 were enrolled at special education schools, and the rest either received their education in special education classes, or attended class together with nondisabled students. Private Schools Emerge and Are Protected by the Law One of the most important achievements in the education system has been the resumption of private education since the 1960s. By the 1960s, private education almost disappeared in mainland China. Since the opening up of China in the late 1970s, private education resumed its development. By the end of 2007, there were 95,200 private schools (education institutions) of different types with 25,835,000 enrolled students. These schools played an active role in increasing the supply of education resources and promoting equality in education. They also created 11,000,000 jobs. Private education has now become an important part of the national education system. The Private Education Promotion Law of the People’s Republic of China (中华人民共和国民办教育促进法), which took effect on September 1, 2003, marks that the development

transformation of the policy-making models

17

of private education has embarked on a legal track. After this, the legality of private education entered a new phase that mainly relies on local legislation. Private education maintained a rapid pace of development in response to the fast increases in the social demands for private education. 0.2.2. Administrative Principles Serve As a Guide for Educational Policy Making Policies are made by governments and reflect governments’ objectives, values, and tactics. This applies to every country, especially in China. China has just started the process of transforming the traditional policymaking model into a modern policy-making model. More parties are involved in educational policy making, and their influences on policy making have greatly increased. Nevertheless, the influences of traditional policy-making models still persist. Political and administrative elites monopolize resources and powers affecting the directions of major policies.13 In other words, administrative elites still play a decisive role in educational policy making. Educational policies reflect the administrative ideologies of top leaders. During the first twenty years of economic reforms, the focus of policy making was on economic development. Since the beginning of the twenty-first century, more attention is given to social and economic equality. In 2003, the concept of scientific development was introduced at the third conference of the Central Committee of the CPC. Policy making is considered an important instrument for promoting equality. Since the beginning of the twenty-first century, in response to the shift of the focus of policy making, educational policies move in the direction of promoting educational equality. Before 2001, the focus of educational policies was on protecting the education rights of rural children, the most vulnerable demographic group. After 2001, more educational policies were created to increase support for rural children. Since the fall of 2007, for example, 90% of secondary vocational school students (of whom 60–70% are from rural areas) receive RMB 1,500 a year from their schools.

13 Zhu Xufeng, “Transformation of Policy Making Models and Advantages of Elites,” Sociological Studies 2 (2008).

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0.2.3. More Parties Are Involved in Policy Making The Influences of Mass Media on Policy Making Are on the Rise In recent years, mass media have played an important role in attracting policymakers’ attention toward social issues. The mass media reports and analyzes social problems. It also advocates solutions for social problems.14 Social problems, after being exposed to the public by the mass media, are therefore more likely to be addressed through policy making. For example, at the end of 1999, the magazine Vocational and Technical Education published a collection of reports entitled Tearless Cry,15 reporting the difficult lives of poor secondary vocational school students. The magazine caught the attention of Wang Zhan, then the vice minister of education. He requested that the chief secretary of adult education meet with the authors and investigate the issue. In the end, the Ministry of Education decided to increase investment in vocational education in western China from 200 million yuan to 400 million yuan. More Channels Are Open for the Public to Participate in Policy Making The National People’s Congress (NPC) and National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) host conferences every spring. These conferences provide important opportunities for the public to participate in policy making. At these conferences, members of the CPPCC and the NPC actively participate in the administration and discussion of state affairs. To a great extent their opinions reflect people’s demands. Education is an important topic that is discussed at these conferences. It is also an issue that concerns millions of Chinese families. The speeches, discussions, and motions of the representatives and committee members therefore allow the public to have a voice in educational policy. Think Tanks Actively Participate in Policy Making Over the past thirty years, the Chinese government gradually shed off the influences of the planned economy and provided more opportunities for different parties to participate in policy making. A number of think tanks were established. They maintain a variety of connections with the governments. Michael Howlett and M. Ramesh, Public Policy Research: Policy Cycles and Policy Sub-Systems (Beijing: Sanlian Book Store, 2006), 102. 15 Yao Shuwei and Zhang Hua, Tearless Cry: Special Reports on Poor Students in Vocational Schools (Changchun: North-East Normal University Publishing House, 2007). 14

transformation of the policy-making models

19

The government values the think tanks more than before, making the policy-making process more democratic and scientific. Well-respected think tanks include the Development Research Center under the State Council, the Party School of the Communist Party of China, the Macroeconomic Research Institute under the National Development and Reform Commission, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, governmental research institutes, higher educational institutes and other research institutes, nongovernmental research institutes, nonprofit organizations, research offices of the State Council and policy research offices of different ministries. In addition, the governments use different channels to collect valuable ideas.16 The participation of professional consulting institutions in policy making represents a great progress in our political lives. It lays the foundation for the transformation to a modern model of policy making. 0.2.4. The Quality of Educational Policies Has Improved Improvements in the quality of educational policies are first seen in that educational policies have a clearer target. More policy tools are available, making it easier to implement policies. For example, the “Two Exemptions and One Subsidy” (TEOS) policy was first published in 2001. By 2005, the funding mechanism already took shape. More policy tools became available to guarantee the policy implementation. The TEOS policy proved very effective at promoting educational equality. Problems Despite the many achievements in educational policies, there remain a few problems to be resolved so that educational policies can better serve the needs of the development of education in the twentyfirst century and the request for establishing a harmonious society.

16 The think tanks are engaged in systematic and routine research and put forward policy plans. The government also consults in the following ways: (1) the State Committee of Reforms and Development invites bids for the project of the next five-year plan throughout the country in 2003, and any university or research institution can put in bids; (2) experts are summoned to study the plans of a particular policy; (3) a government department trusts research institutions or experts to do the relevant study; (4) suggestions are collected through various internal systematic information channels; and (5) relevant experts are contacted.

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0.2.5. Strengthening the Role of the People-Oriented Principle in Educational Policy Making Education plays an important role in individual development and social development. The function of education in individual development refers to the role education plays in the survival and development of individuals. The function of education in social development refers to the role education plays in cultivating national identities, maintaining social functions, and promoting social reform and development. Hence, strategic problems of educational development can be discussed from two perspectives: the social perspective and the individual perspective. Since the book From a Country with a Large Population to a Country with Strong Human Resources17 has already discussed the strategic problems of educational development from the social perspective, this section will examine educational policies from the individual perspective. The relationship between education and individual development reflects the purpose of education, which is to promote individual development. All definitions about the purpose of education are centered on individual development.18 In other words, individuals are at the core of education, and are both the starting point and end result of education. In fact, the social value of education is also reflected in the role of education in promoting individual development and wellbeing. The purpose of building a country of strong human resources is to increase people’s happiness. The principle that people are at the heart of education is the ethical foundation of an education system. It is also the fundamental basis for building a well-structured education system. The principle that people are at the heart of education is also the yardstick to judge the legitimacy of an education system. The damage to the right for education is therefore illegitimate, intolerable and needs to be corrected. Hence, the people-oriented principle reflects the intrinsic values of education. It is therefore necessary in order to evaluate educational policies to examine the role of education in promoting individual

17 Task Group of Report on Education and Human Resources in China, From a Country with a Large Population to a Country with Strong Human Resources (Beijing: Higher Education Publishing House, 2003). 18 Plato, “The Philosopher King,” “militia men”; Rousseau, “natural person”; Johann Amos Comenius, “Education should cultivate ‘wholesome individuals’ ”; Natorp Paul (Germany), “social person”; Newman, “educated gentlemen or citizens”; Confucius, “men of honor”; Modern, “cultural laborers”, “successors and builders.”

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development and equality in education. Based on the above understanding of people orientation, the following two points are particularly important to be mentioned when evaluating educational policies: (1) individuals should be the unit of analysis; and (2) educational equality and protection of individual rights for education should be the focus of educational policy making. There are two problems with current educational policies. First, current policy tools cannot accurately measure whether an individual’s right to receive education is impaired or not. Average statistics are often used to design and evaluate an educational policy. Although average statistics are useful for assessing the overall education situations, they cannot reflect (1) the absolute number of people whose rights for education are damaged though they might account for a small proportion of the total population; and (2) variation in educational opportunities between urban and rural areas, between eastern, central, and western China, and between men and women. The situation of the most disadvantaged individuals cannot be captured by average statistics. Education remains a huge financial burden for poor families. For example, according to data from 2004, a poor peasant would have to work 48 years in order to be able to pay his child college tuition fees. Moreover, this estimate does not account for other costs, such as the costs for food, clothes, medicines, production investment, pensions, and other daily expenditures. The dropout rate for sevento twelve-year-old children of poor peasants was 5.2%, which is 2 to 3.5 times as high as that for children of low-income families and the national average. The average dropout rates for thirteen- to fifteenyear-old children from poor families in rural areas and low-income families were 10.3%, and 7.1%, respectively, while the national average was 4.1%.19 By 2004, there were still 10% of poor children who have not completed their compulsory education. The second problem 19 In 2004, an average college student spent RMB 7,000 (including tuition, minimal living expenses, and accommodation). The cost of educating a four-year college student was RMB 28,000. The average net income of a peasant, a peasant from a poor county, or a poor peasant was RMB 2,936, 1,585.3, or 578.7, respectively. To pay for the education of a college graduate, a rural laborer must work ten years. A peasant from a poor county must work eighteen years, and a poor peasant must work fortyeight years. A child’s level of educational attainment and probability of dropping out of school is closely related to the financial circumstances of his or her families. Zhang Xiulan and Xu Yuebin, Research into Minimum Life Security Systems in Rural Areas of China; Minimum Life Security Section of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, China Representative Office of Asian Development Bank, published internally in 2007.

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with current educational policies is a lack of effective measures to deal with the impairment of individual’s right for education. Many studies have revealed that individuals’ rights for education are not sufficiently protected. The mass media also reported many cases on the impairment of individual rights for education. There are a number of reasons that this situation has occurred, including the lack of relevant educational policies, the poor quality of educational policies, lack of an accurately defined target of protection, lack of policy effectiveness, and lack of coordination among different policies.20 Sometimes policies are distorted during implementation and deflected from their original goals. In short, strong policies to deal with the impairment of individual rights for education are lacking. The people-oriented principle requires that educational policies benefit everyone; structural discrimination must be avoided. 0.2.6. Structural Flaws in Decision-Making Mechanisms: A Lack of Negation Mechanisms between Different Government Organs Administrative principles have a profound impact on educational policies. But in reality, the gap between national strategic goals and detailed policies that are created to realize these national strategic goals remains large. This situation is partly due to structural flaws in educational policy-making mechanisms, that is, the lack of negation mechanisms between different governmental organs. Consequently, although the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the State Council have clearly defined the strategic objectives for education, these objectives are difficult to be realized because they are often not adequately addressed in policies. For example, Outline of Reforms and Development of Education in China (中国教育改革和发 展纲要) of 1993 stipulated that educational expenditure should reach 4% of the total fiscal expenditure by the end of the twentieth century. However, this objective has never been realized. In fact the actual percentage is relative low when compared to other countries (see figures 0.4 and 0.5).21

In low-income areas, basic education is provided mainly by the counties and education funding can only be used to pay teachers’ salaries. 21 The reason is complicated. Achieving this objective needs cooperation among many departments. 20

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23

25.00 20.00

20.69 18.29 16.13

15.00

16.17

15.62

15.68

15.21

15.70

10.00 5.00

2.61

2.36

3.01

2.79

2.85

2.80

2.79

3.00

0.00 1990

1995

2000

2001

Ratio of GDP

2003

2004

2005

2006

Ratio of Expenditure of Finance

Data Source: “The Finance Section of the Ministry of Education, Social Science Section of State Statistics Bureau,” China Statistics Yearbook of Education Funding (Beijing: China Statistics Publishing House).

Fig. 0.4. Proportions of GDP and fiscal expenditure that are spent on education, 1990–2006.

9.8 7.5 5.5 3.7

3.7 3.7

4.1 4.3

4.6

5.9

8.0

8.4

5.9 5.9

4.7 4.7

Ch

ina Ja pa n M idd In le dia a M idd nd L Ru le ow ssi an a d H Inc o B m igh e C razi l In ou co nt m r eC ie ou s nt r Ge ies rm an y Ko re a Br ita in th e U Fra H igh n nit ce In co ed S m t a eC te ou s nt rie Sw s ed en M ala ys De ia nm ar k Cu ba

2.8

Data Source: The World Bank, World Development Indicators 2007 (http://data. worldbank.org/data-catalog/world-development-indicators/wdi-2007).

Fig. 0.5. International comparisons of the proportions of GDP that are spent on education, 2005.

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The reason for this discrepancy lies in a lack of negation mechanisms between different government organs, a longstanding administrative problem. Problems would be easier resolved when the order comes from the higher-level administrative bodies, while the reverse is true when resolving the problem involves two administrative bodies at the same level. The development of education involves many administrative bodies at various levels. Due to a lack of horizontal negation mechanisms between different administrative bodies as well as a lack of clear definitions of responsibilities and rights between different administrative bodies in implementing the national strategies, educational policies often do not contain effective policies tools to guarantee the realization of the national strategic objectives. This is a structural flaw. It reflects the urgent need for administrative reform. 0.2.7. An Urgent Need to Improve the Capacities to Make Decisions Lack of Policy Tools The State Council’s Decisions on the Reforms and Development of Basic Education (国务院关于基础教育改革与发展的决 定), which was enacted on May 29, 2001, stated that governments at various levels should share the responsibility of funding compulsory education in rural areas, with the county governments as the primary funders. In reality, however, it is difficult to implement this policy because county governments in western and central China are too poor to guarantee the funding. The main reason is that implementation of the separate taxation system since 1994 deteriorated the financial circumstances of many county governments. Their selffinancing coefficient has remained at around 0.6 for a long time.22 It is therefore unrealistic to rely on county governments to take the main funding responsibility in rural areas. In other words, although the county governments are assigned the primary responsibilities of funding compulsory education in rural areas, they are not provided with effective policy tools to implement the policy. Therefore, the policy was doomed to fail since the very beginning. Regional Differences in Educational Investments Table 0.1 shows a huge difference in per capita government spending on education between 22 Zhao Xiao, “Macro Adjustment and Relationship Between Central and Local Governments,” China Development Observation 3 (2007).

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different provinces and autonomous regions in 2006. If we take primary schools as an example, the Shanghai municipal government’s investment in primary education (RMB 9,410) is ten times as high as that of Henan Province (RMB 949), which invests the least in primary education. The circumstances of other central provinces are no better then. Their investments in education are even lower than that of western provinces. This situation is known as the “central sinking” phenomenon.23 This situation arises because the central government provides great support in western China in terms of transfer payment, while economically less developed central areas are largely ignored in the state’s transfer payment.24 Financial difficulties of central provinces are not taken into account in educational policy making, resulting in a huge gap in government investment in primary education. Failing to account for the economic difficulties of the central provinces in payment transfer plans also reflects government problems in policy making. 0.2.8. An Experience-Based Policy-Making Model Policy Making Is Based on Experience Rather Than Democracy The policymaking process includes seven stages: information, proposals, regulations, legalization, application, termination, and evaluation. The decision-making stage, that is, the regulations to legalization stage, is a legal policy-making procedure and involves the participation of various bodies affected by the policies, debates on various policy proposals, extensive consultations, and hearings. All of these procedures should be transparent. In China there are problems with the decision-making stage in regularity, democracy, and transparency. Although debates are conducted in a transparent way before policies are made public, the phase of decision-making is not transparent. The public lacks legal channels to participate in the policy-making process. A policy-making process based on such an approach can hardly guarantee the quality of policies. 23 The central sinking phenomenon refers to the slow speed of economic development in central areas. Compared with the prosperous east and developing west, central areas have been developing too slowly. In the 1980s, the research center of the State Council began studying the development of the west, hoping to avoid central sinking. 24 “Report of National Inspection 2005 (abstract),” China Education Newspaper, February 24, 2006.

9410 5401 4139 2940 2781 2662 2474 2294 2221 2114 2114 2069 1987 1737 1645 1634

Primary schools 10326 7064 4290 3799 2452 2949 2282 2269 2769 2130 2258 2526 1946 1704 2282 1897

Junior middle schools

Per capita education budgets

2309 1619 512 434 362 409 196 429 530 330 525 318 308 171 136 271

Primary schools 2615 2461 729 642 425 362 247 556 710 399 530 626 402 235 211 378

Junior middle schools

Per capita public use budgets

Hainan Guangdong Shaanxi Shanxi Yunnan Hunan Guangxi Ningxia Gansu Anhui Chongqing Hubei Jiangxi Sichuan Guizhou Henan

Areas

1603 1580 1523 1507 1501 1480 1410 1391 1363 1264 1246 1232 1164 1139 1055 949

Primary schools 1660 2119 1476 1687 1761 1822 1498 1839 1550 1205 1500 1423 1321 1371 1191 1195

Junior middle schools

Per capita education budgets

367 316 368 212 249 208 206 289 299 102 465 154 164 334 140 170

Primary schools

448 522 453 316 367 279 299 468 400 136 600 207 212 431 247 252

Junior middle schools

Per capita public use budgets

Note: The order of the list reflects per capita education funding in the budgets of primary school students from highest to lowest.

Data Source: Statistics Communiqué of the Implementation of Education Funding by County in 2006, issued by the Ministry of Education, State Statistics Bureau and Ministry of Finance (http://www.drcnet.com.cn/DRCnet.common.web/DocViewSummary.aspx? docid=1669063&chnid=3953&leafid=15163&gourl=/DRCnet.common.web/DocView.aspx).

Shanghai Beijing Tianjin Zhejiang Heilongjiang Tibet Jiangsu Inner-Mongolia Liaoning Jilin Qinghai Xinjiang Fujian Hebei Shandong China

Areas

Table 0.1. Per Capita Education Budgets and Per Capita Public Use Budgets, Selected Provinces and Cities in China, 2006

26 zhang xiulan, hu xiaojiang, and qu zhiyong

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Inadequate Response to Social Demands for Education Due to a slow progress of democratization and a lack of smooth communication channels, educational policies often fail to respond to needs of the nation. This is reflected in the following: Data show that the quality of the Chinese population ranks very high among developing countries. However, the gap between China and developed countries is still large. It will take a century to narrow the gap between China and the USA in terms of the quality of the population. There are many reasons for this gap. One of the important reasons is that the proportion of the Chinese population that has not completed junior middle school is too large25 due to inadequate government support for compulsory education. This big gap in the quality of the Chinese population and that of the western countries motivates the advancement of the proposal of prioritizing the development of education in the 1970s.26 However, this national strategy and the urgent need to improve the quality of the Chinese population are not adequately reflected in policies. The imperial examination system existed in China for more than a thousand years. The Chinese people have a strong motive to learn. Their need for education is even greater today. From a Country with a Large Population to a Country with Strong Human Resources gives a vivid description of the reasons for the increasing demand for education in China.27 However, educational opportunities are still limited. Lack of education is partly responsible for poverty and misery. The level of

25 In 2000, Chinese nationals over 15 on average had received 7.85 years of education (the number was 8.5 in 2007). Nationals older than 25 had received 7.43 years of education. The mean of the two was less than that of second grade in junior middle schools. This was similar to the levels of the US a century ago. The main gap lies in the low proportion of people with higher education and the large proportion of people with education lower than junior middle school. China Education and Human Resources Task Group, From a Country of a Large Population to a Country of Strong Human Resources (Beijing: Higher Education Publishing House, 2003), chap. 3. 26 The idea of focusing on developing education was first proposed by Deng Xiaoping. In 1977, Deng Xiaoping stated: “The key to modernization is the development of science and technology. Science and technology cannot be developed unless education is developed.” Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping, vol. 2 (Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 1993), 40; Decision of Central Committee of CPC and the State Council on Accelerating Progress of Science and Technology (中共中央国务院关于加速科学技术进步的决定) issued on May 6, 1995, proposed the strategy of developing the country through science and education for the first time. 27 China Education and Human Resources Task Force, From a Country with a Large Population, 78.

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government spending on education is low. The education provision system is flawed. 0.2.9. Adopting a Scientific Policy-Making Model Scientific educational policy making refers to educational decisionmaking concepts and decision-making techniques that are scientific. Education is the strategic priority of development. The development of education must be built on a scientific basis. At present, the educational decision-making concepts need to be improved in the following aspects: (1) Theories on Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) The discussions on ECCE in the past thirty years have been centered on its orientation: Are ECCE public goods? Should ECCE be considered a part of compulsory education? Some people argue that ECCE should not be considered public goods because ECCE is not treated as public goods in many developed countries. However, we think ECCE should be considered public goods because (1) research in developmental psychology finds that early childhood experiences have lifelong impacts on children’s physical and mental development,28 and (2) in contrast to many western countries, our employment policies encourage women to work outside home. ECCE has been found to play an important role in supporting women to work outside the home in the past years. Nevertheless, socialization, high charges, and low enrollment rates (the preschool three-year enrollment rate is below 50%) have threatened the roles of ECCE. Preschool children’s rights to receive education have been seriously undermined. Disagreement on the nature of ECCE arises from our understanding on ECCE. First, our understanding on the internal logic of ECCE remains superficial. Second, a consensus on the relationship between ECCE, gender equality, and the role of ECCE in promoting women’s employment is lacking. In western countries, the relationship between ECCE and women’s labor market employment is not as strong as that in China because western women’s attachment to the labor markets is not as strong as their Chinese counterparts. The status of ECCE in

28 L. J. Schweinhart et al., Lifetime Effects: The High/Scope Perry Preschool Study Through Age 40 (Ypsilanti, MI: High/Scope Press, 2005).

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western countries fits the employment patterns of western women as well as their relationship to the labor markets. In contrast, Chinese women are more strongly attached to labor markets. Their patterns of employment require that ECCE be treated as public goods in China. Due to these misunderstandings of ECCE and the relationship between ECCE and women’s employment patterns, the status of ECCE is not clearly defined in China. Government investment in ECCE is inadequate. According to a UNESCO survey of 79 countries in 2007, the proportions of the GDP that were spent on ECCE ranged from 0.5% to 0.2% (Latin American countries). But in China government investment in ECCE was only 0.03% of the GDP. (2) The Status of Private Education Is Not Clearly Defined Private education has played a distinct role in expanding educational opportunities, promoting diversification of sources of educational funds, promoting competition between public schools and private schools, satisfying people’s various kinds of demand for education, improving the quality of education, and increasing the schooling options. Private schools play an important role in the education system of developed countries.29 Some of the most famous universities in the world are private schools, such as Oxford University and Cambridge University in the United Kingdom, Harvard University and Stanford University in the USA, and Waseda and Keio University in Japan. These universities have played an important role in inheritance and innovation of traditional cultures, developing modern sciences and technology, and educating first-class talents. These countries’ private junior middle schools, primary schools, and vocational and technical schools also make contributions to the popularization of education and the promotion of economic development. These countries attach great importance to the development of high-quality private schools. Private schools and public schools have their own distinctive features, however. They should therefore complement each other to make education more pluralistic and multilayered. Private schools and public schools should also collaboratively promote the progress of modern sciences, technology, the economy, and society.

The question of whether people-run schools are equal to private schools has been explored. Feng Jiangjun, “Concepts, Types and Features of Private and People-Run Schools,” Situation of Private Education 10 (1998). As to terms, people-run schools and private schools are now the same in China. 29

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There are a few problems with current educational policy making on private schools. First, the status of private schools is not clearly defined. Neither the Law on the Promotion of Private Education (民办教育 促进法) nor the Implementing Regulations of the Law on the Promotion of Private Education in the PRC (中华人民共和国民办教育促进法实施条例) clarified the legal status of private schools, the status of teachers, returns to investment, ownership, and tax preferences, though these problems are vital to the development of private education. A lack of legal status greatly restricts the development of private schools. Second, educational policies provide inadequate support to the development of private schools. Many rules are interpreted in a way that does not favor the development of private schools. For example, Article 2 of the Law on the Promotion of Private Education is misinterpreted as stating that “private schools cannot receive public funding,” which was obviously not the original intention of law makers. Third, the connection between the Law on the Promotion of Private Education and policies is weak. For example, although the Law on the Promotion of Private Education prescribed that private schools and public schools have equal status, in reality private schools do not have the same legal statuses as public schools. Private school teachers and private school students are also not treated the same as their counterparts in public schools, because the contents of Law are not reflected in government policies. For example, five years after the enactment of the Law on the Promotion of Private Education, private schools were still excluded from government policy on exemption of tuition for compulsory education in urban areas. In addition, specific policies on how to use public resources to support private schools are lacking. The basic principle of the Law on the Promotion of Private Education is to develop private education using public resources. However, it is difficult to put this principle into practice because there are not enough supporting policies and positive policy environment.30 (3) Public Spending on Education A lack of government investment in education has long been a problem hindering the development of education in China. There are many reasons for this. In addition to problems with the policy-making mechanisms mentioned above, insufficient government investment in education is also due to a lack

30 For example, comprehensive and systematic policies should be established to support private education.

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of understanding of educational investment and a lack of strategic visions. The time lag between investment in education and returns to education challenges policy makers’ understanding and strategic visions. Over the past thirty years, visionary statesmen such as Deng Xiaoping have brought up many innovative ideas about education. However, due to a lack of strategic visions, these innovative ideas are barely incorporated into educational policies by policy makers. Recently, Claudia Goldin and Lawrence F. Kate, two Harvard economists, analyzed data on US education development during the past one hundred years. Their analysis shows that the short-term fiscal burden of financing education will be compensated by long-term tax incomes. This is because educated workers can work more efficiently, which therefore reduces public expenditures on social problems.31 This conclusion is worth careful consideration. Goldin and Katz proved that investment in education is worthwhile, because it brings in additional tax incomes while reducing public expenditures. Their studies have important implications for the formulation of the Chinese educational policy. The problem of educational policy-making technology is reflected in, first, a lack of an information system to support policy making. The education database has not been established. Neither has the information system that is essential for scientific policy making. This problem is also reflected in the fact that the impact of scientific research findings on educational policies remains small. Scientific research findings are the bases of educational policy making. Their influences on policy making are important measures of the scientific nature of policy making. So far scientific research results have not been fully utilized in educational policy making. This is very serious in ECCE policy making. 0.2.10. Lack of an Accountability System There are many problems with an accountability procedure. For a long time there were no rules to go by to launch an accountability procedure to deal with problems in the field of education. There was a lack of clear definitions regarding the subject of accountability, responsibilities of the object of accountability, reasons and procedures to launch

31 Claudia Goldin and Lawrence F. Katz, Race between Education and Technology (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2008), 350–351.

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accountability, and governmental information opening. For example, a clear definition of who is accountable when the country’s education aims are not realized is lacking. It remains unclear whether the higher level government or local citizens are to launch an accountability procedure against the local government when local governments make insufficient investments in education, resulting in the delay of teachers’ payments. In general, the previous sections reviewed the major achievements in educational policies in the past thirty years and discussed the problems in educational policies. In the following, we will discuss how to build a modern education system in China to face the challenges of the twenty-first century. 0.3. Entitlement: The Ethical-Legal Basis for Educational Equality Based on the review of the development of the Chinese educational policies over the past thirty years, we suggest building a people-oriented modern education system to further the development of education in China. Such an education system will not only promote equality in education but also satisfy social needs. In the following we will focus our discussion on educational equality. Educational equality is an important academic topic. It is also frequently discussed in ethics. According to laws and ethics, everybody is entitled to receive education. This section aims to lay a legal and ethical basis for educational equality. 0.3.1. A Brief Introduction to Entitlement “Entitlement” means having the right to do something or gain something. Entitlement is the right to enjoy certain rights. It refers to an innate right, which does not need to be proven. Entitlement answers the question on the origin of rights and is thus the most basic justification for legal ethics. Entitlement is also a moral right as opposed to a legal right. It is a deserved right as opposed to an actual right. An entitlement may not be written into law. However, it is the basis of legal rights. Entitlement is the best way to give voice to the innate rights of human beings. It stresses that these rights are undeniable. In a modern society, it is used to refer to a deserved social right (social welfare or economic rights) and is the ethical-legal basis of public policies.

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H. J. McCloskey was the first to put forward the entitlement theory. In 1965, there was an important academic debate in western philosophy on whether the nature of right is entitlement. McCloskey was one of the representatives who participated in the debate. He wrote that rights are essentially entitlements, which means “being entitled to have certain rights.” Entitlement is different from “enjoying the right dependent on . . .” In other words, entitlement is an innate right that does not need to be proved. According to McCloskey, it is better to treat a right as an entitlement. “A right is an entitlement to do, want, enjoy, own, or complete something.”32 A. J. M. Milne, former chairman of the British Law and Social Philosophy Association and professor at Durham University in the United Kingdom, further elaborated this idea. According to Milne, the essence of rights is entitlement, and entitlement stresses the origin of the right. For Milne, if you are entitled to something, it is inappropriate for others to use their actions or omissions to deny you your rights. In other words, once a person’s entitlement is clearly defined, it should not be challenged. Any actions that intend to challenge a person’s entitled rights are considered inappropriate. As Milne said, “that is the meaning entitlement should have.”33 Xia Yong, former director of the Institute of Law of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, is a Chinese expert on the theory of rights. He systematically examined the entitlement theory and suggested that rights are made up of five elements. Any of these five elements can be used to define rights and the nature of rights. According to Xia Yong, entitlement is one of the five elements that make up the entitlement theory. For him, entitlement is the basis of claiming any benefits. There are two kinds of entitlements: one is moral entitlement, and the other is legal entitlement. In autocratic societies, although people are not legally entitled to freedom of speech, they are morally entitled to such a claim. Moral entitlement is the essence of modern theories on human rights. In other words, “human beings are morally entitled to the freedom of speech because they are human beings.”

H. J. McCloskey, “Rights,” Philosophical Quarterly 15 (1965): 115–27. A. J. M. Milne, People’s Rights and Diversity of People: Philosophy of Human Rights (Beijing: China Encyclopedia Publishing House, 1995), 111. 32 33

34

zhang xiulan, hu xiaojiang, and qu zhiyong Column 0.2. Five Elements That Constitute Rights

Rights are made up of five elements. Any one of these five elements can be used to explain the concept of a right and express its nature. The first element is interest. A right comes into existence to protect somebody’s interests, because interests are embedded in rights. In this sense, it can be said that a right is an interest that needs to be protected. It is an interest granted by morals and laws. An interest may either belong to an individual, a community, or a society. It can be material or spiritual. It may belong to the subject of rights or somebody who is related to the subject of rights. The second element is claim. An interest cannot become a right unless someone claims it or asks for it. An interest has to be claimed through meaningful expressions or other forms of action, because it may be violated or be under the threat of being violated at any time. The third element is entitlement. Whoever claims an interest must prove that they have the entitlement to it. There are two kinds of entitlements. One is moral entitlement, and the other is legal entitlement. Common people do not have legal entitlement to the freedom of speech in autocratic society, but they have moral entitlement to it. Moral entitlement is at the heart of human rights in modern times. It refers to the rights people possess since they are human beings. At the same time, contemporary philosophers morally negate the special legal entitlements of kings and aristocrats. The fourth element is force. It includes power and capacity. Interests, claims, or entitlements must be endowed with forces before they become rights. The meaning of forces has two dimensions. The first dimension refers to the authority or power that cannot be violated. The second dimension refers to the capacity that law has granted an authority to collect interests, assert a claim or entitlements, which are called legal rights. Human rights are moral rights before they are confirmed by law. Infringement on human rights is therefore not subject to legal penalty if they are not confirmed by law. However, after human rights are confirmed by law, they become both moral rights and legal rights. Violating human rights has legal consequences. In addition to authorities, the subjects of rights should also have the capacity or possibility of enjoying and realizing its interests, claims, or entitlements. The fifth element is freedom. On many occasions, freedom is also the content of rights, such as freedom of publication and personal freedom. However, when freedom becomes the content of rights (or freedom rights), they are no longer the freedoms that are considered essential properties of rights. The right of slavery or custody does not include the content of freedom. However, it is a right itself. Freedom as an essential property of rights, or components of rights, means that the subjects of rights can exercise or give up their rights according to his or her will without external interferences or threats. If someone is forced to claim or give up some

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interest or requirement, then he or she is not exercising rights but fulfilling his or her obligations. Based on the above discussions, rights can be defined as interests, claims, entitlements, forces, or freedoms justified by morals, laws, or customs. However, this definition is not perfect or very meaningful. In fact, since any one of the above five elements can express a certain nature of rights, it is not wrong to define right using any one of the five elements. However, which element or elements should be chosen to define rights depends on the value orientations and theoretical stance of a scholar.34

0.3.2. Entitlement Entitlement Is a Moral Right Legal rights must be moral rights and must conform to moral principles. To some extent, legal rights can be understood as lawful moral rights. The differences between moral rights and legal rights are equivalent to the differences between the natural law and legal positivism. In the relationship between moral rights and legal rights, moral rights play the role of guiding and defining legal rights.35 In other words, compared to legal rights, moral rights are more extensive and authoritative. Moral rights do not need to be proved. Entitlement Is the Ethical Basis of Social Welfare In application, entitlement refers in particular to social rights. It is the ethical basis of social welfare and the essential impetus for the development of modern social policies. Daniel Bell made a clear elaboration on this point. In 1978, he predicted that during the last twenty years of the twentieth century, people’s pursuit for equality will trigger a revolution in rising entitlements in developed countries. According to Daniel Bell, entitlement is a social right, which includes “economic security, social services, educational opportunities, etc.”36 In short, entitlement provides a legal and ethical basis for social justice. It is the fundamental impetus for the development of a social security system. It is the basic responsibilities and obligations of states and local governments to provide social

34 Xia Yong, “Basic Problems of Philosophy of Rights,” in Philosophy of Human Rights in China (Beijing: Sanlian Publishing House, 2004), 311–312. 35 Xia Yong “Basic Questions of the Philosophy of Rights,” in Philosophy of People’s Rights (Beijing: Sanlian Bookstore, 2004). 36 Daniel Bell, The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism (New York: Basic Books, 1976).

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security to the public. At present, entitlement is the ethical basis of public policies in many countries. It is also the source of legitimacy. 0.3.3. Entitlement Is the Ethical-Legal Basis of the Modern People-Oriented National Education System Entitlement Is the Ethical-Legal Basis of the Education System The Priorities of Building a Modern People-Oriented National Education System Should be on Legitimatizing Education Rights and Strengthening Government’s Responsibilities. We suggest introducing entitlement into the education system. Entitlement should be adopted as the ethical-legal foundation of the people-oriented education system. This is because in protecting an individual’s right to receive education, entitlement emphasizes the legitimacy of education rights. According to the entitlement theory, anyone who infringes on others’ education rights should be punished. Entitlement is therefore a powerful theoretical tool for the following reasons. First, enhances the importance of the right to receive education. According to the entitlement theory, the right to receive education is a right that does not need to be proven. Everybody is entitled to receive education even though this right has not been written into law. Therefore, the policy on educational equalities is based on rights rather than legislation. Second, violating the right to receive education is not tolerated by law. The responsibilities of the government are to protect the rights of its citizens to receive education. The governments are accountable for its negligence. As Milne says, once someone’s entitlement is defined, it cannot be violated. It is intolerable when one’s right to receive education is infringed on due to insufficient government investment in education, a serious problem with the current fiscal system. The government needs to fulfill its responsibilities so that everyone can enjoy his or her right to receive compulsory education. It will take us a long time to realize equality in education. Nevertheless we should work hard for it. We should be alert to any infringement on education rights rather than tolerate it. More efforts are needed in order to establish mechanisms to ensure equality in education. Entitlement Is Closely Related to an Individual’s Educational Rights, and Is the Ethical Basis of the People-Oriented Educational Policies Entitlement is an individual right rather than a community right. According to the prin-

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ciple of entitlement, the goal of educational policies is to promote equal opportunities to receive basic education among different individuals. Individuals should be the unit of analysis when the issue of concern is equality in education. This is our understanding of the peopleoriented educational policies. It also is the spirit of the policy of teaching students what you have learned, which was brought up in the seventeenth 17th Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC). Furthermore, we believe that everybody has a need for education. The goal of educational policies is to provide everybody an equal opportunity to access education resources. It is also the government’s responsibility. Therefore, we suggest that more attention be given to those whose levels of educational attainment are below the national average, as well as infringements on the right to receive education. It is encouraged that mild measures be taken to deal with any infringement of rights. Since educational opportunities are closely related to a person’s life chances, quality of life, and happiness, intolerance toward infringement is morally justified. For example, despite the fact that illiteracy rate has been declining, there remain 100 million illiterates in China in 2006, accounting for 9.3% of the total population. This is an issue of great concern, which demands a careful review of current educational policies. It will take us a long time to realize the goal of equalizing the educational resources between people of different demographic groups while increasing the average levels of educational attainment of the total population. 0.3.4. Introducing the Concept of Entitlement into Educational Policy Making in a Changing Society There is an urgent need to introduce the concept of entitlement into China, a country that is undergoing a fundamental social transformation in the relationship between its individuals and social structures. More importance is attached to individual autonomy. The collapse of the systems of work units and people’s commune led to a change in an individual’s identifications. Individuals who are used to being a members of work units have now become members of society; individuals who are used to being commune members have now become peasants. In other words, an individual’s attachment to work units or communities has been greatly weakened. On many occasions, they have to directly face markets and society by themselves. Individuals now become individual entities with different kinds of needs and interests.

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Their interests are independent from the interests of the organizations they work for. Autonomous individuals have come into being, which lays the social foundation of introducing the concept of entitlement into Chinese society.37 In his report to the 17th Congress of the Communist Party of China, President Hu Jintao clearly pointed out that the goals of economic reform were to guarantee the basic livelihood of people and provide basic medical health services to people. These promises include the contents of entitlement. The task we face now is to explicitly introduce the entitlement theory into educational policy making. The past achievements in education development since the founding of the new China, such as popularization of compulsory education and elimination of illiteracy, has laid a solid foundation for introducing entitlement rights into educational policy making. In sum, entitlement, the ethical basis of social policies, provides a clear and effective ethical-legal basis and impetus for the construction of a modern people-oriented national education system. It is also a final benchmark to evaluate whether educational policies promote equality in education or not. The achievements in social and economic development in the past thirty years provide the basic social conditions to introduce the concept of entitlement into educational policy making. 0.4. A Modern People-Oriented National Education System: The Systematic Basis for Equality in Education Both educational circles and society share the common objective of building a modern national education system. This objective has been repeatedly confirmed in the documents issued by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. However, we still need to explore how to use knowledge from the perspective of social sciences to put this objective into practice. The late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping proposed that education should be geared towards the needs of modernization, of the world, and of the future. Globalization and the needs of social and human development posed new challenges to the

37 This is addressed by laws. “Citizens’ legitimate property rights should not be violated” is mentioned in Real Right Law.

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development of education. Based on these considerations, we propose to construct a modern people-oriented national education system. 0.4.1. The Basic Way to Realize Equality in Education Is to Improve the Current Education System Scholars have given a detailed description of what counts as a modern national education system.38 National education is an organizational system defined by a sovereign state through laws. It provides educational services for nationals. A modern national education system is based on industrial modernization, a knowledge society, and a democratic society with a complete system and a reasonable social structure; it provides equal opportunities to its citizens and promotes equilibrium development between different geographic regions. In a modern national education system, compulsory education and noncompulsory education are one unit; academic education and ability education both have equal importance. School education is combined with community education.39 A modern national education system is undoubtedly one of the best supporting systems in order to realize the social function of education. In addition, a modern national education system is also the system basis for the realization of equality in education. A modern national education system is structured to satisfy various kinds of people with different natural endowments and interests; this system would help to promote the formation of individual identities. A modern national education system has several characteristics: it serves every individual and covers every geographical region. The content of a modern national education system covers every industry, trade, vocation, and occupation. It is multilayered, and each layer is connected to the other. Learning is a lifelong process in a modern national education system. Everyone has equal opportunities to access education at any point in their life. A modern national education system is considered the best system basis for the realization of entitlement rights. It is

38 Tang Ning, Tang Liying, and Xie Weihe, Improving the System of Modern Citizen Education, Constructing a Life-Long Education System; (From Task Force on Education and Human Resources in China), From a Country with a Large Population to a Strong Country with Human Resources, Beijing: Higher Education Press, 2003. 39 Ibid.

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comprehensive, open, just, and reasonable. The essence of the modern education system agrees with the principles brought up by Huang Yanpei, the founder and pioneer of modern vocational and technical education, that is, “different types of education have equal status in the society; every occupation is important to the society. Every person has equal rights to receive education; every person has rights to live a happy life.”40

Column 0.3. Basic Features of the Modern National Education System 1. Basic Features 1.1. Comprehensiveness (1) It has a complete basic education system. (2) It grants different levels of degrees leading to all types of professions, such as skilled workers, skilled farmers, actors/ actresses, and athletes. Individuals can develop their talents in different fields (3) It is universal in that members of society are entitled to receive modern education regardless of their occupations. 1.2. Standardization (1) A modern national education system should be clear. According to the International Classification of Education, which was published by the Bureau of Educational Statistics of UNESCO in 1997, there are seven levels of education ranging from zero to six. Level zero is preschool education; level one is primary education; level two is junior secondary education; level three is senior secondary education. Level two and level three are secondary education. Level four is transitional education. Its function is to facilitate graduates of one type of secondary school to move on to study at a higher level of educational institute through credit transfers and bridging programs. Level five is higher education, including specialty education, undergraduate education, and graduate education. Level six is doctoral education. Level five and level six refer to higher education. To build a more advanced modern national education system in China, we should use the International classification of education for reference while taking into account the characteristics of the Chinese classification of education.

40 “Declaration of China’s Vocational Education Society,” Selection of Huang Yanpei’s Education Works, vol. 2 (China Literature and History Publishing House, 1994).

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In particular, we should establish a transitional level between two adjacent levels of education so that all qualified students have the opportunities to increase their levels of educational attainment through transferring credits and participating in a bridging program. (2) A modern national education system should have a reasonable composition of different types of education to satisfy the various kinds of demands for education in the society. 1.3. Openness. This refers to maintaining a coordinated relationship between different levels of education, different types of education, and the system and its external environment, so that all parties develop in harmony. 2. The Structure of a Modern National Education System The structure of a modern national education system has three dimensions: (1) regular education and vocational education; (2) primary education, secondary education, and higher education; and (3) youth education and adult education.41

Column 0.4. Six Basic Indicators of a Modern National Education System (1) It is democratic, equal, and just, in that all nationals have equal opportunities to receive a good education. (2) It has a reasonable structure and advanced contents, which are geared to the needs of socialist modernization. (3) It promotes the comprehensive development of individuals and the full development of individuality. (4) It is open to all citizens. Schools, families, and society are closely related to each other. It contributes to the development of a learning society in which everyone loves studies, and learning is a lifelong process for every member in the society. (5) It is international in that it not only inherits the achievements of Chinese cultures but also absorbs the achievements of foreign cultures. (6) It is built on a democratic and rational school management system. Source: Gu Mingyuan, Director of the Chinese Education Association, Speech at the Conference of China Education Association in 2003, Brief of China Education Association, 6th issue, (403rd issue in total ).

41 Zhang Zhenyuan, “Exploration of the Modern National System of Education,” Vocational and Technical Education (education science edition) 16 (2003).

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0.4.2. People Orientation Adds New Contents to the Modern National Education System The modern people-oriented education system embodies the administrative principle of people orientation. Its ethical-legal basis is entitlement right. Then what new contents will the modern people-oriented education system bring to modern Chinese education? Cultivating Mature Citizens Who Possesses Core Socialist Values with Chinese Characteristics Modern education prioritizes citizenship education and the cultivation of modern citizens. In other words, the most important and ultimate aim of modern education is to cultivate nationals that have modern personalities and a consciousness of citizenship. The task of education is not only to preserve cultural heritage but, more importantly, to cultivate citizens to meet social demand for talents, including fostering good national character, cultivating civic awareness, and realizing an all-round human development. In China, the top priority of modern national education is to cultivate mature citizens who possess core socialist values with Chinese characteristics. They should have the capacities to take the responsibilities for their political, economic, and other types of behaviors. In particular, a mature citizen should be responsible for themselves, but also for other citizens and the whole society. Modern national education is a challenge for national security. People who lack civic awareness and who lack the capacities to take responsibilities for their behaviors are hence negative assets to the society, regardless of how many years of education they have achieved. To fulfill the task of cultivating mature citizens who possess core socialist values with Chinese characteristics, the contents and methods of education should be reviewed. It is necessary to include the core spirit of the constitution and basic rights and obligations of citizens in the principles, contents, and methods of national education to cultivate mature citizens to meet the country’s demand for talents, that is, responsible and fully socialized citizens.42 Respecting Everybody’s Right for Education From the people-oriented perspective, everything is for people. People are the center and the end. People should be respected, cared about, and be the priority. People’s Zhang Zhiming, “Missing of National Education is Greatest Problem of State Security,” China Youth Newspaper, November 19, 2007. 42

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basic rights, dignity, need for development, and spiritual pursuits are respected so as to realize a harmonious, free, and comprehensive development of individuals and promote social progresses. Respecting one’s right for education is embodied in the meaning of people orientation. At the 17th Congress of Communist Party of China, it was stressed, everybody who wants to learn is entitled to receive an education. In particular, disadvantaged people should receive special attention, such as people from rural areas, central and western areas, remote mountainous areas, minority children, females, and disabled people. More powerful, effective, and preferential policies should be formulated to increase their chances to receive education. Second, everybody’s need for self-development should be respected. People’s understanding of what constitutes talent should change. Howard Gardner, an American psychologist and Harvard professor, proposed the theory of pluralistic intelligence in the 1980s. He pointed out that human intelligence is pluralistic, consisting of eight different types of intelligence: language intelligence, mathematical and logical intelligence, spatial intelligence, sport intelligence, musical intelligence, interpersonal intelligence, self-cognitive intelligence, and natural cognitive intelligence. Everybody has a unique combination of different kinds of intelligence. For Gardner, every child is a potential talent. Their talents, however, manifest themselves in different forms. The pluralistic intelligence theory clearly reveals the problems with the current talent evaluating system. China’s current examination system places emphasis on students’ linguistic and mathematical skills, while belittling other types of intelligence. Consequently, a lot of children with high intelligence in the intellectual domains other than languages and mathematics are likely to lose their rights for further education. Moreover, such a selection system produces misguiding incentive mechanisms, misdirecting the education choices of teachers and parents. It not only hurts talented children but also the future of the nation. The modern people-oriented education system is based on entitlement rights and the pluralistic intelligence theory. It respects everybody’s uniqueness and desire to receive an education. It proposes that everybody’s right for education should be respected. Everybody should have the right to develop their intelligence. Any infringement on these rights is unjust. According to the entitlement theory, it is the government’s responsibility to protect an individual’s rights for education. Governments that fail to fulfill these responsibilities will be penalized.

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From the psychological perspective, the pluralistic intelligence theory argues that everybody has a psychological basis for developing their unique intelligence. The pluralistic intelligence theory combined with the entitlement theory reveals the irrationality and injustice of the traditional evaluation system. In fact, the misguiding evaluation/ selection system deprives a lot of children of the right to receive an education. It is extremely unfair. So the government must take effective measures to change the situation. A Demand-Driven Education System Vocational Educators Suggest Transitioning from a Supply-Driven Model to a Demand-Driven Model The idea of restructuring the current education system from a supply-driven model to a demand-driven model was first brought up by vocational educators. Vocational education is not only closely related to the labor market demands for laborers but also individual needs for education. Vocational educators aim to find a point of balance between labor supplies and labor market demands for laborers and individual demands for education. Vocational educators are the first to propose a transition from a supply-driven model to a demand-driven model while constructing a vocational education system. They emphasize that the programs offered by vocational schools should reflect labor market demands for laborers. The transition to a demand-driven model also requires reforming other aspects of the vocational education system, including basic theories, a model for running school, the purpose of running school, specialty setup, educational administration, and teaching methods.43 The Whole Education System Should Use the Supply-Driven Model to Replace the Demand-Driven Model There are two kinds of demands: social demands and individual demands. The education system has been supply-driven for a long time, leading to sluggish responses and to social and individual demands. The situation is actually even more complicated. The supply-driven model came into existence when 43 Jiang Dayuan, “Models of Specialization of Vocational Education,” Vocational Education 3 (2002); “Vocational Education: Supply and Demand,” China Vocational and Technical Education 4 (2008); Yang Liming, “Transformation of Vocational Education from ‘Supply Model’ to Demand Model,” China Vocational and Technical Education (2004).

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there was a shortage of educational opportunities. It was the outcome of the planned economy. Now educational opportunities have been greatly expanded, which require reform to the current education system. There are two reasons for the transition from a supply-driven model to a demand-driven model: the public service nature of education and the basic principles of new public administration. First, public goods are used to meet the needs of society and individuals and should therefore be demand-driven. Education is a public good and should be demand-driven to satisfy the needs of individuals and societies. The whole education system should be built according to the demand-driven principle. Second, the new public administration is service-oriented. The jobs of the governments under the new public administration are to provide public services and respond to the public demands. It is the government’s job to use multiple channels to listen to the public demands and then respond to public demands by creating systems and taking administrative actions to realize the public interests. Inadequate Response of the Education System to the Demands of the Labor Markets The education system has long been insensitive to labor market demands. This is first reflected in the oversupply of three-year college graduates and four-year college graduates. According to a 94-city labor supply and demand analysis conducted by the Monitoring Center of the Chinese Labor Market Information Network,44 during the fourth quarter of 2007 the job-opening-to-application ratio for junior middle school graduates and those who did not go beyond junior middle schools, high school graduates, three-year college graduates, four-year colleges graduates, and postgraduates was 1.03, 1, 0.87, 0.94, and 1.55,

44 According to the analysis, the demand for people with senior secondary education was 39.5% of the total demand. The demand for people with senior vocational secondary education was 59.3%. The demand for people with less education than junior secondary education was 24.8%. The demand for people with a three-year college education was 15.9%. The demand for people with four-year college education or higher was 7.7%. The supply of people with senior secondary education made up the majority of the labor market. This was 43.9% of the total labor market. Of these, 58.5% were people with senior vocational secondary, vocational, and specialized secondary education; 26.6% were educated below the junior secondary level; 20.6% had three-year college educations; and 9% were people with four-year college education or higher, http://w1.mohrss.gov.cn/gb/zwxx/2008-01/22/content_222087.htm.

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respectively.45 Obviously, the supply of associate degree graduates and four-year college graduates was greater than labor market demand. Second, labor market demands for technical personnel are greater than labor market supplies. The job-opening-to-applicant ratio for technical personnel was greater than one. The shortage of technical personnel is particularly serious with senior technicians, technicians, and senior engineers. The job-opening-to-applicant ratio for senior technicians, technicians, and senior engineers was 2.36, 2.36, and 2.2, respectively. The gap between labor supply and labor demand reflected the problems with the education systems in curriculum, teaching contents, teaching methods, and quality education, which is far from meeting the objectives of developing education in accordance with the needs of modernization, the world, and the future. The disjunction between education and labor market demand arises from a mistaken incentive mechanism. To construct a modern national education system, it is therefore necessary to establish a demand-driven mechanism so that individual and social demands will be closely monitored. A demand-driven mechanism will also guarantee that relevant information is collected, collated and delivered, and taken into account in policy making and administrative acts. Transforming the Role of Government in Response to a Demand-Driven Education System The government needs to be more service-oriented in response to the establishment of a demand-driven education system. According to the people-oriented principle, government is not a condescending benefactor, but a provider of educational services in a demand-driven education system. It is an actual public servant. A service-oriented government aims to satisfy social and individual demands for education. It listens to people’s requests and takes active measures to respond to these requests. For example, in order to foster the development of a good national character, compulsory education should be provided for free. The government should closely monitor the contents of education and provide sufficient financial support. In order to raise the quality of the population, the distribution of education resources has to fit in with social and economic development. In short, in line with

45 Demand against supply means the number of people demanded over the number of positions available in the labor market. For example, 0.8 means that there are 10 people for 8 positions.

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the introduction of a demand-driven model into the education system, the government needs to fundamentally change its work styles to meet individuals’ demands for education. The government should respect people’s demands and completely serve the people. The priority of the government should change from economic development to provision of public services. The Demand-Driven Model Requires the Public to Actively Participate in Policy Making The demand-driven model requires the public to actively participate in educational policy making. People first make requests for education. Their requests are then brought in line with the needs of the country in a systematic way when constructing the education system. The fundamental responsibility of education departments is to integrate and satisfy these demands. This mode of administration is the new mode of public administration. It is constructed in response to the transition into a demand-driven education system. This model stresses that educational administrations should be pluralistic, and the process of administration should be democratic. This shift towards a demand-driven model will inevitably lead to profound changes in the education system. 0.4.3. The Social Functions of the Modern People-Oriented National Education System In previous sections, an individual’s right to receive education is stressed. In this section, the discussion will focuses on the social functions of education. A modern people-oriented education system is committed to promoting both human development and social development. In fact, individual demands and social demands are important contents of a demand-driven education system. A demand-driven education system is multilevel. Each level is connected to other levels. A demand-driven education system is comprehensive, open, just, and reasonable, and responds to individual and social demands. In the relationship between individual development and social development, both individual-oriented development and society-oriented development has its limitations. From a strategic viewpoint, individual development and social development are a dialectical unity. An individual’s value can only be realized if individual development is combined with the needs of social development. Social development, on the other hand, can only maintain its vitality if individuals

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gain comprehensive and free development. A dialectical relationship between individual development and social development is essential for China’s transformation from simply being a populous country to a country of great human resources. There are many roads towards industrialization and prosperity. There are also many standards to measure the competitiveness of a nation. To raise China’s international competitiveness, it is important to increase the levels of educational attainment of the whole nation. The course of development of many developed countries has proved the importance of education for the rise of a nation. China’s modern people-oriented education system stresses the importance of establishing a harmonious relationship between human development and individual development. In fact, the significance of social development lies in individual development and well-being. In short, individual development and social development are dialectically integrated. 0.5. Policy Suggestions The construction of a modern people-oriented education system in China is a long process. It is important to establish a support system. In the following, we will therefore focus our discussions on the most essential problems with regard to establishing a system in support of the construction of a modern people-oriented education system. First of all, it is important to adopt a prospective perspective while constructing a modern people-oriented education system; otherwise the project is doomed to fail. There are three reasons for adopting a prospective perspective. First, education plays an important role in cultivating national character and a sense of citizenship. It is essential to the development of a country’s capacities. Every great nation has gained its development on the basis of a positive national character. Cultivating a positive national character is therefore a project of vital and lasting importance and entails adoption of a prospective perspective. Second, education is the precursor of economic development. To gain economic and social development, we should adopt a prospective perspective. Finally, education is a longterm investment. The goal of education is to cultivate talents for the future. The education of children and youth today should therefore be based on the future needs of society. In short, adoption of a prospective perspective is the prerequisite for the following discussion.

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The Chinese government has accumulated many experiences in educational policy making during the past thirty years. These experiences are invaluable for establishing a modern people-oriented education system in China. Currently the top priority of establishing a modern people-oriented education system is to solve the following four problems: (1) establishing an effective accountability system; (2) improving and perfecting the education supervision system; (3) realizing the transition from an experiential mode of educational policy making to a modern, scientific, and democratic mode of educational policy making; and (4) establishing coordination mechanisms between different education departments in policy making, policy enforcement, and policy supervision. 0.5.1. Constructing an Effective Responsibility Inquiry System46 The Chinese government has clearly put forward the goal of establishing a responsible government. Education departments at various levels are subordinate to local governments and must therefore abide by the code of conduct set forth by local governments. They also need to take an amount of responsibilities that is in proportion to the power they hold.47 The construction of a responsible government should be guided by administrative ethics. It relies on an administrative responsibility inquiry system.

The report of the 17th Congress of the Communist Party of China proposed: “The general plan of the reform of education administration should be implemented as soon as possible in order to change functions, improve relationships, upgrade structures and promote efficiency. The administrative system should include: compatible powers and responsibilities, a reasonable division of work, scientifically tested policy making, smooth enforcement and effective supervision.” This means that constructing a government that serves and is responsible has become the aim of the reform of the system of education administration. Work Regulations of the State Council (国务院工作 规则) issued in March 2008 clearly states: “A government that serves and is responsible, is legalized and incorruptible, should be constructed.” 47 Some scholars have written that “responsible government” includes the following four elements: (1) Where there is power, there is responsibility. (2) Power should be used under supervision. When administrative powers are used, there should be strict internal institutional supervision from the judicial and administrative systems. Supervision by the people is even more important. (3) Illegal activities should be investigated. Systems for taking blame, resigning and impeachment as well as other supervisory mechanisms should be established and improved so that offending officials are punished. (4) There should be compensation if rights are violated. If an abuse of powers is proved in court to have violated citizens’ rights, administrative compensation should be given according to law. 46

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The administrative responsibility inquiry system is adopted by the government to deal with government internalities. Government internalities refers to the idea that governments and government officials are obsessed with pursuing government interests or self-interests rather than public interests or social welfares, resulting in government dysfunctions. The administrative responsibility inquiry system is established to deal with government internalities. A responsibility inquiry system is the most basic method to monitor the behaviors of public officials. Powers and responsibilities cannot be separated. The government is entrusted with powers and therefore must be held accountable for its behaviors. When the government acts out of line, or when some actions cause undesirable consequences, government officials who neglected their duties will be penalized. A responsibility inquiry system is in fact a system of accountability. The essence of the responsibility inquiry system is that governments are entrusted with the administrative management powers by citizens. Citizens in turn have the rights to use legal procedures, either direct inquiry or indirect interrogation, to request government officials to report how they have used their entrusted administrative management powers to serve the public. An administrative inquiry system is made up of six elements: First is the subject of administrative inquiry. There are two types of subject of inquiry. The subject of inquiry can be the upper authorities and leaders of administrative departments and other supervising departments, such as auditing department and department of supervision. The subject of inquiry can also be the People’s Congress, the democratic parties, judicial authorities, the news media, and the public. Second, the objects of administrative inquiry are administrative authorities at various levels and their employees. The leaders who have direct or indirect administration responsibilities are the main objects of administrative inquiry. Third, the scope of administrative inquiry includes mistaken decisions, ill management, mediocre achievements, and neglect of supervisory duty. Fourth, the procedure of inquiry includes interrogation, impeachment, and dismissal. Fifth, the responsibility system includes political responsibility, job responsibility, moral responsibility, and legal responsibility. Sixth, the consequence of the inquiry is that administrative authorities and civil servants are asked to take responsibilities for their misconduct in the forms of open apologies, written self-criticism, circulation of a notice of criticism, denouncement, warnings, taking the blame and resigning, dismissals, deposition, administrative punishments, etc. All these need legal guarantees.

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China just started establishing the responsibility inquiry system. The degree of institutionalization and legalization of the responsibility inquiry system remains low. The establishment of a responsibility inquiry system is faced with a number of problems: First, information that is necessary for responsibility inquiry is not always accessible. Government information is neither transparent nor open. The public does not have opportunities to know the facts, making it difficult to conduct an inquiry. Second, a responsibility inquiry system has not been fully established in China. There are no clear definitions on the subject of inquiry, the object of inquiry, the scope of inquiry, and the legal procedures of inquiry. At the time when the legal regulations are available, they are not enforceable. Third, the responsibilities of the objects of inquiry or the subjects of responsibility are not clearly defined. Finally, the subjects of inquiry are narrowly defined. In most cases, the subjects of inquiry are the upper authorities of the administrative departments, and the inquiry is superficial. The People’s Congress, the democratic parties, judicial authorities, the news media, and the public are barely chosen as the subjects of inquiry. In the education system, the problems with responsibility inquiry are reflected in the following aspects. The Essence of Education Responsibility Inquiry Protects Everybody’s Right for Education Education systems have the responsibilities of guaranteeing everybody’s rights for education. Educational departments and other related government authorities are accountable for any infringement on one’s rights for education. Although it is difficult to exercise responsibility inquiry in revolutionary base areas, ethnic minority areas, remote and border areas, or poor areas, it is nevertheless the time to establish an education responsibility inquiry system in these areas. In other words, given that the average levels of educational attainment have greatly improved over the past thirty years, it is time to pay more attention to those whose levels of educational attainment are below the average. This is a difficult task, but we cannot afford to wait and see today’s children repeat the lives of the shepherd boys in the old times.48

48 In a TV series, one of the characters has a conversation with a shepherd boy: “What will you do when you grow up?” “Get married.” “What for?” “I can have children then.” “What will your children do?” “They will become shepherd boys.”

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Actively Push Forward the Construction of an Administrative Responsibility System To establish a responsible government, the priorities are to strengthen the responsibility control system and improve the administrative responsibility inquiry system. In terms of the education system, a lot of work remains. First, it is important to clarify the responsibilities between different educational departments, especially the relationship between the Ministry of Education and local education administrative authorities at various levels. The responsibilities of various institutions, positions, and staffs should be clearly stated. A scientific system of job responsibility should be established. Second, it is necessary to strengthen the accountability system. Accountability is a mandatory act of authority. It is in essence a power check. Those who break the rules, abstain from an act, fail to enforce the rules, violate policies resulting in serious distortions of the aims of policies will be severely penalized. Third, the administrative inquiry system should be strengthened. The status and authorities of superior administrative authorities, supervising institutions, administrative leaders, and other major inquiring subjects should be clearly defined. The causes and circumstances for administrative responsibility inquiry should be standardized so as to establish a scientific and standard administrative inquiry procedure. Finally, the state should improve the supporting measures of the administrative inquiry system. There is an urgent need to publish the Regulations on Administration Fault Responsibilities Investigation (行政过错责任追究条例) and Acts of Administrative Ethics (行政伦理法典). Education departments should draw up specific rules and regulations before the central government institutionalizes the administrative inquiry system, however. Promote Efficiency and Render Punishment Commonplace It is important to establish an education inquiry system that promotes efficiency while making punishing commonplace. Many government officials are not interested in gaining merit, but only in avoiding making mistakes. To deal with this situation, according to the administrative responsibility system, a person will be held liable for both violation of regulations and acts of nonfeasance. A system of making punishment commonplace while promoting efficiency should be established. For example, after the Safety Measures of Secondary Schools, Primary Schools and Kindergartens (中小学幼儿园安全管理办法) was issued in 2006 by the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of the Justice, and seven other ministries, the administrative responsibility

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procedure will be initiated to penalize the local government if the act of nonfeasance of the local government results in a safety misadventure. Similarly, if the two basic goals of education are not met due to neglect of duties or incompetence of officials, a responsibility inquiry procedure will be initiated to investigate who is to blame.49 0.5.2. Improving the Education Supervision System Education supervision refers to the top-down supervision of the runners of public schools to deal with government failure. Education supervision arises from several reasons. First, education is a public good reflecting the state’s will. It has many clients, including society, governments, schools, leaders, and parents. Because these clients have different and sometimes conflicting aims, the problem of agency is extremely serious. There is therefore an urgent need for education supervision to ensure the fulfillment of education goals. Second, education has multiple tasks. The incentive mechanisms of education institutions influences the selection of priorities. A strong education system not only imparts academic knowledge and technical skills, but also promotes innovation and good values. However, when agents need to fulfill multiple tasks, incentive mechanisms and goal orientations determine their choices of priorities. A misguiding incentive mechanism will lead to mistakes, resulting in the wrong choices. The nature of education supervision is policy-based management. In theory, a perfect supervisory framework includes legislative institutions and executive institutions. Both types of institutions keep a distance from the objects of supervision. Ideal supervision should at least meet the following requirements: (1) that supervising institutions are independent; (2) that supervising regulations are transparent; and (3) that supervision is subject to responsibility inquiry.

Professor Li Junpeng believes: The establishment of responsible government in China can be divided strategically into three phases. In the first phase lasting for 5 to 6 years, the focus will be on “the system of inquiring administrative responsibilities.” In the second phase, the people’s congress system will be reformed and improved by 2020 to complete “the system of inquiring political responsibilities.” In the third phase, “the complete system of inquiry” will be comprehensively improved in conformity with the reforms of the electoral system based on holding general elections by the middle of this century. Zhu Zhongyuan, Evolutionary Progress of Responsible Government, http://www.chinareform.net/newsInfo_6_8_224.aspx. 49

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Currently, China’s education supervision system is in essence a system of educational inspection. The education inspection network has four levels: the central level, the provincial level, the municipal level, and the county level. It plays an important role in popularizing compulsory educational policies and realizing the two basic aims of education. Nevertheless, inspection is only a part of supervision, not all of it. In order to construct an education supervision system that reflects China’s actual conditions, in the following discussion we will discuss the problems that exist in the current supervision system. The Education Supervision System Remains Incomplete According to the subjects of supervision, the education supervision system can be divided into governmental supervision, social supervision, and industrial self-disciplinary supervision. All educational activities are subject to education supervision. In China, social supervision and industrial self-disciplinary supervision are still at their early stages of development. Education inspection, however, has existed for a long time. The section on international education supervision of the department of international affairs is one of the most important education inspection setups at the Ministry of Education. Its scope of supervision includes compulsory education, general secondary education, vocational secondary education, and fraudulent behaviors of foreign educational institutes. In short, China has not established a complete education supervision system in terms of subjects of supervision and contents of supervision. Education Supervising Institutes at Various Levels are Not Independent Education supervising institutes at various levels are not independent of educational administrative organizations due to administrative monopoly in the field of education services. The office of national education inspection is a formally authorized functional institution. The general inspector is one of the deputy education ministers. The general inspector of the office of local education inspection is either local government officials or local education administrators.50 The administrative departments for education, the key supervisors of education, are also major providers of education services as they are the owners of public schools. According A Brief Explanation of the Education Inspection System in China by the Ministry of Education, the two deputy chairmen responsible for education in the Tibetan and Guangxi Autonomous Regions are also the directors of the education inspection committees. The situation is the same in many other places in China. 50

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The Scope of Inspection is Narrow A pluralistic and multilevel education system needs a systematic and institutionalized education supervision and inspection system. Currently, China’s education supervision mainly refers to inspection of compulsory education, ordinary secondary education, and vocational secondary education. The content of inspections focuses on the legality and normalization of educational activities. However, little attention is paid to the effectiveness of education services. Education Inspectors Lack Authorities over Some Administrative Departments According to Article 2 of Regulations on Education Inspection (draft) (教育督导条例 (征求意见稿)) issued in February of 2008, the State Council and local governments at or above the county level have the responsibility of supervising the education work of their subordinate departments, governments at lower levels, and educational institutes. Education supervision has the function of administrative supervision. The supervision offices of local governments are established within local educational institutes. However, education inspectors lack authorities over education-related administrative departments that are at the same levels as education inspectors, such as the departments of finance, auditing, taxation, planning, personnel, health and medicine, social insurance, labor, and the judiciary. The Basic Systems of Educational Supervision Have Not Been Set Up The education supervision system is made up of regional education supervision and evaluation system and the supervision and evaluation system of the performance of party members and government officials, the development of local education, and the performance of functional departments in delivering education. Inspection and evaluation systems have not been established in provinces and cities. The supervision and evaluation system of the education work in schools is incomplete. In addition, there is a lack of clear definitions and specific policy measures on how to establish a system of professional inspectors, a professional certificate system, an inspection examination and training system, a system of supervisor appeals, and a system of supervisor rewards.51 Foreign countries have accumulated many invaluable experiences in education

51 Yang Runyong, “Ideas about the Construction of Policy System of Education Inspection in China,” Education Study 8 (2007).

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supervision. The problem with education supervision in China is that the Chinese government is not bold enough in institutional innovation and the pace of institutional reforms is slow. There is an urgent need to adopt a prospective perspective and borrow foreign experiences to focus on the construction of the basic systems of education supervision. 0.5.3. Transforming from a Traditional Experience-Oriented Policy-Making Model to a Modern, Scientific, and Democratic Policy-Making Model Accelerating the Transition to a Modern Policy-Making Model and Legalizing the Policy-Making Procedures Great progress has been made in educational policies in the past thirty years. This is mainly reflected in the diversification of policy-making agents. Media, experts, and think tanks are more involved in policy-making procedures than before. They now play greater roles in policy making, as does the people’s representatives and political advisors. However, the model of policy making is still experience-based and has many problems: (1) Information is not easily accessible. Government information publicity is a prerequisite to protect the public’s right to know the truth and the public’s right to participate. It is also the basis of constructing an open government. Government information publicity will help avoid the problems of black box operation, inaccurate policy targets, and bureaucratic discretion. (2) The major policy stake holders (or their agents) are excluded from the policy-making process. The participation of policy stakeholders in policy making is a necessary condition for democratic policy making. Citizens must participate in policy-making procedures and fully express their opinions to guarantee the provision of services to the government and the creation of a demand-driven policy model. Their involvement in policy-making procedures is also a necessary condition for making rational scientific policies, which takes into account the interests of various parties. (3) In many cases, there is only one policy plan with no other options and room for competition. The modes of thinking and policy making are still in the modes of thinking and policy making of the planned economy, which discourage competition. It not only contradicts the principle of public administration, but also fails to take into consideration the highly differentiated and pluralist structures

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of modern society. Thus, when a single policy plan is all that is available, there is no guarantee that the selected policy plan is the best or the second best. (4) The policy-making process is not transparent. Transparent and participatory policy making is the most important feature of a good administration. Transparent policy making is in fact the basic principle of the political operation in modern democratic countries. Globalization and the enhancement of China’s comprehensive strength will inevitably lead China to move away from black box operation, a policy-making approach that is widely used in the planned economy, toward a transparent policy-making model. We propose to accelerate the transformation from a traditional experience-based policymaking model to a more modern model. Meanwhile we appeal implementation of relevant laws to facilitate this transformation. With respect to the transformation to a modern policy-making model, we propose to (1) open channels for stake holders to submit their requests; (2) provide more policy plan alternatives; (3) make the information known and transparent to the public; and (4) establish a system to allow stakeholders to make their voices heard and notify people about important policies. With respect to the legalization of policy-making procedures, we suggest accelerating the legislation of procedural laws and using procedural laws to regulate policy-making behaviors. Strict procedural rules can also facilitate the transition to a modern policy-making model. Establish a Standard Information Collection and Release System It is on the agenda to establish an information support system needed for rational policy making. This kind of information support systems is very well established in developed countries. There is an urgent need in China to speed up database construction. At present, basic information needed to make rational scientific policies is not available due to systematic flaws: (1) the systems of data collection and data analyses have not been fully established, and it is difficult to collect important data needed for policy making; and (2) government departments are accustomed to operating behind the scenes and hardly ever publish information used in policy making, making it very difficult for the subjects of policy to study policies and participate in policy-making procedures. Therefore, we propose the following:

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(1) Accelerating the construction of databases for policy making. There is an urgent need to establish a data collection and transmission network. Data collection and information delivery should be conducted in a scientific way. There is also an urgent need to establish decision-making databases, improve information management, and establish an effective decision-making information support system. For example, modern digital communication technology (including mobile communication networks) should be used to collect information and public opinions. Modern information management technology should be used to establish smooth information transmission channels to provide the necessary conditions for rational policy making. (2) Constructing an open information system. Regulations on Open Government Information of the People’s Republic of China (中华人民共和国 政府信息公开条例) was enacted on May 1, 2008. It marks the beginning of the Chinese government’s move toward building an open information system. Currently there is an urgent need to establish a scientific open information system of government, including a system of leadership, responsibilities and contents on personnel organization, construction of information resources, working procedures and targets, channels for releasing information, funding and equipment guarantee, information feedback, and public supervision. Various kinds of open information channels and information access points should be established. Establishing horizontal negotiation mechanisms between different government departments to solve the disjointed problem of national strategies and educational policies. The formulation and enforcement of educational policies involve not only education departments but also many other departments. For example, to realize the goal of increasing government investments in education to 4% of GDP, a coordinated relationship among planning, financial, and tax departments must be established. However, due to a lack of horizontal negotiation mechanism between different departments, this education goal has not been achieved so far. Governments lack coordination abilities; coordinate mechanisms have not been completely established. The coordination between different government departments is random, artificial, and lacks force of constraints. Recent giant department system reform of the State Council shows that some efforts have been made to establish rational policy making, effective enforcement, and forceful supervision of interdepartmental

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cooperation. In order to solve the disjointed problem of national strategies and educational policies, we suggest establishing a coordinate mechanism to support cooperation between different education departments. For example, it is suggested to establish formal or informal coordinate organizations as ad hoc organizations (such as committees and work groups) to promote coordination between different departments. Based on this, special regulations and systems should be established to coordinate government administrations. 0.6. Conclusion: Constructing a Mechanism and Realizing Transformation Based on the social and economic developments over the past thirty years and according to the scientific concept of development and the administrative principles of developing a harmonious society, it is on the agenda to accelerate the development of public services, protect everybody’s entitlement rights, equalize the distribution of basic public goods, and protect everybody’s right for compulsory education. In this chapter, we review educational policies and suggest constructing a mechanism and realizing transformation. Specifically, we suggest (1) constructing a policy-making mechanism that enables policies to effectively respond to national strategies, and (2) realizing transformation from an experience-based educational policy-making model to a modern rational democratic educational policy-making model. In short, the objective of this article is not to come to a particular conclusion. Rather, it is an appeal to accelerate the construction of a policymaking mechanism and realize the transformation of an educational policy-making model.

CHAPTER ONE

FROM WELFARE TO SOCIALIZATION: A REVIEW OF EARLY CHILDHOOD CARE AND EDUCATIONAL POLICIES IN CHINA Zhang Ying, Zhou Peiran, and Zhang Qiujie 1.1. A Review of the Development of Early Childhood Education and Care during the Past Thirty Years Early Childhood Education and Care (ECCE) is for children under age six. For children under age three, the biological family is mainly responsible for the provisions of nutrition, care, and communication. For children between the ages of three and six, new development tasks emerge. In addition to nutrition and care, children also need to learn communication skills and how to adapt to lifestyle in the collective sense. They also need to develop study habits and be prepared to go to school. Healthy developments during these two stages of children’s lives have lifelong ramifications. The topics of this chapter, education and care during the second stage of development, are usually provided by special educational institutions. ECCE is not only critical to the development of children, but also has broad social benefits, including equalizing life opportunities for children, eliminating the mechanisms of intergenerational transmission of poverty and inequality, facilitating the development of social equity, increasing women’s labor market opportunities, and improving social welfare.1 The Chinese government has always attached great importance to early childhood education and care. ECCE has been incorporated as a part of basic education. The successful development of ECCE has great implications for popularizing the nine-year compulsory education and improving the quality of people.

1 For a more comprehensive review, see OECD, Starting Strong II: Early Childhood Education and Care (Paris, 2006); UNESCO. Education for All Global Monitoring Report (2007); and World Bank, Development Report 2006: Equity and Development (2006).

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1.1.1. Achievements of ECCE over the Past Thirty Years ECCE policies and administrative systems have undergone fundamental changes in response to the development and changes in politics, economy, and society since the opening up of China in the early 1980s. ECCE, after years of exploration and transition, has resumed its stable and healthy development in China, and obtained great results. The Numbers of Kindergartens and Children in Kindergartens Have Gradually Increased The number of kindergartens in China has been maintained at a stable level since 1987 (see figure 1.1). The number of children enrolled in kindergartens increased at a rapid speed in the early 1990s and then started to decrease slowly. By 2001, the number of kindergartens and the number of children enrolled in kindergartens both dropped sharply; since then, there has been steady increase in both numbers. Compared to 1978, although the number of kindergartens decreased (163.9 thousand in 1978 and 130.5 thousand in 2006), the number of children enrolled in kindergarten and the enrollment rate of preschool children have both greatly increased. The number of children enrolled in kindergartens almost doubled and increased from 7 million and 877 thousand to 22 million and 638.5 thousand. The enrollment rate of three-year-preschool children has almost tripled, increasing from 11.4% to 42.5%. Qualities of Kindergarten Facilities Have Gradually Improved Kindergarten facilities have improved. Both the average dorm area per kindergarten student (see figure 1.2) and the number of books per student have increased (see figure 1.3). Since 1987, the number of kindergarten teachers increased steadily, with a brief interruption in 2001 during which the number of kindergarten teachers sharply dropped. After 2001, it resumed its growing trend (see figure 1.4). Since 1987, the teacher-student ratio constantly fluctuated. The ratio decreased to its lowest level of 1:23 in 1993. It thereafter steadily increased. It dropped again in 2001 but began increasing thereafter, reaching 1:19 in 2005 (see figure 1.5). The levels of education attained by kindergarten teachers have significantly increased (see figure 1.6). From 1981 to 2002, the percentage of teachers with a high school diploma or equivalent degrees almost tripled, reaching 93.82%. Conversely, the percentage of teachers with levels of educational attainment below high school dropped from 41.5% in 1981 to 6.18% in 2002.

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30 25 20 15 10 5

19 87 19 88 19 89 19 90 19 91 19 92 19 93 19 94 19 95 19 96 19 97 19 98 19 99 20 00 20 01 20 02 20 03 20 04 20 05

0

Number of Children Enrolled in Kindergartens (million people Number of Kindergartens million school㧕

Data Source: The Statistical Year Book of Chinese Education, People’s Education Publishing House, Beijing.

Fig. 1.1. Kindergartens and children enrolled in kindergartens, 1987–2006.

9

Square meter per person

8

7.34

7.48

2003

2004

7.89

7 6 5 4

2.99

3.26

2001

2002

3 2 1 0 2005

Data Source: The Statistical Year Book of Chinese Education in China, People’s Education Publishing House, Beijing.

Fig. 1.2. Dorm area per kindergarten student, 2001–2005.

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120

Books per Person

100

97.83

97.73

97.49

100.03

101.65

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

88.17

80

67.38

74.05

60 40 20 0 1998

1999

2000

Data Source: The Statistical Year Book of Chinese Education, People’s Education Publishing House, Beijing.

ten thousand people

Fig. 1.3. The number of books per kindergarten child, 1998–2005.

100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20

19 87 19 88 19 89 19 90 19 91 19 92 19 93 19 94 19 95 19 96 19 97 19 98 19 99 20 00 20 01 20 02 20 03 20 04 20 05

10 0

Data Source: The Statistical Year Book of Chinese Education, People’s Education Publishing House, Beijing.

Fig. 1.4. The number of kindergarten teachers, 1987–2005.

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3/50 1/20 1/25 2/67 1/50 0

19

87 19 88 19 89 19 90 19 91 19 92 19 93 19 94 19 95 19 96 19 97 19 98 19 99 20 00 20 01 20 02 20 03 20 04 20 05

0

Data Source: The Statistical Year Book of Chinese Education, People’s Education Publishing House, Beijing.

Fig. 1.5. Kindergarten teacher-children ratio, 1987–2005.

93.82%

100 90 80

71.88%

Percentage

70 60 50 40

41.5% 36.2%

30 20 6.18%

10 0 1981

1991

2002

Educational Attainment beyond High School Educational Attainment below High School

Data Source: The Statistical Year Book of Chinese Education, People’s Education Publishing House, Beijing.

Fig. 1.6. Levels of educational attainment of kindergarten teachers, 1981–2002.

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The Number of Private Kindergartens Grows Rapidly Private kindergartens have developed at a fast speed (see figure 1.7). It has become an important provider of ECCE. Between 1994 and 2006, the number of private kindergartens nearly tripled; the number of children enrolled in kindergartens increased more than sixfold. The Number of Rural Kindergartens Increases after a Short-Term Decrease Since the mid-1990s, the number of kindergartens in rural China has gradually decreased (see figure 1.8). In 2001, it experienced the sharpest decrease, with the rate of decrease reaching 5%. Thereafter, the whole situation of ECCE in rural China worsened. Recently, thanks to reform policies, ECCE in rural areas has rapidly improved. By 2006, the number of kindergartens in rural China increased to 67.719 thousand, which accounts for 50% of the total kindergartens in China. There Is a Gradual Increase in Enrollment, and the Sex Ratio Is Balanced Between 1994 and 2005, changes in the numbers of boys enrolled in school parallel changes in the number of girls enrolled in kindergartens (see figure 1.9). Both numbers first decreased, and then steadily increased. This pattern of change is greatly influenced by birth rates. There have always been more boys than girls in kindergartens. The main reason is that, in spite of changes, sex ratios have shown that there are more boys than girls (in 2005, the sex ratio for children ages zero to four was 100:122.7, and the sex ratio for children ages five to nine was 100:119.3). There is no significant difference in the kindergarten enrollment rate between boys and girls (see figure 1.10).2 Boys and girls are equally likely to enroll in kindergartens in China. In fact, in the past two years, the kindergarten enrollment rate for girls exceeds that for boys. The development of ECCE facilitates participation of the women’s labor force. In fact, one of the initial goals of developing ECCE is to promote the participation of the women’s labor force. Although this goal is no longer the force underlying the process of socializing ECCE, the availability of kindergartens still has the function of facilitating parents, especially mothers, to participate in the paid labor force and

2 From the data it can be seen that without the first hand number of children from ages three to six, the data in the statistical book used a comparison ratio of three- to six-year-old children with the that of the whole national population.

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80000

900

70000

800

60000

700 600

50000

500

40000

400

30000

300

20000

200

10000

100

0

ten thousand people

Number of Schools

from welfare to socialization

0

94 94 96 97 98 99 04 01 02 03 04 05 06 19 19 19 19 19 19 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 Number of Private Kindergartens Number of Children Enrolled in Private Kindergartens

Data Source: The Statistical Year Book of Chinese Education, People’s Education Publishing House, Beijing.

120000

70%

100000

60% 50%

80000

40% 60000 30% 40000

Percentage

Number of schools

Fig. 1.7. The number of private kindergartens and the number of children enrolled in private kindergartens, 1994–2006.

20%

20000

10%

0 06

05

20

04

20

03

20

02

20

01

20

00

20

99

20

98

19

97

19

96

19

95

19

19

19

94

0%

Number of Rural Kindergartens Ratio of Rural Kindergratens to the Total Kindergartens in China

Data Source: The Statistical Year Book of Chinese Education, People’s Education Publishing House, Beijing.

Fig. 1.8. The ratio of rural kindergartens to the total kindergartens in China, 1994–2006.

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1600 1400 million people

1200 1000 800 600 400 200 0 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

Number of Girls in Kindergartens (ten thousand people) Number of Boys in Kindergartens (ten thousand people)

Data Source: The Statistical Year Book of Chinese Education, People’s Education Publishing House, Beijing.

Fig. 1.9. The number of girls and boys in kindergarten, 1994–2005.

40.0% 35.0% 30.0% 25.0% 20.0% 15.0% 10.0% 5.0% 0.0% Ratio of Girls in Kindergarten to the total kindergartens in China Ratio of Boys in Kindergarten to the total kindergartens in China

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

1997

34.0% 34.2% 34.3% 35.0% 30.6% 32.6% 33.6% 37.0% 37.0% 34.3% 34.4% 34.6% 34.7% 32.0% 34.0% 34.6% 37.0% 36.7%

Data Source: The Statistical Year Book of Chinese Education, People’s Education Publishing House, Beijing.

Fig. 1.10. Kindergarten enrollment rates, girls and boys, 1997–2005.

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attend training schools. The time schedules of a full-time ECCE provider are designed in a way that the children are taken care of when the parents are at work. Urban women greatly benefit from the availability of ECCE. The employment rate of urban women has been maintained at a high level since the early 1980s. 1.1.2. Equality in ECCE The past thirty years have witnessed great development of ECCE in China. Increases in kindergarten enrollment rates, increases in the number of private kindergartens, and the fast development of rural ECCE have considerably promoted equality in ECCE. Nevertheless, plenty of inequalities remain. Regional Inequalities There are substantial area differences in kindergarten enrollment rates. The three-year-pre-school kindergarten enrollment rate has reached 85% in eastern China. For example, the enrollment rate is 85% in Zhejiang and 95% in Shanghai. However, the gross three-year-pre-school kindergarten enrollment rate is below 50% for most central provinces of China. The rate is even below 30% for the relatively poor western provinces of China. The kindergarten enrollment rate in Xinjiang is only 25%. Children from different areas thus have unequal access to ECCE. Rural-Urban Inequalities Rural-urban inequalities in ECCE are reflected in inequalities in educational opportunities and study environments. The former is reflected in the enrollment rate; the latter is reflected in teachers’ levels of educational attainment (see figures 1.11–1.12) and teaching facilities, such as average dorm area per kindergarten student and the number of books per kindergarten student. Enrollment rates are higher in cities. The enrollment rate is over 80% in many cities. Enrollment rates are even over 90% in many cities in eastern and central China. However, enrollment rates are considerably lower in rural areas. In many villages, the enrollment rate is below 40%. There are great disparities in enrollment rates between counties within the same province. For example, in Henan Province, the three-year pre-school kindergarten enrollment rate is over 80% in one county, but below 50% in its neighboring county. In 2006, the three-year-pre-school kindergarten enrollment rate is 74.26% in

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100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0%

10487 13951 21045 22938 17604 15306 9381 Urban

4651 County

2070 Rural

Graduate From Postgraduates

Graduate From High School

Graduate From University

Did not graduate beyond high school

Graduate From Specialized Secondary School

Data Source: The Statistics Year Book of Early Childhood Care and Education in 2006, the Department of Education of China, unpublished.

Fig. 1.11. Levels of educational attainment of kindergarten principals.

100% 90% 80% 70%

115091 117566 115271

60% 50% 40%

171013 121922

30% 20% 10% 0%

54614 Urban Graduate From Postgraduate School Graduate From University

County

Rural

Graduate From High School Did not graduate beyond high school

Graduate From Specialized Secondary School

Data Source: The Statistics Year Book of Early Childhood Care and Education in 2006, the Department of Education of China, unpublished.

Fig. 1.12. Levels of educational attainment of rural and urban kindergarten teachers, 2006.

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Changsha, Hunan Province, but is only 56% and 20% in Xinhua County and Shuangfeng County, respectively. Inequality between Public and Private Kindergartens According to ECCE policies, public kindergartens are entitled to receive financial support from the government. Private kindergartens, however, have to rely on themselves to raise funds. In general, public kindergartens are better financed than private kindergartens and therefore have better facilities and teachers (see tables 1.1–1.2). Hence, public kindergartens generally provide better education than private kindergartens. Table 1.1. Facilities for Public and Private Kindergartens, 2005 Public (average per kindergarten) Number of teachers and employees Average number of specializing kindergarten teachers Substitute teachers

Private

11.09

7.79

7.28

4.61

0.96

0.30

Child care worker

0.59

0.70

Average number of children Ratio of teachers who are specially trained for kindergartens Ratio of teachers who have middle level education Salaries of teachers

452

148.54

Data source Statistical Year Book of China in 2006

56%

52％

Statistical Year Book of China in 2006 Statistical Year Book of China in 2006 Statistical Year Book of China in 2006 Survey data

89.5%

71%

Survey data

1200 Yuan/Month

500 Survey data Yuan/Month

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zhang ying, zhou peiran, and zhang qiujie Table 1.2. Number of Employee and Child Enrollment in Public and Private Kindergartens Total Specialized Care Substitute Number of employee teachers workers teachers children Public Private Total

23.31 12.43 16.73

13.68 7.06 9.67

1.36 1.10 1.20

1.14 0.29 0.62

369.23 171.48 249.54

Public Counties Private Total

16.49 8.04 11.18

11.76 4.90 7.45

0.92 0.78 0.83

1.52 0.36 0.79

521.53 174.09 303.13

Public Villages Private Total

3.89 4.42 4.15

2.90 2.73 2.81

0.15 0.38 0.26

0.67 0.28 0.48

461.76 115.81 293.62

Cities

Data Source: The Statistics Year Book of Early Childhood Care and Education, the Department of Education of China, unpublished.

Unequal Opportunities for Different Social Groups Children from disadvantaged families have more difficulties enrolling in kindergartens. This partly arises from the current urban-rural dual household registration system, because kindergartens only accept children who are registered residents of local areas. Otherwise, children have to pay expensive enrollment fees, as well as other related fees. Many rural migrant workers cannot afford these fees. They therefore have to leave their children in the care of relatives who stay at home and who may not educate children well. Both private and public kindergartens charge many types of fees. Poor families have difficulties paying these fees, resulting in an increase of inequality in terms of access to ECCE.3

3 Huamin Wang, “Improve Management of Fees of Kindergartens and Promote Early Childhood Education,” Early Childhood Education 9 (2002); Liu Lu, “On the Responsibilities and Functions of Government on the Suburban Left-Behind Young Children Problem,” Studies in Preschool Education 6 (2007).

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1.2. Policy Reviews of ECCE during the Past Thirty Years 1.2.1. A Review of ECCE Policies During the past half-century, especially the past thirty years, Chinese ECCE policies have undergone restructuring. The welfare ECCE of socialism is replaced by a market provision of ECCE in response to several fundamental changes in the social and economic systems in China. The journey is not so smooth, however. But generally speaking ECCE is on the right path of development. Since the People’s Republic China was founded in 1949, ECCE policies have gone through two development periods: the welfare kindergarten period and the socialized kindergarten period. The two periods are different in how resources are obtained, seeking operation and management. Welfare kindergartens are the products of the planned economy. The goal is to promote women’s employment opportunities in the labor market and gender equality. The institutional arrangement is the work unit system; the host is the work unit and the resources are mainly from the government. The Draft of Temporary Regulations of Kindergartens (幼儿园暂行规程 (草案)) issued in 1952 stipulates that kindergartens must provide ECCE in order to increase women’s chances of entering the paid labor force. In 1955, the State Council issued Regulations on Kindergartens of Mines, Industries, Primary and Middle Schools (关于工矿、企业自办中、小学和幼儿园的规定), requesting work units to use their profits to host their own kindergartens. Since then, kindergartens hosted by industrial factories have greatly increased. In 1965, there were 19.2 thousand kindergartens in total, and 1,713 million children were enrolled in kindergartens.4 There are no significant changes in ECCE policies until the economic reform in the late 1970s. In 1979, at the national conference on kindergarten management and development, for the first time, “government, armies, schools, mines, and factories [were] encouraged to set up their own kindergartens and babysitting centers; local governmental administration sectors [were] also encouraged to host kindergartens.” However, these policy initiatives are still considered

4 Hou LiMin, “Development of Early Childhood Education of China in the Past One Hundred Years,” Early Childhood Education 2 (2004).

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to belong to the welfare kindergarten system.5 The socialization of kindergartens started in 1983. The tenets that characterize the transition are to change the goal of hosting kindergartens from increasing the employment chances of women to improving the quality of people. Many more nongovernmental organizations are allowed to participate in running ECCE. The host of the kindergartens is responsible for raising funds. Corresponding to these transformations, Several Opinions on the Development of Early Childhood Care and Education of Rural Areas (关于 发展农村幼儿教育的几点意见), issued by the Education Department of China in 1983, stated that “individuals were supported to host kindergartens.” After twenty years’ development, the State Council of China issued Opinions on the Reform and Development of Early Childhood Care and Education (关于幼儿教育改革和发展的指导意见) in 2003, which provides a new framework on socializing ECCE. 1.2.2. The Beginning of the Socializing of Kindergartens Economic Reform was the Fundamental Reason for Socializing Kindergartens In 1983, the household contract responsibility system replaced the people’s commune in nearly all villages and counties. The old ECCE welfare system, which was built to a great degree on the people’s commune, eventually collapsed. In urban areas, with the reform of state-owned enterprises and work unit systems in 1984, the welfare system of kindergartens lost its foundation. The state-owned enterprises started to shake off their responsibilities of kindergartens in order to lower costs and increase revenues. The government proposed to transfer schools and kindergartens hosted by factories to local educational sectors. The reform also took place in public institutions. These reforms lead to a collapse of the welfare system established by the work units for its employees. Against this background, kindergartens hosted by governments were also gradually transferred to educational sectors. Thus, the socializing of ECCE began. However, prior to the tax decentralization reform in 1994, the welfare preschool education system was not fully removed because local governments had adequate revenue to guarantee the funding necessary for the provision of ECCE. Moreover, changes in the hosting 5 China Association of Early Childhood Education, Compilation of Documents of Early Childhood Education in China (Beijing, Publish of Beijing Normal University, 1999), 114.

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work units did not change the welfare nature of preschool education. That is, educational sectors replaced work units and became the primary funders of preschool education. The development of ECCE was therefore not greatly affected. The Proposal of Socializing Kindergartens In 1983, the Education Administration issued Several Opinions on the Development of Early Childhood Care and Education in Rural China (关于发展农村幼儿教育的几点意见) where the idea of socializing kindergartens was first put forward. It proposed the following: “Rural kindergartens should be hosted collectively by factories, local administrative organizations and individuals. Multiple channels ought to be established to finance kindergartens.” Development of the Socialization of Kindergartens The socialization of kindergartens started in 1984. With the development of individually sponsored kindergartens in rural areas, policies on socializing kindergartens started to emerge. In 1984, Pilot Policies of Socializing Education (社会力 量办学试行办法) was proposed by the central government. It stated that “nongovernmental organizations were encouraged to engage in preschool education, elementary and secondary education, advanced education, occupational education, and other levels and types of education.” The Department of Education pointed out in the Notice of Education Socialization of Beijing City (北京市社会力量办学试行办法的 通知) that schools sponsored by nongovernmental organizations were an important part of the socialist education system. The government’s positive attitudes towards the socialization of ECCE greatly increased the growth of private kindergartens. Policies on Socializing Kindergartens The national conference on education hosted in the spring of 1985 was one of the icons of education reform in China. The Decisions on Education Reform (关于教育体制改 革的决定) issued by the State Council stated that in principle “primary education should be under the charge of local government.” The Regulations on Kindergarten Management (幼儿园管理条例) issued by the Department of Education in 1989 stated that “government at all levels can host kindergartens; all factories, social organizations and resident committees are encouraged to host or make donations to kindergartens,” legitimizing other social forces to host kindergartens. In 1989, after six years of exploration, the socialization of kindergartens was formalized with policies.

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1.2.3. Maturation of Socializing Kindergartens The Tax Decentralization Reform Promoted the Restructuring of Early Childhood Care and Education In 1989, the Regulations on Kindergarten Management (幼儿园管理条例) marked the start of the process of kindergarten socialization. The tax decentralization reform that started in 1994 fundamentally eroded the welfare base of ECCE, leaving no other options but for ECCE to be restructured. The collapse of the welfare system of preschool education started with the reform of tax decentralization reform in 1994. The tension that emerged due to tax decentralization on local fiscal systems was the direct reason for the transformation. In 1994, due to the tax reform, the rate of sufficiency of local fiscal systems dropped dramatically from 1 to 0.6.6 The insufficiency of local fiscal systems directly depressed the incentives of local government to invest in preschool education. By 1995, both the number of kindergartens and the number of children enrolled in kindergartens dropped sharply. Enrollment rates did not increase noticeably. The Restructuring of ECCE The Opinions on Developing the Early Childhood Care and Education in the Ninth Five-Year Period (全国幼儿教育事业 “九五” 发展目标实施意见) was issued when ECCE was still undergoing transformation. This was an important document because, in spite of a five-year plan, it was formulated when ECCE was undergoing important restructuring and therefore documents the progress in building a new ECCE system. First, the ECCE was promoted to a level of importance that determines the prosperity of the country. Second, the leading role of local government in running kindergartens was reaffirmed. The state, collectives, and individuals are all encouraged to participate in the management of kindergartens. Public kindergartens are the main providers of ECCE and should set a good example for other types of kindergartens. Third, for the first time regulations for ECCE were proposed. Governments at various levels were required to set up regulations to guide the management of ECCE. Fourth, for the first time sectors and professional personnel within the educational

6 Xiao Zhao, “The Reforming Relationships between Central and Local Governments from the Perspective of Macro Regulation,” China Development Observation, 3 (2007).

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administrative department were suggested to be established in order to monitor the development of ECCE. Fifth, it became the responsibility of local government to “find out the mode that is most suitable to the development of kindergartens.” The document requested that local government guarantee that kindergartens run by the educational departments receive adequate funding. Sixth, fundraising channels for ECCE were requested to expand. ECCE is not a part of compulsory education. The development of ECCE has to depend on the host organizations, parents, and donations from society. Seventh, “work units [were] still encouraged to host kindergartens. Work units [were] not allowed to randomly shut down ECCE.” The Ninth Five-Year Plan contained many important innovative policies. It is the embryo of the new ECCE policy framework. The regulations and laws introduced in the Ninth Five-Year Plan cover many contents that are essential to the development of ECCE, such as the significance of ECCE, the government’s responsibility in developing ECCE, the legal installation and fundraising channels, and the relationship between different types of kindergartens. Although these rules and regulations were effective only until 2000, they were innovative and have long-term implications for the development of ECCE. They laid the foundation for the Guideline of the Reform and Development of Early Childhood Care and Education (关于幼儿教育改革与发展的指导 意见) issued in 2003, an important ECCE policy in China. Further Development of the Policies on Socializing Kindergartens The Guidelines on the Reform and Development of Early Childhood Care and Education (关 于幼儿教育改革与发展的指导意见) issued in 2003 was a critically important document. It reviewed the experiences of kindergarten socialization in the past twenty years and integrated the Guidelines of Development of ECCE (全国幼儿教育事业 “九五” 发展目标实施意见) in 1997 and gave a complete framework for ECCE. It is a critically important document, because it was formulated by the Ministry of Education and nine other administrative departments, was issued by the State Council and was more authoritative. It introduced a new framework of the education system that reflected the social and economic circumstances of China’s opening up. It defined the values and functions of ECCE, the responsibility of government, the management system, the development plan, and the general goals. It summarized the achievements in ECCE policy making and was the icon for the maturing of the ECCE policy.

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1.2.4. Comments on the Chinese ECCE Policies Government responsibility, public investment, and quality supervision are the three most important aspects of ECCE policies.7 During the past thirty years, many goals have been achieved. A Management System that Gradually Adjusted to the Socialist Market System The Chinese ECCE management system has three characteristics: (1) local government is in charge of management and fundraising; (2) responsibilities between different management levels are clearly stated; (3) the provincial educational sectors are in charge of the management of ECCE, and other educational sectors at lower levels provide assistance; and (4) health, civil affairs, and financial sectors assist educational sectors in managing ECCE. The ECCE management system experienced three stages of development since the economic reform in the late 1970s. The first stage was between 1979 and 1987. To resume the development of ECCE, the Departments of Education, Health, Planning, Construction, Agriculture, Finance, Commerce, and Labor, and the Women’s Association, the Bureau of City Construction, the All China Federation of Trade Union, and the Chinese People’s National Committee for Defense of Children held a national conference in 1979. It was decided at the conference that an ECCE leadership group should be set up within the State Council. The ECCE leadership group was made up of chief directors from these departments and associations. Its function was to design and direct the development of ECCE. ECCE leadership groups at the provincial and municipal levels were also set up. Although the ECCE leadership group did not last long, the mode of working in cooperation with a due division of labor between different departments and associations laid a foundation for the division of labor between different governmental organizations in developing ECCE in the future. The second stage of development was between 1987 and 1997. The ECCE leadership groups at all levels were removed in 1982. The ECCE management was faced with problems of duty neglect. In 1987 the Department of Education and eight other departments submitted the appeal for the divisions of labor between different departments to the State Council. The paper stated that ECCE should be directed

7

UNESCO, Education for All.

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by the central government and other administrative organizations. Educational sectors should be in charge of policy making, planning, and designing regulations, and the other sectors have different tasks. For example, health sectors were to be in charge of health protection; and labor sectors were to be in charge of wages and employee benefits. Cooperation must exist between different sectors. In short, local governments were assigned the primary responsibilities of managing ECCE. A mode of working in cooperation with a due division of labor between different departments and associations was eventually established. The third stage of development is from 1997 until now. At the beginning of this stage, socializing kindergartens was already defined as a goal. The tax decentralization reform which greatly reduced the fiscal revenue of local governments led to a decrease in the number of people working in ECCE, triggering the process of kindergarten socialization. In response to budget constraints, many local governments shifted their ECCE financial responsibilities to the society, which led to stagnation in the development of ECCE. Kindergarten enrollment rate dropped in many places. Hence, the 1997 Guideline (全国幼儿教育事业 “九五” 发展目标实施意见) specifies government’s responsibility for ECCE and requests governments at all levels to “find out the mode of developing and managing kindergartens that best fits local social and economic circumstances.” In Guideline of the Reform and Development of ECCE (关于幼儿教育改革与发展的指导意见) issued in 2003, the responsibility of government is clearly defined. Fully Developing the Positive Role of Public Investment in Promoting ECCE Currently the government and individual hosts are the two main funders for ECCE. The government is the main sponsor for ECCE run by educational sectors; individual hosts are the primary financial agents for kindergarten hosted by nongovernmental organizations. There are two characteristics regarding public investment in ECCE: (1) government investment is only for public kindergartens; and (2) decisions on public investment are made by local governments. Moreover, no matter whether the kindergartens are public or private, parents are required to share part of the costs for ECCE.8

8 Regulations on Kindergarten Management, rule 24; kindergartens can charge fees from the parents of children by the standard set up by provincial government.

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Decrease in public investment in ECCE is the most important and fundamental change. It triggers kindergarten socialization. Under the welfare system, the funds for kindergartens are mainly from fiscal revenues. Parents only pay a small amount of kindergarten fees.9 Since the opening up of China in the late 1970s, the ECCE policies have moved in the direction of facilitating kindergarten socialization. Local governments replaced the central government as the principal funders of public kindergartens. Opinions on Strengthening Kindergartens (关于 加强幼儿教育工作的意见) issued in 1988 clearly stated that local governments are responsible for allocating the funds for kindergartens, because local governments have a better understanding of local circumstances and the development of the kindergartens in that area. Local governments are more capable of efficiently using the funds. The central government stopped providing financial assistance to kindergartens after 1988. Before the tax decentralization reform, local governments have adequate fiscal revenues to support public kindergartens. However, due to the reform of state-owned enterprises, kindergartens hosted by state-owned enterprises were greatly affected. The sharp drop in revenues since the 1994 tax reform led to a decrease in investment for public kindergartens. Rural areas were affected the most. Consequently, the number of kindergartens and child enrollment both dropped. To prevent the situation from deteriorating, the government issued two documents in 1997 and 2003, respectively, requesting that government investment in public kindergartens and wages of kindergarten teachers be guaranteed. Relevant Regulations Have Been Gradually Set Up In the past thirty years, the central government, local governments, the education department, and other departments have issued a series of rules and regulations on ECCE. Currently a comprehensive system of rules and regulations on ECCE has been established (see table 1.3).

9 There is an important document on this issue: see State Council of China, Regulation on Factories and Mines Hosting Middles Schools, Primary Schools and Kindergartens (关于工 矿、企业自办中、小学和幼儿园的规定) (1955).

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Table 1.3. ECCE Related Regulations State level

Law of education, law of teachers, law of protection for minors

The department of education

Management Regulation for Kindergartens

Other departments Local regulations

Operation Rules for Kindergartens, Instruction for Kindergartens, Opinions on Improving Education for Preschools Health Regulations for Kindergartens, Construction Regulations for Kindergartens Regulations of ECCE in Beijing; Regulations of ECCE in Shandong, Rating of Kindergartens in Shanghai, Shanghai Preschool Education Regulations

A comprehensive system of ECCE rules and administrative regulations is an important guarantee for the smooth operation of kindergartens. The Department of Education and the administrative department of kindergartens, formulated and issued the Draft on the Operational Regulations for Kindergartens (幼儿园工作规程 (暂行草案)) in 1952. In the following years the draft was revised several times. In 1989 Operational Regulations for Kindergartens (幼儿园工作规程) was put on trial use. In 1996 Operational Regulations for Kindergartens (幼儿园工作规程) was formally promulgated and implemented. In addition, after clarifying the responsibilities of different departments for ECCE, the Ministry of Education, in collaboration with other ministries, made a number of important laws to regulate ECCE. In 1989 the State Council approved the first administrative laws on ECCE, namely, the Act of Kindergarten Administrative Regulations (幼儿园 管理条例). The Act of Kindergarten Administrative Regulations dealt with the issues regarding the basic conditions of a kindergarten, administrative management and teaching. The promulgation of the Act of Kindergarten Administrative Regulations and other rules and regulations marked that Chinese ECCE has embarked on a legal path of development. Since the 1990s, the promulgations of Teachers’ Law (教师法), Law of Education (教育法), Law of Vocational Education (职业教育法), and Law of Higher Education (高等教育法) have aroused public concerns on the absence of law on ECCE. In the Opinions on the Implementation of the Development Goal of National Early Childhood Care and Education of the Ninth Five-Year Plan (全国幼儿教育事业 “九五” 发展目标实施意见), the issue on law and regulation construction in ECCE was raised for

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the first time. Government at all levels and educational administrative authorities were asked to establish and improve rules and regulations on the ECCE and run education in accordance with the law. At the same time with the ongoing changes of social and environmental circumstances, current laws and regulations are a bit outdated and cannot meet the demands of the development of Chinese ECCE. Public clamor for legislation on the ECCE grows rapidly. But up to now, there is no legislation on ECCE in China except the Act on Kindergarten Management (幼儿园管理条例). Supervision Needs to be Strengthened Under the current system, special educational supervision institutions, educational administrative departments, parents, and society are involved in the supervision of ECCE. The educational administrative departments and educational administrative departments at all levels are the principal supervisors of kindergartens. Since 1986 China has established educational supervision mechanisms at national, provincial, prefecture, and county levels. All provinces and municipalities have established their own offices of educational supervision. The national office of educational supervision was established within the State Council. It directs educational supervision across the country. Its routine administrative departments are established within the educational administrative department of the State Council. The Act of Educational Supervision (教育督导条例) issued in 2008 stipulates that educational supervision institutions are entitled to supervise educational activities in accordance to the laws and regulations. Thus, although the scope of educational supervision is compulsory education, general secondary education, and secondary vocational education, the educational supervision departments are entitled to conduct supervision on early childhood education. For example, in order to carry out the Guidance on Reforming and Developing the Early Childhood Education (关于幼儿教育改革与发展的指导意见) and the Notice on Strengthening the Safety of Elementary and Secondary Schools and Kindergartens (教育部关于进一步加强中小学幼儿园安全工作的 紧急通知), two documents issued in 2003, from October 20 to November 7 of 2004, the National Office of Educational Supervision sent inspection teams to Beijing, Henan, Shandong, Jiangsu, Jilin, and Hunan Provinces to inspect the implementations of the two policies. The inspection teams later published the results. Local governments and educational departments are two principal supervisors of ECCE. Local governments are responsible for

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formulating the development plans for kindergartens. Every year local governments will spend some time examining and researching ECCE to make sure that its development fits in the needs of social and economic development and with popularizing the nine-year compulsory education. According to the Act of Kindergarten Management (幼 儿园管理条例), educational departments at all levels are responsible for supervising, evaluating, directing, and inspecting the performance of kindergartens. They also carry the responsibilities of training and examining kindergarten teachers and rewarding or punishing kindergartens according to their performance. The Guidance on Kindergarten Education Reform and Development (关于幼儿教育改革与发展的指导意 见) issued in 2003 states that educational departments should establish a supervision and evaluation system for kindergarten education. In order to effectively supervise and evaluate ECCE, the Ministry of Education consecutively published four sets of rules and regulations. The Rules and Regulations on the Performances of Kindergartens (幼儿园工作 规程) issued in 1996 are the bases of conduct for all kindergartens. They are also used by the educational administrative departments to measure the performance of kindergartens. The rules and regulations issued in 1996 provided a detailed description on the requirements of running kindergartens, scale of classes, facilities, funds, and many other issues. These rules and regulations are not rigid. In fact, local educational administrative departments can define their own requirements according to local circumstances and the types of kindergartens. In the following years, in order to carry out the rules and regulations issued in 1996 and to promote quality education, in 2001, the Ministry of Education issued the Guidelines on Kindergarten Education (幼儿 园教育指导纲要). The Guidelines defined the goals and requirements of kindergarten education. The Guidelines also provided instructions on the behaviors of kindergarten teachers, drew a distinction between the early childhood education and primary school education, which is conducive to promoting the quality of kindergarten education. In addition, given the prevalence of preschools in rural areas, the Ministry of Education issued Opinions on Improving and Strengthening the Management of Preschools (关于改进和加强学前班管理的意见) in 1991 and Guiding Opinions on Preschool Evaluation (学前班工作评估指导要点) in 1996. These two documents defined the contents of preschool education and the requirements of establishing preschools. It is worthwhile to mention that these rules and regulations also apply to private kindergartens.

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Despite the establishment of a relatively comprehensive ECCE regulating system, it remains difficult to estimate and evaluate the teaching quality in kindergartens. This situation arises because a standard evaluating system is lacking. Different education administrative sectors use different standards according to their local circumstances. 1.3. Policy Implementation 1.3.1. Achievements The past thirty years have witnessed great progress in the development of ECCE in China. The goal of socializing ECCE has been achieved. ECCE polices have become more comprehensive. Local governments take the primary administrative responsibility for ECCE. Governments at all levels are encouraged to run ECCE. Many rules and regulations were issued in the past thirty years. These policies spurred the development of ECCE in China in the following aspects. Multiple Channels Are Adopted, Which Greatly Increase the Number of Private Kindergartens and Improve the Equality of ECCE In the course of the development of a market economy, the government encouraged multiple forces to host kindergartens. When the government hosts kindergartens, other social forces are encouraged to make contributions. ECCE has maintained a rapid pace of development in China. Private kindergartens grow at a very rapid speed. In 2003, the ECCE is considered to have entered a mature stage of development in China. By the end of 1991, there were only twelve thousand private kindergartens in the country, representing 7.35% of the total of 164.5 thousand kindergartens. There were 385 thousand children enrolled in private kindergartens, or 1.74% of the total of 22 million children who were enrolled in kindergartens. When the socializing of kindergartens started in 1997, private kindergartens grew quickly. By 2006, the number of private kindergartens exceeded that of public kindergartens. Nearly 58% of kindergartens are private ones. Over one-third of children were enrolled in private kindergartens (see figure 1.13). The fast growth of private kindergartens partly compensates for the slower growth of public kindergartens, thus providing rural children more chances to access ECCE.

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85 70.0%

80000 70000

52.7% 47.7%

60000 50000

55.3%

39.9%

60.0% 50.0%

43.3%

40.0%

40000 30000 20000

57.8%

44526

48365

55536

62167

68835

75426

30.0% 20.0% 10.0%

10000

0.0%

0 2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

Number of Private Kindergartens Number of Private Kindergartens to the total kindergartens in China

Data Source: The Statistical Year Book of Chinese Education, People’s Education Publishing House, Beijing.

Fig. 1.13. The ratio of private kindergartens to the total number of kindergartens, 2001–2006.

Increases in Public Investment in Kindergartens and Improvement in the Efficiency of Public Investment at Facilitating Equality in ECCE The Guidelines on Reforming and Developing ECCE (关于幼儿教育改革与发展的指导意 见) issued in 2003 required that “governments at all levels have the obligations to strengthen the construction of public kindergartens, to guarantee adequate investment in ECCE and to improve education quality.” Starting in 2003, local governments’ investment in ECCE began increasing. Public investment in ECCE in 2004 was 17.6%, more than that in 2003, reaching 8.75 billion yuan. In 2005 the total investment in ECCE was 10.4 billion yuan, an increase of 19.5% from 2004. Public investment was 6.14 billion. From 2004 to 2006, the expenditure on ECCE per student was 1,127.50 yuan, 1,319.78 yuan, and 1,487.79 yuan, respectively. In the meantime, local governments began to pay more attention on how to maximize the use of financial resources. Resources were allocated reasonably. The quality of ECCE did not drop despite the rapid increase in kindergartens, especially private kindergartens. To promote the development of ECCE, Guizhou Province and Henan Province allocated special funds to reward good ECCE programs.

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Since rural areas often lack financial resources to run kindergartens, many local governments decided to give special treatment to rural kindergartens. For example, Zhejiang Province required that county kindergartens be hosted by the government. They sent teachers and principals from these kindergartens to other areas to balance the resources. Due to these endeavors, the teaching quality of rural kindergartens greatly improved. Guizhou Province set up a fund of one million yuan to help build new kindergartens or refurnish old ones in villages and counties. One year after the establishment of the funds, more than 40 new kindergartens were built. Promote Model Public Kindergartens and Strengthen Evaluation and Teacher Training to Improve Equality in ECCE Public kindergartens are much better equipped and funded. Teaching quality is good. There is less variation among public kindergartens in terms of teaching quality. However, the situation is different for private kindergartens. There is polarization among private kindergartens. Except for the ones located in the centers of counties, teaching quality is low in many rural kindergartens. Local governments use various methods to resolve this problem. First, rural kindergartens are encouraged to use the mode of management adopted by public kindergartens. Many places send public kindergarten teachers to rural areas and host seminars that rural kindergarten teachers are encouraged to attend. The second way to improve the teaching quality of rural kindergartens is to strengthen the evaluation of teaching quality in private kindergartens. Each province has its own regulations in place. Many provinces also set up rating systems to rate kindergartens. Evaluation results are public. Private kindergartens are subject to the evaluating systems used for public kindergartens. Third, great efforts have been made to improve teacher training. The level of educational attainment is an important measure of the quality of teachers. Governments at various levels use different ways to train teachers of ECCE. From 2003 to 2005, kindergarten teachers possessing a college degree increased by 19 thousand; kindergarten teachers possessing an associate degree increased by 84 thousand. By 2005, nearly 95.6% of kindergarten teachers had completed their high school education, and 49.2% had a college degree.

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1.3.2. Problems in Implementation Inadequate Fiscal Investment in ECCE ECCE has a low status compared to other types of education. In 2005, 30% of government expenditures on education were spent on primary schools and middle schools, and 20% on colleges. But expenditure on kindergartens only represents 1.36% of the whole expenditure on education, or 0.03% of GDP, which is much lower than the international standard of 0.5% (see figures 1.14–1.15). Moreover, local governments are the sole investors of ECCE. The central government withdrew its funding responsibilities. As a result of this policy change, the local governments have not received any financial assistance from the central government for many years. In contrast, primary schools and middle schools regularly receive financial assistance from the central government. This is especially true in rural areas. Special organizations are also established to monitor the use of the funds from the central government. This lack of attention from the central government is one of the reasons leading to different paces of development in ECCE across the country.

Kindergarten, 1.36%

Special Education School, 0.39%

Higher School, 22.23%

Specialized Secondary School, 2.76%

Primary School, 33.53%

Middle School, 31.80%

Skilled Workers Training Schools, 0.37%

Vocational High School, 2.48%

Data Source: The Statistical Year Book of Chinese Education, People’s Education Publishing House, Beijing.

Fig. 1.14. Proportions of government expenditures on different types of education, 2005.

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zhang ying, zhou peiran, and zhang qiujie Educational Funds within Budget per student Ratio of Expenditure of Educational Funds per student 74.7%

5000

80.0%

4500 3500 3000

70.0%

58.8%

4000

56.9%

50.0%

38.8%

2500

40.0%

2000 1500

60.0%

48.1%

30.0% 4316.34

2856.31

1000

20.0% 1705.78

500

1360.67

1487.79

Primary School

Kindergartens

10.0% 0.0%

0 Higher Secondary Education Special School

Middle School

Data Source: The Statistical Year Book of Chinese Education, People’s Education Publishing House, Beijing.

Fig. 1.15. Expenditure on different types of education per student in 2006.

Unequal Distribution in Public Investment in Kindergartens Kindergartens in urban areas have always received more attention than their rural counterparts. Rural-urban inequality in funding opportunities is most reflected in public investment in rural and urban kindergartens. Prior to economic reform, work units were the primary funders of urban kindergartens, while the people’s commune funded rural kindergartens. This situation has fundamentally transformed since the economic reform in the late 1970s. The disappearance of the people’s communes caused rural kindergartens to lose their funding sources. Beginning in 1988, local governments were given the responsibilities of financing kindergartens. But public spending on kindergartens is mainly concentrated on kindergartens in the cities. Rural kindergartens, on the contrary, barely receive any financial assistance from local government. Since the mid-1990s, the county government has been assigned the responsibility of raising funds for local kindergartens. But the financial situations of many rural kindergartens have not noticeably improved, because tax decentralization reform considerably limits the ability of local government to raise funds. In short, the rural-urban gap in public

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financial assistance is large and has never been closed. This differential treatment between rural and urban kindergartens partly contributes to the persistence of inequality of accessing ECCE. Local government investments in kindergartens mainly go toward public kindergartens. Public kindergartens receive the most investments. Private kindergartens, however, barely receive any financial assistance from local government. In a survey of thirteen randomly selected public kindergartens located in twelve communities in eastern China,10 Yu Yuhong finds substantial inequalities in preschool education resources. People who have higher incomes and better education and who are local residents enjoy a disproportionately larger share of public investments in ECCE. Unequal access to public investments in ECCE is a mechanism responsible for intergenerational transmission of inequality. Decentralization of Policy Implementation From 1988, local governments have taken over the responsibilities of managing ECCE and raising funds for ECCE. As a result, the development of ECCE is largely determined by the level of importance that local governments attach to ECCE, as well as the local economy. After the tax decentralization reform in 1994, regional differences in tax revenues became an important source of regional disparities in public investments in ECCE. For example, in 2006, Shanghai raised 1.3 billion yuan for ECCE, but Hainan Province and Tibet only raised 10 million yuan (see figure 1.16). Lack of Implementation Tools Despite the fact that a series of documents have been put forward, the division of tasks and obligations between local governments and other related sectors remains unclear. In practice, there is a lack of implementation tools, making the documents meaningless. This is especially true with respect to investment management. For example, despite the fact that a document issued in 2003 states that “local governments should guarantee adequate investment in ECCE,” specific steps on how to achieve this goal are lacking. Thus, when local government budgets are tight, rules and regulations of this kind cannot be implemented in a proper way to guarantee the funding for ECCE.

10 Yu Yuhong and Chen Shuhau, “Equality of Preschool Education from the Perspective of Public Resource Distribution,” Early Childhood Education 4 (2007): 22–24.

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1600000 1400000 1200000 1000000 800000 600000 400000 200000

In

Be ijin

g H ne r M ebe on i go lia Ji Sh lin an g Zh hai eji an g Fu Sh jian an do ng Gu Hub an ei gd on H g ain Si an ch ua Yu n nn a Sh n an Q uin xi g Xi hai nj ian g

0

Data Source: The Statistical Year Book of Chinese Education, People’s Education Publishing House, Beijing.

Fig. 1.16. Local governments’ spending on ECCE, 2005.

Lack of Effective Motivation and Supervision Systems The Guideline states that “kindergartens managed by individuals and other private organizations should be treated the same as public kindergartens. Private kindergartens are entitled to registration, rating, teacher training, and awards.” But in reality it is difficult to put these rules into practice. Many areas do not offer teacher training to private kindergarten teachers. Private kindergartens are also excluded from the awards that are available to public kindergartens. These sorts of unfair treatment toward private kindergartens have become serious barriers to their development. Unequal treatment between public and private kindergartens has been considered the source for the increasing gap in teaching quality between public and private kindergartens. Lack of Policies Toward Helping Poor Children Research has shown that poor children benefit more from ECCE. The economic returns to ECCE are higher for poor children than for children from a more advantaged background. Many countries have designed policies and programs to help poor children, mobile children, children of rural migrant workers, and children living in the countryside. Most of these programs are sponsored by the central government. There are no equivalent programs run by the central government in China, however.

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Available ECCE programs are most often sponsored by local governments, which are subject to the budget constraints of local governments. The rapid increase in mobile and migrant children is another big challenge for the Chinese government. How to restructure ECCE to satisfy these children’s demand for ECCE is an urgent issue. 1.4. Policy Analysis of Instructions and Opinions on the Reform and Development of Early Childhood Care and Education (关于幼儿教育改革与 发展的指导意见) Issued in 2003 1.4.1. Background Despite the fact that policies issued in 1997 stress the importance of ECCE and define local governments’ responsibilities on development of ECCE, many local governments did not give ECCE enough attention. The development of ECCE faces many problems. First, in order to reduce financial burdens, many public kindergartens are sold to individuals and other private organizations. There is a sharp drop in local governments’ direct investments in ECCE, resulting in a sharp decrease in kindergartens. Poor rural villages are affected the most. Cancellation of counties and the merging of counties also lead to a decrease in rural kindergartens. Second, there is no special agent to manage ECCE. Many kindergarten areas are used for other purposes. Private kindergartens are managed very poorly. Third, there is not a stable supply of kindergarten teachers, as kindergarten teachers are paid badly in rural areas. They lack incentives to teach, and the teaching quality is poor. With the decrease in fertility and increase in educational attainment of the recent cohort of young parents, demands for ECCE increase because parents want their children to receive better education. In addition, ECCE has strong positive externality. The whole society can benefit from the expansion of ECCE. Social interventions with ECCE are considered necessary.11 A lack of ECCE has become a barrier to the rapid development of the Chinese economy. There are multiple reasons why children are not enrolled in kindergartens. Some children

11 Zeng Xiaodong, “On the Socialization Policy of Preschool Education,” Studies in Preschool Education 1 (2005).

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cannot afford it, while others are limited by the household registration system. Consequently, many of them have to choose cheaper private kindergartens. There are no special social programs that help these children. If the situation cannot be improved in the future, the gap between these children and others will further increase, which may cause social instability. Although some local governments evaded their responsibilities, other provinces and municipalities did successfully fulfill their responsibility and promoted equal opportunities to access ECCE. For example, Hebei Province used the opportunity of restructuring elementary and secondary education and established a number of new kindergartens. Zhejiang Province increased their investment in rural kindergartens and strengthened supervision on private kindergartens. The government of Shanghai always emphasized the importance of public kindergartens. In short, their experiences are useful and should be used as references in order to promote ECCE. Nevertheless, given the current development of ECCE across the country, there is an urgent need to create new policies that reflect the new development in the socialization of kindergartens. In these policies, the division of responsibilities and obligations between government, families, and the society should be clearly defined. There is a particularly urgent need to specify the responsibilities of the government in developing ECCE. 1.4.2. An Analysis of the Policy After ten years of exploration between 1994 and 2003, in order to restructure ECCE and to realize the goals defined in the Opinions on the National Development Goals of Early Childhood Education of the Ninth Five Year Plan (全国幼儿教育事业 “九五” 发展目标实施意见), the Guideline on the Reform and Development of ECCE (关于幼儿教育改革与发展的指导 意见) was issued in 2003 by the Ministry of Education and nine other ministries. The Guideline defines the responsibility of governments as follows: (1) Strengthen the Role of Government and Enlarge the Responsibility of Government The document issued in 1987 clarifies the responsibilities between different government sectors. The Guideline strengthens the role of government in developing ECCE. First, more government agencies are involved in developing ECCE, including the Department

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of Labor and Social Security, the Department of Civil Affairs, and the Women’s Association. Second, early childhood is redefined from ages three to six, to ages zero to six. Parents’ roles in early childhood education are defined. Third, the contents of ECCE are more specific and detailed. Kindergarten fees are written into the statement of principles. Parents and government agencies are called to cooperate with each other to provide nutrition and other services to promote children’s development. The construction departments are required to guarantee that kindergartens have suitable facilities. Fourth, social security sectors should provide basic social programs to poor children. The Guideline also clarifies the responsibilities between central and local educational agencies. (2) Improve ECCE Management The Guideline states that “a coordination mechanism between government agencies and educational sectors, and between communities and parents should be established.” The responsibilities of different governmental sectors are clearly defined. (3) Define the Structure of Development of ECCE In the proposed framework, public kindergartens are the backbone and should set a good example for other types of kindergartens. Nongovernmental organizations are encouraged to participate in the development of ECCE. Public and private kindergartens and formal and informal childhood education and cares should be combined. Compared to the document issued in 1997, these proposals represent a huge step toward the multifaceted development paths of ECCE. (4) Define Illegal Conduct in ECCE The Guideline specifies rules and regulations to prevent misconduct and illegal activity, which became more prevalent since 1994: (1) it is prohibited to suspend or stop investment in public kindergartens, as governments at different levels are not allowed to cut investment in public kindergartens or sell public kindergartens under the cover of primary education reform; (2) to prevent the loss of national assets, public kindergartens sponsored by government-related work units cannot be sold below market prices; (3) to run kindergartens, licenses and permits must be acquired, and illegal kindergartens must be closed; and (4) kindergarten fees are to be regulated. (5) Clarify the Investment Responsibilities of Governments at All Levels The Guideline requires that governments at different levels make their own contributions to the development of public kindergartens. Communities have responsibilities of raising funds for ECCE.

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1.4.3. Policy Implementation Greater Importance Attached to ECCE by Local Governments The Guideline states that local governments are the main sponsors and monitors of ECCE. The importance that local government gives to preschool education determines the development of ECCE. Since the issuing of the Guideline, more attention has been given to the development of ECCE. In addition to financial support from the central government, many local governments seek additional human and financial resources to support the development of kindergartens. Although educational sectors are the main managers of ECCE, many other sectors are also involved in ECCE management, including health, civil affairs, prices, construction, and women’s association sectors. In the Guideline, it is encouraged that “cooperation between governmental and educational sectors be set up. Communities and parents should both get involved in the management of ECCE.” Guangxi, Guizhou, and Shanghai have made considerable progress in establishing coordination and cooperation mechanisms between government, educational sectors, communities, and parents. Significant Increase in Fiscal Investment in ECCE The Guideline requires that governments at different levels increase their investments in ECCE. Since then, both the ratio of expenditure on kindergartens to total education expenditure and the expenditure on education per student has increased (see table 1.4). Table 1.4. Public Expenditure on ECCE Since 2003 Items

2003

2004

2005

National education expenditure: kindergarten (thousand yuan) Ratio to national education expenditure (%) Expenditure on education from fiscal budget: kindergarten (thousand yuan) Ratio of education budget (%) Expenditure on kindergarten students per person (yuan)

7,288,571

8,537,330

10,215,485

1.27

1.28

1.33

4,154,232

4,872,214

5,808,669

1.29 1978.2

1.30 2312.6

1.36 2616.2

Budget for average kindergarten student (yuan)

1127.5

1319.8

1487.6

Data Source: Statistical Year Book of Education Expenditure, National Bureau of Statistics of China, Beijing.

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Strengthening ECCE Supervision Provinces and cities are allowed to make their own specific plans following the spirit found in the Guideline. They issue related documents to strengthen the management of kindergartens. Most provinces and cities have created individual rating systems to evaluate kindergartens. The aim of these measures is to create a lawful and healthy environment for the development of ECCE. 1.4.4. Effects of Policy Implementation In 2003, the Guideline of Reform and Development of Early Childhood Care and Education was issued in response to many newly emerging problems. It provides suggestions on how to solve these new problems. The Guideline is very effective. It is a direct response to the newly emergent problems. The most prominent feature of the Guideline lies in that the ideas are reasonable and the contents are systematic. The Guideline effectively promotes the development of ECCE. The following shows how local governments actively promoted the development of ECCE after the Guideline was issued. The Number of Kindergartens and the Enrollment Rate Both Increased Thanks to the increase in local government investment in ECCE and other incentive measures, the numbers of kindergartens and children enrolled in kindergartens have both increased (see figure 1.17). By 2006, there were 130 thousand kindergartens in the country, 14 thousand more than in 2003. There were 22.63 million children enrolled in kindergartens, 2.59 million more than in 2003. There were 75,426 private kindergartens, which represents 57.8% of the total kindergartens. There were 7.75 million children enrolled in private kindergartens, which represents 34.3% of children between the ages of zero and six in China. From 2003 to 2006, the increase in the number of kindergartens was mainly due to the increase in private kindergartens. Between 2003 and 2006, there was an increase of 19,000 private kindergartens. The enrollment rate also improved thanks to the increase in the number of kindergartens. From 2003 to 2006, the three-year-preschool kindergarten enrollment rate increased from 37.4% to 42.5%. Improvement in Kindergarten Facilities An increase in ECCE investment leads to a corresponding improvement in the qualities of kindergarten facilities (see tables 1.5–1.6). From 2003 to 2005, the construction area per student increased from 6.5 square meters to 6.8 square meters in

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140000

Number of Schools

120000 100000 80000 60000 40000 20000 0 2001

2002

2003

Numbers of Private Kindergartens

2004

2005

2006

Number of Total Kindergartens

Data Source: The Department of Education Statistic Book of ECCE, 2006, unpublished.

Fig. 1.17. The numbers of public kindergartens and private kindergartens, 2001–2006.

urban areas. In rural areas it increased from 1.7 square meters to 2.1 square meters. The outdoor-activity area per student increased from 4.4 square meters to 4.7 square meters; in rural areas it increased from 2.2 square meters to 2.6 square meters. The number of books per student increased from 4.6 to 5.4 in cities and from 1.3 to 2.0 in rural areas. The number of videotapes per student increased to 26 in cities and to 9 in rural areas. Table 1.5. Kindergarten Area and Outdoor Activity Area, 2003–2005 Construction area (square meter)

Cities Counties Rural

Outdoors activity area (square meter）

2003

2004

2005

2003

2004

2005

6.5 4.1 1.7

6.7 4.2 1.9

6.8 4.4 2.1

4.4 3.6 2.2

4.6 3.4 2.3

4.7 3.4 2.6

Data Source: The Statistical Year Book of Chinese Education, People’s Education Publishing House, Beijing.

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Table 1.6. Teaching Facilities in Kindergartens, 2003–2005 Teaching video tapes per kindergarten

Cities Counties Rural

Books per students

2003

2004

2005

2003

2004

2005

109 53 25

122 65 29

135 77 34

4.6 2.9 1.3

5.0 3.1 1.7

5.4 3.5 2.0

Data Source: The Statistical Year Book of Chinese Education, People’s Education Publishing House, Beijing.

The Level of Educational Attainment for Kindergarten Teachers Greatly Increased The level of educational attainment of kindergarten teachers is an important measure of teaching quality. To some extent kindergarten teachers’ educational attainment reflects the development of early childhood education. The number of kindergarten teachers who have a high school degree or above has gradually increased. From 2003 to 2005, the number of kindergarten teachers who held a college degree increased by 19,000, and the number of kindergarten teachers who had some college education increased by 84,000. The percentage of kindergarten teachers who did not attend high school dropped from 5.5% to 4.4%. In 2005, 95.6% of teachers had a high school diploma; 49.2% had at least some college education. Similarly, the levels of educational attainment for kindergarten principals also noticeably increased (see figure 1.18). 1.4.5. Reflections on Policy Quality Improvement in Policy Ideas, Goals, and Framework Compared to Opinions on the Work of Early Childhood Care and Education (关于加强幼儿教育工 作的意见) issued in 1988 and Opinions on the Goals of ECCE Development of the Ninth Five-Year Plan (全国幼儿教育事业 “九五” 发展目标实施 意见) issued in 1997, the Guideline is more effective at promoting the development of ECCE. First, the Guideline deepens people’s understanding of the value of ECCE. The document issued in 1988 notes that “ECCE is helpful for children’s mental and physical development. Kindergartens can also save working parents’ time and energy so that they can concentrate on their work. ECCE is defined as a social welfare program.” The document issued in 1997 states that the general goal for the development

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60000 51185 50000

44588 39906

40000

43978

2003

45703 44123

2004 2005

30000 20000 10000

13829 10801 8094

4241 3974 3794

0 Beyond the University

Special School

During High School Did not go to beyond the high school

Data Source: The Statistical Year Book of Chinese Education, People’s Education Publishing House, Beijing.

Fig. 1.18. Level of educational attainment of kindergarten teachers.

of ECCE is to “set up an ECCE system that fits the socialist market economy.” The document issued in 2003 notes that ECCE affects children’s health. It also facilitates the popularization of compulsory education, having significant influence on the well-being of a society. In the Guideline, ECCE is considered an important part of compulsory education. Second, the goals for ECCE are more specific. The “three-year preschool kindergarten enrollment rate is expected to reach 55% in five years from 2003 to 2007. During the same time period the one-year pre-school kindergarten enrollment rate is expected to reach 80%.” These goals are never defined in the documents issued in 1988. The goals set up in the Guideline are much higher than those defined in the Opinions issued in 1997. Third, governments’ responsibilities toward ECCE are explicitly defined in the Guideline. These include fundraising, management, and supervision. The Guideline also defines activities that governments are prohibited to perform. Some of the rules and regulations are never mentioned in previous documents. Some rules and regulations are more detailed than previous ones. Fourth, it defined the relationship between the parties involved in ECCE. It stresses that model kindergartens should set a good example in carrying out laws and regulations, diffusing concepts and ideas, conducting research, training kindergarten teachers, and guiding family and community early childhood education.

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Fifth, more attention is given to poor areas. The Chinese government noticed regional inequality. “To help the development of ECCE in poor areas” is first mentioned in the Guideline. The Chinese government’s determination to reduce inequality is considered an important step in the course of the development of ECCE policies. Problems in Policy Implementation Despite this progress, a number of problems in implementing ECCE policies still exists; this weakens the effectiveness of ECCE policies. First, local governments are given a substantial amount of space to design their own ECCE policies according to local circumstances. The role of the central government is to offer local governments strategic suggestions and to guide policy making. Local governments are responsible for policy implementation. Because local governments have more flexibility and space in policy making, their enthusiasm and creativity are greatly aroused. But on the other hand, these measures also give local governments the opportunity to obtain from acting, which reduces the effectiveness of ECCE policies. Second, parts of the policies are difficult to implement. The personnel department and the fiscal department are two separate departments and are often not well coordinated. Thus, when the rights and responsibilities of each department are not clearly defined, a lack of coordination between them will reduce the effectiveness of ECCE policies. Third, effective supervision and motivating mechanisms are still lacking; this affects the implementation of ECCE policies. These mechanisms can be administrative (such as the promotion system), or regard resources allocation (such as the distribution of financial resources). 1.5. International Experiences of Public Investment in ECCE ECCE policies have recently become the central concern of many international organizations and foreign countries. ECCE is critical to children’s development. ECCE is positively associated to school enrollment and school performance. ECCE also improves children’s health, nutrition, and education, and the influences are long lasting. The rate of return to ECCE investment is high.12

12 Regardless of whether it is in developed countries or developing countries, evidence has been provided. For example, evidence from Britain shows that the threeyear preschool education is helpful for students to develop intelligence, independence,

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In addition to children, the whole society benefits from investment in ECCE. First, ECCE helps reduce poverty, as well as the effects of gender, race, family background, religion, and other factors affecting poverty. To some extent ECCE provides children an equal opportunity to access educational resources.13 Second, the availability of ECCE facilitates women’s paid employment. The availability of ECCE gives women more opportunities to participate in the paid labor force, which not only increases family income but also contributes to economic growth, tax increases, and reduction of the number of families that rely on social assistance. Nobel laureate Heckman once stated: “There are few public policies that can both facilitate equality and equity while improving economic efficiency. Investing in early childhood education is a kind of such policy.”14 Finally, given the fast increase in mobile people, especially rural migrant workers, meeting their children’s demands for ECCE is a challenge to the government, which has important implications for social stability and national security. ECCE is critical to children’s development. ECCE also has positive externality, contributing to economic and social development. Some scholars consider ECCE as a public good. They believe that it is the government’s responsibility to provide ECCE. In many OECD countries, governments are indeed the most important investors of ECCE.15 In those countries where ECCE is privatized, there are a variety of resources supporting ECCE. Since the 1990s, many governments (including those of developed countries) have reformed their ECCE polices with the goal of increasing the supplies and the quality of ECCE. The most important and common measure is to increase public investment in ECCE. A common consensus is that public investment and support are critical to implementing policy. In short, in many countries public investments are becoming an important financial resource for ECCE.16 and social abilities. From experiences in Nepal, 95% of children who participated in ECCE programs entered into primary education, and for children who did not participate in ECCE programs, only 75% entered into primary education. OECD, Starting Strong II. 13 There has been evidence showing that ECCE programs are significant in helping children from poor families and in eliminating inequality in genders. The program of Head Start initiated in 1964 was based on this theory. OECD, Starting Strong II. 14 Ibid. 15 Ibid. 16 Feng Xiaoxia, Cai Yingqi, and Yan Leng, “The Trend of the Development of Early Childhood Education: Public Spending on Supporting,” Preschool Education Research 5 (2007): 3–6.

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However, there are great differences among these countries in the levels of public expenditure on ECCE and the mechanisms of expenditure.17 Public expenditure refers to a country’s total financial investments in ECCE. It is affected by the importance that a government attaches to ECCE. Expenditure mechanisms refer to how public expenditure on ECCE is spent on ECCE. Expenditure mechanisms include investees and the tools that are used to allocate the investments. Choices of expenditure mechanisms are largely determined by a country’s ECCE policies. 1.5.1. Level of Public Spending on ECCE It is difficult to accurately measure a country’s fiscal expenditure on ECCE.18 This situation arises because: first, many countries do not have such data; second, the definition of early childhood varies from one country to another, making it difficult to compare fiscal expenditure on ECCE across countries. For example, some countries define ages zero to six as early childhood, while other countries define ages three to six, or the first two years prior to attending primary school (ages five to six) as early childhood. Third, ECCE is a complex system. It is difficult to collect and analyze the data.19 Moreover, in order to make fiscal expenditures on ECCE comparable across countries, it is necessary to tease out many factors, such as a country’s level of economic development, prices, and foreign-exchange rates, which is a difficult task. In the following comparisons, we choose two indexes: (1) the proportion of fiscal expenditure on ECCE in GDP/GNP and the proportion of ECCE expenditure in total education expenditure; and (2) the ratio of public investment in ECCE to private investment in ECCE. The sample is children older than three years old.20

Clive R. Belfield, “Financing Early Childhood Education and Care: An International Review,” background paper prepared for the Education for All Global Monitoring Report 2007: Strong Foundations: Early Childhood Education and Care (2006). 18 OECD, Starting Strong II. 19 Stoney, Louise and Mark H. Greenberg. “The Financing of Childcare: Current and Emerging Trends,” The Future of Children 6 (1996): 83–102. 20 The reasons are data accessibility and the comparison between countries. There are special agencies that provide educational services to children older than three and most public expenditure is spent on them. However, for children younger than three, situations in different countries vary vastly and it is hard to compare between countries. 17

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Low Levels of Public Expenditure on ECCE From the proportion of fiscal expenditure on ECCE in total public expenditure on education, it can be seen that the level of educational investment in ECCE is low in most countries. According to a survey of 79 countries conducted by UNESCO in 2007, the proportion is below 10% in 75 countries (middle and Eastern European countries),21 and 50% of the countries have a proportion below 5%. In terms of the proportion of fiscal expenditure on ECCE in GNP, the highest number is 0.5%, and the lowest number is 0.2% (most are countries in Latin America). There is a big gap between public expenditure on ECCE and public expenditure on basic education. Even in middle and Eastern European countries where the levels of fiscal expenditure on ECCE are high, fiscal expenditure on ECCE per capita is only 67% of that on basic education. In North American and Western European countries, the number is 26%. In Latin American countries, the percentage is only 14%, and the number is even lower in South and west Asian countries. In short, both the absolute and the relative levels of public expenditure on ECCE are low. There is a Huge Difference in the Relative Importance of Public Expenditure and Private Expenditure on ECCE in the World Countries can be grouped into three categories according to the relative importance of public expenditures as opposed to individual expenditures on ECCE. For the first group of countries, governments are the primary funders of ECCE; for the second group of countries, individuals are responsible for all ECCE expenditures; and the third group of countries lies between the first two groups. The first group of countries includes France, Sweden, Mexico, and a few others. In these countries, most ECCE expenditures come from government fiscal budgets. Individuals are sometimes required to share part of the ECCE expenditures, but it only represents a small percentage of total family income. In Sweden, for example, family expenditures on ECCE is only 1–3% of total family income. Individuals (mainly individual families) pay most of the fees for ECCE in the second group of countries, such as Korea, Indonesia, and Kenya. Most countries belong to the third group where government and families share the ECCE expenditures. In the United States, for example, parents pay about 60% of ECCE expenditures.

21

UNESCO, Education for All.

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Table 1.7. Public Expenditure on ECCE Expenditure side

Objects

Supply side

For the providers of all services; only for the public service providers

Demand side For all the families Only for poor families Managers

Management and supervision sectors

Finance tool Direct tool Lump fund; special fund; subsidy for teaching facilities and curriculum; education voucher Education voucher

Indirect tool Tax

Subsidy for parents Tax credits

To set up supervision To guarantee the and protection smooth running of systems the market

Data Source: Based on articles by Belfield. See Clive R. Belfield, “Financing Early Childhood Education and Care: An International Review,” background paper prepared for the Education for All Global Monitoring Report 2007: Strong Foundations; Early Childhood Education and Care (2006).

Public Investment Is an Important Determinant of the Kindergarten Enrollment Rate Although data are not complete, available data show that the kindergarten enrollment rate is high in countries where the percentage of public spending on ECCE in the total ECCE expenditures is high. For example, the gross pre-school kindergarten enrollment rate in France exceeds 100%; the gross preschool and kindergarten enrollment rate is over 80% in Sweden and Mexico. In contrast, the preschool kindergarten enrollment rate is only 21% in Indonesia, 48% in Kenya, and 58% in the United States. 1.5.2. Public Expenditure on ECCE According to the expenditure side and the expenditure tool, the system of public expenditure on ECCE can be classified into the following types as shown in table 1.7. ECCE Providers Are the Main Receivers of Government Expenditure on ECCE The most popular method of allocating funds is direct investment in ECCE providers. Many OECD countries, including Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Portugal, and Sweden, use this financing method. In these countries, public sectors are the main providers of ECCE. Government directly provides funds to these service providers (such as kindergartens) to help them cover the operating costs, staff

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salaries, expenses that are incurred in purchasing and maintaining equipments, and other expenditures that are used to subsidize children’s education. Most countries do not use this financing method. But some countries have preferential tax policies or fiscal subsidy policy (such as France) for private ECCE providers. To increase children’s opportunities to access ECCE, some countries expand their scope of financial assistance. Private ECCE providers and NGOs are also qualified to receive public financial assistance. For example, although the Swedish government does not directly provide subsidies to private sectors, it signs contracts with them to buy their services. In the UK, the government increased its spending on ECCE since 1997. Part of the increase in public expenditure is used to build kindergartens and subsidize those kindergartens managed by individuals or voluntary organizations. Poor Families also Receive Financial Support Another way that is commonly used to transfer budgetary funds is to give educational vouchers to families that have difficulty sending their children to receive ECCE. For example, the Child Care Development Fund, a project funded by the US federal government, gives educational vouchers to middleand the low-income families. These families must use their educational vouchers to purchase ECCE services from certified private ECCE providers. In September 1998, the British government also introduced their ECCE voucher program for four-year-old children. All eligible children can receive an educational voucher that is worth about 1,100 pounds. Another common method to subsidize ECCE is through subsidizing parents. For example, the French government provides financial assistance to unemployed parents who have two or more children. Favorable Treatments for Vulnerable Groups There are certain governments that appropriate funds for special uses. In many cases, these special funds are for low-income families or other vulnerable groups. For example, the US federal government appropriates funds for poor children or children with a disability to assist them in attending kindergartens, or receiving special preschool education. The Head Start Program, a welfare program that is designed for families living below the poverty line, gives funds directly to child development centers. The German government uses a similar method. They directly subsidize those private day care centers that provide ECCE services to

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low-income families. In Korea, individuals and other private organizations are the primary ECCE providers. Parents pay the total ECCE fees. Under certain circumstances, however, the government will appropriate a certain amount of funds to support ECCE in rural areas. Management and Supervision of ECCE Despite the fact that some governments are under fiscal constraints, they still stress the importance of ECCE management and supervision and use their limited funds to improve ECCE management and supervision. For example in Kenya where ECCE fees are mainly paid by families and where public spending on ECCE is extremely low and subject to fiscal constraints, the federal government uses their limited funds on ECCE supervision. Local governments also appropriate some funds to train teachers and develop a curriculum. The Public Expenditure Mechanism Is Influenced Mainly by the Policy Goals of ECCE Obviously, a uniform ECCE fiscal expenditure mechanism does not exist in the world. In fact, a country often uses multiple fiscal expenditure mechanisms. It can therefore be inferred that the choice of fiscal expenditure mechanism for ECCE is largely determined by the goals set in each country’s ECCE policies. They are also subject to the influences of a country’s political, economic, educational, and welfare systems and traditional cultures.22 When the British government reformed their ECCE in 1997, they invested 8.5 billion pounds in ECCE and adopted multiple fiscal expenditure mechanisms, with each mechanism corresponding to a specific goal. For example, to promote access to ECCE and improve the quality of ECCE, the British government introduced the National Childcare Strategy; to reduce poverty rates and inequality, special funds were allocated to economically underdeveloped areas; and to promote women’s employment, a family educational voucher program was created. The UK Sure Start Program is similar to that found in the US, but the UK Sure Start Program stresses the importance of families. Fiscal funds are therefore spent on families instead of kindergartens or other ECCE providers.23

22 Cai Yingqi, “Types of and Policies for Educational Finance of Preprimary Education in Western Countries and Its Implications,” Shanghai Research on Education 9 (2006): 12–14. 23 Liu Yan “Current National Policy and Reform of ECEC in the UK,” Comparative Education Review 9 (2003): 11–16.

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1.5.3. Summary From international experiences, we learn that: (1) public spending plays a critically important role in promoting the development of ECCE, and the percentage of public investment in the total investment in ECCE is positively associated with the rate of children’s enrollment; (2) there is not a uniform and fixed fiscal expenditure mechanism in the world, as multiple mechanisms are often used in order to promote equal access to ECCE; and (3) no matter what kind of fiscal expenditure mechanism is used, vulnerable groups should always be given the most attention—specifically, economically underdeveloped areas, middle- and low-income families, and other disadvantaged social groups deserve more attention, so that children of different social backgrounds can have equal opportunities to access ECCE. 1.6. Policy Recommendations In China, local governments are the actual implementers of ECCE policies. They are given a great deal of space and flexibility. Local governments play the most important role in ECCE development. Despite the fact that considerable progress has been made in the development of ECCE in China, due to the many flaws that exist in ECCE management systems and policy implementation systems (mainly referring to the fiscal system), many kinds of inequalities have emerged in the course of ECCE development. Looking toward the future of ECCE development in China, we recommend the following: Build the motivation and supervision mechanisms. Although policies and related documents have specified the responsibilities of governments at different levels and related departments, due to a lack of effective incentive and supervisory mechanisms and flaws in the current fiscal system, the actual effects of these polices on promoting ECCE development are not very obvious. It is therefore imperative to establish a system of motivation and supervision, which can arouse the enthusiasms of government at all levels, in order to reduce all types of inequalities in ECCE, thus promoting a rapid and healthy development of ECCE. Increase public investment in ECCE. The Chinese government’s investment in ECCE is still comparatively low (in 2005, public spending on ECCE only accounts for 0.03% of GDP), and the three-year

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pre-school kindergarten enrollment rate is below 50%. In China, the economy is not strongly related to public investment in ECCE. Instead, public spending on ECCE is largely determined by how much attention local governments attach to ECCE. Accordingly, to promote ECCE development in China, it is necessary that local governments give more attention to ECCE. Diversify the funding mechanisms. Despite the fact that private kindergartens have accounted for 60% of total kindergartens, in the current fiscal expenditure system, public kindergartens receive the most government investment in ECCE. The current fiscal expenditure mechanism is therefore a major source of inequality between public and private kindergartens. Further, urban kindergartens receive more financial assistance from the government than rural kindergartens, aggregating rural-urban inequality. To reduce inequality, it is therefore imperative to reform the current fiscal expenditure system and diversify fiscal expenditure mechanisms. The government should increase its investments in rural areas and private kindergartens. Pay more attention to poor areas and vulnerable groups. Poor areas and venerable groups are often given less 2 attention than they deserve in current ECCE policies. In the future, ECCE policies should give more favorable treatment to the disadvantaged, reducing poverty and inequality. Appendix: National Survey on the Current Situation of Early Childhood Care and Education24 From April to July of 2007, a survey on the state of China’s ECCE was conducted in several provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions in eastern, western, and central China. The data show that different modes are adopted across the county to develop ECCE. For example, in Shanghai, government is the principle sponsor of preschool education. Public kindergartens are one of the most important parts of the early-education system. The development of preschool education is an important measure of governmental performances. The past years have witnessed great progress in the development of preschool education

24

Only a simple introduction is provided.

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in Shanghai. The three-years-before-school enrollment rate has been over 95%. In Zhejiang Province, multiple parties are involved in ECCE. Both public kindergartens and private kindergartens have gained great development. The focus of the government’s job is to provide necessary support for rural kindergartens. Another important finding is that economic factors are not the most important determinant of the development of ECCE. Some less economically developed areas (Guizhou Province, for example) have better ECCE than areas where local economies are strong. The importance that the local government attached to ECCE is indeed critical to the development of ECCE. If the local government attaches great importance to ECCE, even when the budget is tight, kindergartens and other ECCE providers can still receive adequate financial support and other kinds of support from the government. Guizhou Province is a good example. Guizhou is a relatively poor province in China. In 2006 the fiscal revenue was just 18.25 billion yuan. The average cash income per person in rural areas is less than 2,000 yuan. Despite economic difficulties, the provincial government attaches great importance to ECCE. The educational administration sectors use multiple methods to support ECCE. For example, they set up a special fund to reward the counties that make noticeable achievements in developing ECCE. Every year the provincial government establishes a special fund up to one million yuan to encourage counties to establish new kindergartens and refurnish old ones. The money award ranges from 50 to 100 thousand yuan for every setup of a new kindergarten or reconstruction of an old kindergarten. In the first year after the special funds were established, more than forty new kindergartens were established. These motivating measures greatly increased the three-year-preschool enrollment rate. From 2001 to 2006, the threeyear-preschool enrollment rate increased from 25.9% to 35.4%. Hebei Province is a large agricultural province in China. The rural population represents 62.4% of the total population. The provincial government, after realizing the goal of popularizing compulsory education, uses the opportunity of restructuring primary and middle schools and makes full use of educational resources to develop public kindergarten education in rural areas. In 2001, Hebei Province made a goal of popularizing the three-year preschool education and designed a unified plan of developing preschool education and compulsory education. The work teams are headed by operation directors. The members of the work teams are made up of chief leaders from

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sectors of education, health, planning, finance, civil administration, labor and personnel, pricing, construction, and women’s associations. The functions of the work teams include management, policy making and policy implementation, propaganda and mobilization, and investment and supervision. Second, the government uses the opportunities of restructuring primary and junior middle schools and establishes a number of standard kindergartens in rural areas. For example, among the 1,788 newly established kindergartens in Baoding City, 980 or 54.8% were built using vacant buildings that used to belong to elementary and secondary schools before restructuring. Third, three teams of kindergarten teachers have been set up, including a strong contingent of full-time and part-time kindergarten cadres and outstanding kindergarten heads. Promising public school teachers, after retraining and passing examination and evaluation, are transferred to the kindergartens. These reforming measures proved very effective at increasing the kindergarten enrollment rate. Between 2000 and 2006, the three-year pre-school kindergarten enrollment increased from 35% to 58.1%. References Bing, Sheng. “Educational Equity Responsibility of Government and Its Boundary in the Transition Period.” Educational Research 3 (2007). Cleveland, Gordon, and Michael Krashinsky. “Financing ECEC Services in OECD Countries,” 2006. http://www.oecd.org. “Communiqué of National Education Supervision Group on Early Childhood Care and Education.” China Education Daily, July 11, 2005. Hutmacher, Walo, et al., eds. In Pursuit of Equity in Education: Using International Indicators to Compare Equity Policies. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2001. Ji, Shen. “Early Childhood Care and Education Reform in Jiansu Province.” Early Education 21 (2000). Mocan, H. Naci. “Can Consumers Detect Lemons? Information Asymmetry in the Market for Child Care.” NBER Working Paper 8291 (2001). Nengxiu, Cao. “Contemporary Early Childhood Care and Education.” Journal of Educational Development 9 (2005).

CHAPTER TWO

POLICIES ON CHINA’S BASIC EDUCATION OVER THE LAST THIRTY YEARS Chai Chunqing1 and Cheng Gang 2 Basic education plays an important strategic role in the modernization of a country. Since the introduction of reforms and opening to the outside world over the past thirty years, China has witnessed great achievements in basic education. With grand economic and societal transformations, the funding and administration systems of basic education have experienced several changes over time. A free nine-year compulsory education system has been established, which has become a milestone of the successful changes of public policies on education. One of the issues that hampered further development of basic education in China is related to inequalities between urban and rural areas and between different schools, which resulted in serious problems of injustice in education. Thus the Chinese government has been engaged in promoting a balanced development of compulsory education in the last thirty years. At the same time, quality education has been integrated into the will of the nation in order to get rid of the problems of exam-oriented education through policies, which reflects the societal efforts to pursue good education and improve the quality of education.

1 Chai Chunqing is Director of Institute of Private Education Research, Academy of Education in the 21st Century. 2 Cheng Gang is a graduate student at the Graduate School of the Capital Basic Education Research, Beijing Normal University.

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2.1.1. Major Achievements Nine-Year Compulsory Education and the Justice in Compulsory Education In 1985, the Central Party Committee issued the Decision on the Reform of Education Systems (关于教育体制改革的决定) and put forward a proposal of nine-year compulsory education. In the 1990s, the two objectives of general enforcement of nine-year compulsory education and general elimination of illiteracy among young and middle-aged people (Two Basic Objectives) were further clarified and confirmed. In the year 2000, 2,541 counties (county-level cities or districts) in China achieved these two objectives, which covered 85% of the entire population. By 2005, the number of counties (county-level cities or districts) that have achieved the two goals reached 2,890 and more than 95% of the population was covered. The rate of illiteracy among young and middle-aged people decreased to less than 5%. These two objectives were completely achieved in 12 provinces and Xinjiang Production and Construction Army. Since the beginning of the twenty-first century, the Chinese government has focused on consolidating the Two Basic Objectives projects, and in particular solving the difficulties of achieving the Two Basic Objectives in western China. In September 2003, The State Council’s Decision to Further Promote Education in Rural Areas (国务院关于进一步加 强农村教育工作的决定) was issued at the first national conference on education in rural China since 1949. By the end of 2002, as basic education only covered 77% of the population and was implemented in only 410 counties in western China, Premier Wen Jiabao instructed at the conference that basic education should be implemented in western China by 2007. “The fulfillment of the Two Basic Objectives projects in these areas,” he said, “will help realize the goal of implementation of nine-year basic education throughout China and will play a very important role in eliminating poverty and promoting development in China’s west, as well as in enhancing the unity of nationalities and maintaining stability in boarder areas.” In December 2003, Premier Wen Jiabao presided over a meeting of National Leaders’ Group of Science and Education and approved the Plan to Implement Nine-Year Compulsory Education and Eliminate Illiteracy among Young and Middle-Aged People in Western China (2004–2007) (国家西部地区 “两基” 攻坚计划

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(2004–2007年)), which was drafted by the Ministry of Education, the National Committee of Development and Reforms, the Ministry of Finance, and the National Office of Development in the West. In March 2004, Wen Jiabao announced while presenting the government work report at the second session of the 10th National People’s Congress that “the Two Basic Objectives projects would be launched in the West this year. By 2007, we will reach the goal of basically realizing nine-year compulsory education and basically eliminating illiteracy among young and middle-aged people. The central government will provide a financial support of ten billion yuan for this purpose.” A variety of projects previously implemented were soon integrated and policies to systematically promote the projects were formed, which largely enhanced progress. In the framework of the plan, the following three major strategies were adopted: boarding schools were built for students to be able to enter schools. Students were exempt from tuition, administration fees, and subsidies were provided for students so they could be able to remain in schools. Modern remote education was enabled in primary and middle schools in rural areas for students “to be able to receive good education.” By the end of 2007, the National Office of Nine-Year Compulsory Education and Elimination of Illiteracy among Young and Middle-Aged People declared that the Two Basic Objectives were achieved as expected. Among the 410 counties covered by the project, 368 realized the Two Basic Objectives, and the remaining 42 counties reached the standard of six-year basic education. Ninety-eight percent of the population in western China was covered, which increased by 21% in comparison to early 2003 (77%) and was 13% higher than the planned 85%. Middle schools’ enrollment rate was higher than the planned 90%.3 At the same time, the rate of students remaining in primary schools for five years increased from 82.8% in 1995 to 98.8% in 2003. Middle schools’ enrollment rate increased from 78.4% in 1995 to 95% in 2005. The rate of middle school graduates continuing education increased from 51.8% in 1995 to 69.7% in 2005 (see figure 2.1).

3 Report on Implementing ‘Two Basic Objectives’ Plan in West China (2004–2007), National Two Basic Objectives Office, the Ministry of Education. Online source: http://www .moe.cn/edoas/website18/zhuanti/liangji.jsp, November 28 2007.

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Reinforced Rate of Five Years in Primary Schools (%)

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Data Source: Statistic Communiqué on National Educational Development (1995–2005), the Ministry of Education.

Fig. 2.1. The development of compulsory education (1995–2005).

Free Compulsory Education in Both Urban and Rural Areas Premier Wen Jiabao declared at the National People Congress in March 2005: “From this year on, textbook fees and tuition during the period of compulsory education shall be exempted for students from poor families in the target rural counties where national plans of poverty elimination and development are enforced. Students attending boarding schools will receive subsidies. By 2007, this policy will be implemented universally in all rural areas in China and every child from poor families can afford to go to school and complete compulsory education.” This is the policy of Two Exemptions and One Subsidy. The central government increased support for compulsory education in rural areas. Since the spring of 2005, the coverage of Two Exemptions and One Subsidy (两免一补) has been expanded. Students that benefited from this policy increased from 24 million to 30 million. Sixteen million students from 529 counties under the national poverty line were exempted from textbook fees and tuitions. At the same time, subsidies for students in boarding schools were gradually offered. On average, a primary school student was exempted of 200 yuan of textbook fees and tuitions. For a middle school student, the exemption was 340 yuan. The policies of Two Exemptions and One Subsidy were fully implemented in China between 2005 and 2007. The allocation for this purpose was 22.7 billion yuan of the national budget.

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On January 28, 2005, Wei Liucheng, governor of Hainan Province, claimed in his government work report: “Hainan Province will allocate 160 million yuan from the provincial financial administration this year for tuition exemptions. Hainan will be the first province in China where all students will be exempted from tuition for compulsory education.” On September 4, 2005, Jiangsu Province declared that free compulsory education would be first provided in the economically disadvantaged northern part of the province. On September 7, 2005, the City of Suzhou announced that nine-year free compulsory education would be implemented in the city beginning in the fall of 2006. On the same day, it was declared in Beijing that compulsory education would be implemented beginning from the start of the Eleventh Five-Year Plan. The government would also gradually provide free high school education to students from poor families and in rural areas. The next day, Guangdong Province decided to offer free compulsory education in 16 poor counties as a trial beginning in the fall semester. By the autumn of 2008, free compulsory education will be extended to other counties and will be completely implemented in the whole province. On December 19, 2005, Zhejiang Province announced that beginning in the fall of 2006, primary and middle school students would no longer need to pay tuition. Effective actions taken by municipal and provincial governments led the central government to be more and more explicit and positive about policies on compulsory education. In October 2005, in the Eleventh Five-Year Plan, it was only briefly mentioned that the state planned to exempt students’ tuition during the period of compulsory education in rural areas, which was equivalent to an exemption of 20 billion yuan from the students and their families per year. In the National Report on Education for All People in China (中国全民教育国家 报告) issued by the Ministry of Education on November 11, 2005, however, it was put forward that free compulsory education would be implemented in all rural areas in China by 2010 and universal free compulsory education would be provided all over China by 2015. This was the first time the central government gave an explicit timeframe regarding the implementation of free compulsory education. On November 28, 2005, Premier Wen Jiabao addressed the 5th Meeting of High-Level Group on Education for All held by UNESCO. He stated, “Beginning next year, within two years’ time, students’ tuitions will be exempted completely in rural areas.” This meant that free compulsory education would be implemented in rural areas three years ahead of schedule.

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Upgrading Rural Education and Narrowing the Gap between Urban and Rural Areas The gap in the enrollment rate of school-age children between urban and rural areas has generally decreased. This gap became small enough to dismiss in the 1990s and thus this parameter has no longer been included in statistics since 2003. The increase of government funding for compulsory education in rural areas is larger than that in urban areas. For example, the increase in budget for education administration per student in rural primary or middle schools is larger than the average national level, and the difference of educational funding per student between urban and rural areas has decreased. The allocation of resources for teachers is becoming increasingly balanced between cities and the countryside. The rate of qualified primary and middle school teachers has increased each year, and the proportion of teachers with higher education has gradually grown in rural areas. The rate of qualified teachers in rural areas is drawing close to the average national level. Statistics shows that between 2002 and 2004, the urban-rural gap of primary school teachers’ qualification rates has decreased from 2.2% to 1.5%. Among primary and middle school teachers in rural areas, those with medium- or higher-level professional titles have visibly grown. The structure of teachers in rural primary and middle schools has improved. By 2005, 39.18% of teachers in primary and middle schools in rural areas had senior titles, which increased by 6.48% compared to 2003. The ratio of teachers with medium- or higher-level titles in middle schools increased from 32.83% to 35.98%. Conditions of rural schools have also improved, which leads to a decreasing gap between urban and rural schools. Indexes of physical spaces, the area of dangerous classrooms, the quantity of books, and the value of fixed assets shows that the differences between urban and rural schools have increasingly shrank each year. 2.1.2. The Process of the Development of Basic Education The development in China’s basic education is closely related to the reforms of economic systems and the levels of economic development. In general, the funding system has been gradually upgraded and legalization of management has been increasingly adopted.

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The Impact of Rural Socio-Economic Reforms on Basic Education (Early- to Mid1980s) Since the late 1970s, rural economic reforms have installed a family-based contract system in China, which largely liberated the labor force from the rural land. However, this also brought unexpected problems to basic education in the countryside. The weakening of collective economy in rural villages directly resulted in local county governments’ deteriorated financial situation, which hampered the development of basic education in rural areas. In 1980, the Central Party Committee and the State Council issued the Decision on Some Problems to Extend Primary Education in China (关于普 及小学教育若干问题的决定). The decision reinforced the principles of adjustment, reform, rectification, and upgrading. Efforts should not only be given to adjust the proportion of the economy, but the ratio of basic education to economy should also be adjusted. Basic education should be included as an important part in the economic adjustment. The proportion of investment in basic education should be enlarged each year so as to change the situation of having too little funding for education. During the mid-1980s, conditions in quite a few rural schools were devastated and funds were in serious shortage. For a long period of time, the salaries of teachers in primary and middle schools were very low. In order to improve the situation, on December 13, 1984, the State Council issued the Notice on Raising Funds for Schools in Rural Areas (关于筹措农村学校办学经费的通知), asking governments of various levels to take effective measures to increase government investment in the construction of basic education and maintenance of school operations, and to fully motivate collective economic organizations and other social actors to build schools. Regulations were also implemented to raise funding for basic education in rural areas through collecting educational surtax. In practice, township governments could collect these taxes for educational purposes. Township governments thus shared more and more responsibilities in rural basic education and played a leading role in managing basic education in rural areas. Following the principle of relying on the people to run basic education, township governments collected more and more funds for schools from individual peasants, as well as from rural collective economic organizations. In fact, this policy shifted part of the responsibility of investing in basic education from governments to nongovernmental organizations, individuals, and peasants; society was increasingly relied on to run

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education. The direct responsibility of primary and middle schools’ investment shifted to nongovernmental society. In 1985, the Decision on the Reform of Basic Education Systems Issued by the Central Party Committee (中共中央关于基础教育体制改革的决定) proposed the strategic goal of comprehensively reforming China’s basic education systems. The responsibility of developing basic education should be given to local governments, 9-year compulsory education should be realized stepby-step, principles that local governments were responsible for basic education should be followed, and educational management was to be conducted on different levels. Thus investment and management of basic education were localized. Promoting Basic Education through Legislation and Planning (Mid-1980s to Early 1990s) In the mid-1980s, basic education in rural areas was still underdeveloped. Primary education was not universal in a number of rural areas. Many school-age children, especially girls, were not able to complete the official required number of years for primary education, which caused illiteracy and semi-illiteracy among young and middleaged people to continuously exist. Classrooms in quite a few primary and middle schools were old and out of repair. Teaching facilities, as well as PE and cultural facilities, were in serious shortage. In order to fundamentally transform the backward conditions of basic education, the Law of Compulsory Education in the People’s Republic of China (中华人民共和国义务教育法) was passed at the Session of the 6th People’s Congress on April 12, 1986. The principle that basic education ought to be run and managed by different levels of local government were written into the law. Measures to Implement Compulsory Education Law of People’s Republic of China (中华人民共和国义务教育法 实施细则) was issued in 1992, which further clarified the administrative system, implementation procedures, security measures, and management and supervision of basic education. Important foundations were laid for the development of China’s basic education. On February 13, 1993, the Central Party Committee and the State Council issued the Outlines of the Reform and Development of China’s Education (中国教育改革和发展纲要), which clarified that the fundamental way to achieve the strategic status of basic education is to increase investments in basic education. Different levels of government, social organizations, and individuals should try to increase investments in basic education and ensure the prioritization of the development in basic education. Mechanisms of fundraising for basic education should

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be gradually established. Educational expenses should primarily be supported by the government appropriations with vital complementary sources such as collecting surtax for basic education, building school-owned enterprises, gathering social donations, and establishing basic education funds. Outlines of the Reform and Development of China’s Education (中国教育改革和发展纲要) also stated that expenditures on education from the state’s budget should increase continuously and it is expected to share 4% of the national GDP by the end of the twentieth century. Departments of planning, finance and taxation should make corresponding policies and make sure they are carried out in practice. On March 18, 1995, the Education Law of People’s Republic of China (中华人民共和国教育法) was passed at the 3rd Session of the 8th People’s Congress. New systems of investments in education were written into the law, which referred to the system that educational expenses should be mainly supported by financial appropriations from different levels of government and complemented by educational surtax, school-owned enterprises, social donations, tuitions, and administration fees. Investments in basic education should increase gradually to ensure the stability of funding for public schools. Since 1995, the central government and local governments have invested a huge amount of money to accelerate the universalization of nine-year compulsory education in poor areas. Many important projects have been implemented, which were very effective. These projects included: compulsory education in poor areas, renovating dilapidated buildings in primary and middle schools all over China, constructing boarding schools in rural areas, implementing Two Exemptions and One Subsidy policies, and building modern remote education for primary and middle schools in rural areas. Basic Education as Public Service (the Mid-1990s to Present) The revenuesharing scheme that started in 1994 greatly reduced the income of local governments, especially at the township level. The basic education policy that relied on township governments as major investors for basic education thus faced great difficulties in practice. Under this background, the State Council issued the Decisions on the Reform and Development of Basic Education (关于基础教育改革与发展的 决定) in 2001, which made a significant adjustment on policies of basic education. Basic education followed policies of “under the leadership of the State Council, under the responsibility of local governments,

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managed by different levels of governments and relied mainly on the county government.” The core investors in basic education moved upward from townships to counties. Before that, county governments had taken a major responsibility in investment in high schools and in the management of high schools, middle schools and primary schools. After the Decision, the main responsibilities of investment and management of basic education were also held by county governments. Thus, the educational policy that basic education relied mainly on county governments was formed. The county-based administrative system works better than the township-based system in terms of securing funding for basic education. However, many county governments in poor areas cannot afford the expenses of basic education. To cope with this situation, the State Council’s issued the Notice on Deepening the Reform of Securing Funding for Rural Compulsory Education (国务院关于深化农村义务教育经费保障 机制改革的通知) in December 2005, which symbolized a new stage in constituting the funding securing system for compulsory education in rural areas. This reform meant that the government gradually included investments in basic education into the institution of public finance. The central government and provincial governments were gradually becoming principal investors of basic education in rural areas, which became a milestone in rural compulsory education. The funding securing system for compulsory education in rural areas was established to increase governments’ investments in basic education in rural areas. core investors shifted to higher-level governments to help progressively realize free compulsory education. This reform helped compulsory education return to its original goals. The new system to secure funding for compulsory education in rural areas certainly contributed to the development of basic education in rural areas and promoted the progress of free and universal compulsory education and justice in education in China. On September 1, 2006, a revised Law of Compulsory Education in People’s Republic of China (中华人民共和国义务教育法) took effect, which was very meaningful. It returned compulsory education to a state of truly being free. Legal codes were made for securing funding of basic education, which read, “expenses of basic education should be covered by the State Council and local governments of different levels according to their respective responsibilities. Governments of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the

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central government are responsible to collect and allocate the funding. Expenses of compulsory education in rural areas are shared by different levels of government by item and proportion as specified by the State Council.” Even though free compulsory education was accepted and implemented by different levels of government, differences between urban and rural areas and between various regions and schools still existed as a result of unequal economic and social development in different places, particularly the urban-rural dichotomy. All of these issues should be paid close attention in the development of compulsory education. Thus, in 2005, the Ministry of Education issued Some Opinions on Deepening a Balanced Development of Compulsory Education (关于进一步 推进义务教育均衡发展的若干意见) and required local education bureaus to focus on improving a balanced development of compulsory education in areas under their administration. After Some Opinions on Deepening a Balanced Development of Compulsory Education was issued, the Ministry of Education held a national conference where participants exchanged experiences of promoting a balanced development of compulsory education. The conference significantly contributed to enhancing a balanced development of compulsory education in different areas as well as promoting the equality and justice of education and the implementation of quality education in China. 2.2. The Establishment of Free Compulsory Education Since China’s transition from a planned economy to a market economy in 1978, the central government encountered serious financial difficulties as reform followed a pattern of decentralization of power and benefits. Investments in and management of compulsory education were handed over to local governments. With the start of the revenue-sharing scheme, the income of local governments decreased. The majority of funding for compulsory education, especially in rural and western China, came from peasants, which was a heavy burden on them. The central government adjusted the policies on compulsory education in 2001 and moved financial responsibilities upwards. Since then, financial policies on compulsory education have been revised several times. The system of free compulsory education was eventually established in 2006.

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2.2.1. The Transformation of the Compulsory Education System Since the beginning of market reforms in China, education, especially compulsory education, has experienced dramatic changes and has achieved a remarkable accomplishment. All of these achievements are closely related to financial policies on free compulsory education. The establishment of the system of free compulsory education has gone through two phases: (1) from 1978 to 2001, it mainly relied on grassroots-level governments to run schools supplemented by funding from various sources; and (2) from May of 2001 to the end of 2005, it mainly relied on county-level governments to run and manage schools. Schools Run by Grassroots-Level Governments, Funding from Various Sources: 1978–2001. From 1978 to the end of 2000, basic education in China rapidly developed. Local governments primarily allocated the funds for basic education while the central government also shared part of the responsibility. At the same time, other sources of educational funds were sought out: educational surtax was collected in both urban and rural areas; and money was also pooled from rural villages for educational purposes. Six major financial sources for education came from state budget, taxation, tuition, fees, school-run enterprises, societies, and foundations, which characterized the principle of “the people’s education run by the people.” (1) The Policy of Dividing Income and Expenditure, and Distributing Responsibilities among Different Levels of Government: 1980. On April 3, 1980, the Ministry of Education issued Suggestions for the Arrangement of Funding for Education after the Enforcement of New Financial System (关于实行新财政体 制后教育经费安排问题的建议). It specified that both the central and local governments should distribute their part of the educational funds. The Suggestions transformed the previous system that the departments of finance education and planning had jointly decided on the quota of educational expenses. Local governments thus became major players of responsibility, power, and interest in making educational budgets and managing educational funds. The central government only set the lower limit of the educational budget made by local governments but also did not put a ceiling on it. This was the so-called “ensuring the bottom line and opening the upper limit.” It was proved that the policy effectively motivated the local governments to invest in education. (2) Delegating Administrative Power to Local Governments: 1985. In 1985, the Central Party Committee issued the Decisions on the Reform of Education

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Systems (关于教育体制改革的决定) (referred to as the Decisions (决定) below), which stated: “The central government only defines major principles and macro plans. The responsibility and power in making concrete policies, institutions, plans, and in leading, managing, and inspecting schools are transferred to local governments”; and “In addition to appropriations from the central government, a proportion of the reserved sources of local finance should be used in education. Townships’ revenues should mainly be used in education. . . . Local governments have the right to collect educational surtax.” Local governments are also allowed to “encourage organizations, collectives and individuals to donate to schools.” According to these principles, education funds for primary and middle schools were included in local budgets and allocated by local governments, with subsidies from the central government. Decisions also defined that “for a certain period of time in future, the appropriations from the central government and local governments for education should grow faster than the revenue of the governments; the average expense on a student should also gradually grow (i.e., Two Growths).” That was an important reform of the budget-management system on educational expenses. “Rules for the Implementation” (“实施细则”) found in Compulsory Education Law (义务教育法), issued in 1986, specified the rights and obligations of all pertinent parties by law. It also set the system of having three levels of governments (county, township, and village) to run schools in rural area, primary and middle schools being operated at township and village levels.4 (3) Launching Fundraising Mechanisms for Universalizing Nine-Year Compulsory Education: 1993. In 1993, the Central Party Committee and the State Council issued the Outline of Educational Reform and Development in China (中国教育改革和发展纲要) (referred to as the Outline) and defined “fundamentally realizing compulsory education and fundamentally eliminating illiteracy among young and middle-aged people” 4 For instance, Rules for Implementation of the Compulsory Education Law (义务教育法实 施细则), Article 5 specifies: “In urban areas, compulsory education is organized by municipalities or districts. In rural areas, it is organized by counties and implemented by townships.” Article 30 says: “In urban areas, expenses of building, remodeling and expanding schools of compulsory education in local governments’ budget of infrastructure construction or raise funds through other channels. In rural areas, funding for compulsory education is raised by townships and villages and county governments provide subsidies if needed.”

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(referred to as Two Basic Objectives below) as important strategic goals of education development in China in the twentieth century. The Outline specified the educational fundraising mechanism first appeared in the 1985 Decisions and proposed to consolidate the mechanism by law. It stated, “Mechanisms of fund raising for basic education should be gradually established. Educational expenses should be primarily supported by government appropriations with important complementary sources, such as collecting surtax for basic education, building school-owned enterprises, collecting social donations, and establishing basic education funds. Stable sources for and increase in educational expenses should be ensured through legislation.” (4) The Impact of the Revenue-Sharing Scheme on Educational Expenditure: 1994. As the central government suffered from inadequate revenue, beginning in 1994 China began to implement the revenue-sharing scheme to solve the problem.5 On July 3, 1994, the State Council specified in its Opinion on the Implementation of ‘Outlines of Education Reforms and Development in China’ (国务院关于<中国教育改革和发展纲要>的实施意见) that “state financial appropriation for educational expenses should reach 4% of national GDP by the end of the twentieth century.” It also put forward the means to constitute a new educational fundraising system in response to the Outlines. These means included supporting schools to build their own enterprises, setting up education banks, and using monetary measures to expand sources for educational funds. Besides government appropriations, expenses for compulsory education came from educational taxes, tuitions and fees, social donations, and pooled money thus corresponded to the slogan “the people’s education run by the people.” (5) The Diversification of Funding Sources for Education In the field of basic education, policies were adopted to raise money from a variety of sources. A diversified funding structure of basic education was thus established. In the early reform, although the total financial input in education increased continuously in China, growth was concentrated 5 Revenue-sharing scheme is to divide different kinds of government tax revenues into three general categories: central or national taxes (i.e. taxes collected by the central government), local taxes (i.e. taxes collected by local governments), and taxes shared by central and local governments based on specifications from authorities of different levels of governments and their respective range of expenditure. Tax collection and administration for central and local taxes are independent from each other, managed by two separate tax administrative organs.

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in noncumpulsory education. Simply speaking, the proportion of government budget for basic education decreased. Financial support from social organizations and civilians, donations, pooled money, tuitions, fees, and other nongovernmental sources were mostly used for the system of basic education. For example, in 1996, money pooled by rural villages for education accumulated to 11.172 billion yuan, which accounted for 59.3% of total educational funds collected from social donations and pooled money. The proportion of rural pooled money for education decreased to 23.1% in 2000. In 1996, school tuitions and fees shared 11.5% of the total revenue of education in China. By 2000, the proportion of tuition and fees had risen to 15.5%.6 Between 1994 and 2000, additional education taxes, which were mainly used to pay rural teachers who did not receive normal remuneration from the government, contributed to an amount of 82.54 billion yuan, and revenue from tuition and fees accumulated to 44.6 billion yuan. The increase of educational funding from nongovernmental sectors was larger than that from the state budget. (6) County-Based Management and Investment System: May 2001 to the End of 2005. By 2002, through the path of “the people’s education run by the people,” the expected Two Basic Objectives was realized in areas with 85% of China’s population. However, serious problems occurred. On one hand, funding for compulsory education in rural areas largely relied on sources other than the state budget, which increased burdens on rural villagers. Simultaneously, taxes collected by governments for education, school-run enterprises, paid part-time work and social services by students, social donations, and pooled money contributed increasingly less to the educational expenses, which resulted in a continuous increase in tuition and fees. On the other hand, as total fiscal input in basic education was seriously inadequate, since 1992, the salaries of teachers in many rural primary and middle schools were in arrear. The situation was never more serious since the birth of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. In order to solve the problem of excessive burdens on peasants, on March 2, 2000, the Central Party Committee and the State Council issued Notice on Experiments of Rural Tax Reforms of Taxation (关于进行 农村税费改革试点工作的通知) (No. 7, 2000). The notice stated that

6 China Statistical Yearbook of Education 2002, the Department of Development and Planning of the Ministry of Education, People’s Education Press, November 2002.

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“governmental funds and pooled money collected specifically from peasants in the name of township coordination fees and rural fundraising for education was to be abolished.” Document No. 5, issued in March 2001 and Document No. 28, issued in April 2001, further pushed forward tax reforms in rural areas. Nevertheless, surtax for educational expenses were a major source for the county and township governments to use for compulsory education. The cancellation of the surtax thus put more financial pressure on these local governments who already suffered from inadequate funding, and resulted in an enlarged deficit in educational budget.7 Document No. 5 proposed the following: “The management of rural compulsory education must be reformed alongside the tax reform in these areas. County governments should take over the financial and managerial responsibility of schools previously funded by township governments and pooled money of peasants, include education expenses into their budget, and create and improve mechanisms of securing education funds in rural areas.” On May 29, 2001, the State Council issued Decisions on the Reform and Development of Basic Education (关于基础教育改革与发展的决定), which further confirmed the county-based educational investment and management system. It stated that “an administrative system in which the State Council makes the leading policy, different levels of local governments take charge of implementation and management and county governments act as the major agency should be established.” In terms of financial system of rural compulsory education, county governments replaced township governments to coordinate government investment. The central and provincial governments should increase their financial support for rural compulsory education. By the end of 2002, 97% of counties in China had installed the new county-based system. However, the county-based education management system did not alter the financial system of compulsory education in rural areas. Major problems occurred when it was implemented at the local level. County governments took charge of administration, but the duty of collecting

7 For example, the experimental tax reform was conducted in rural Anhui Province. Although the Central Government and the provincial government increased the amount of financial transfer and payment in local education, funding for compulsory education dropped by 4.46%. See Wang Shanmai, Yuan Liansheng, and Liu Zeyun, “The Financial Reform of China’s Public Education: Progress, Problems and Solutions,” Journal of Beijing Normal University (Social Science) 6, (2003).

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funding remained at the township level.8 Township governments lost motivation in education provision. This was especially the case of western areas as the township governments there experienced financial strains and could not provide adequate input in education. This problem of serious shortage in public funds for education gradually became evident. At the same time, with regard to issues such as renovating school buildings in poor conditions and improving the quality of education, the obscure division of responsibilities between different levels of government hurt the effectiveness of compulsory education. The problem of owing salaries to teachers became even more serious, which caught the attention of high-level officials. Lu Yongxiang, vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, pointed out in a forum celebrating Teachers’ Day and the first anniversary of Teachers Law (教师法) held at the Great Hall of the People on September 10, 2003 that “salaries owed to teachers are still abundant in many areas. New debts were added on top of existing ones in some places.” According to statistics from the Ministry of Education, by July 2002, a total amount of 12.7 billon yuan was not paid to teachers according to the salary standard set by the state, which included 24 provinces and regions; 1.46 billion yuan was added from January to April 2002 in 420 counties of 21 provinces.9 2.2.2. Analysis of Compulsory Education Policies According to the fiscal system that each level of government makes its own budget and is fully responsible to keep it balanced, the financial responsibility of compulsory education began to move to lower levels of government. A new system with a division of revenue and expenditure between the central and local governments, and with contracts at different levels, was put into practice. The education reform that started in 1978 focused on rebuilding higher education and improving educational quality. A large number of primary and middle schools in rural areas was dismissed or 8 Research on the Transfer Payment System for Compulsory Education in Rural China, the Department of Education, Science and Culture of the Ministry of Finance, the Department of Finance of the Ministry of Education, and Centre of Public Policy Research of Shanghai University of Finance, (Shanghai: Shanghai University of Finance Press, 2005). 9 Shan Ying, “Adequate Input for the Education Meeting the People’s Needs,” China Education Daily (March 5, 2005).

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merged together. Qualified teachers and educational funds flowed rapidly to cities and towns. The enrollment rate of school-age children in primary and middle schools continuously dropped. The central government was alarmed by this change and issued several documents, in order to strengthen rural primary education. With the household contract responsibility system that replaced the people’s communes in rural areas, peasants’ motivation in agricultural production significantly improved; however, public affairs such as education, medical care, and irrigation, which prior was provided by communes, were in a state of neglect. The Central Party Council’s Decision on the Reform of Education System (中共中央关于教育体制改革的决定), issued in 1985, clarified that “local governments have the responsibility to develop basic education”; primary and middle school education should be “under the responsibility of local governments and managed by different levels of government.” During that time period, there were heated academic debates on whether compulsory education should be free or not. In the 1986 Compulsory Education Law, it was noted that “the state exempts tuition from students receiving compulsory education and provides scholarships to poor students,” which did not explicitly state that compulsory education was free as in some other countries. As 60% to 80% of students in primary and middle schools were from rural areas, according to the principle that education should be “at the charge local governments and managed by different levels of government,” the heavy burdens of running compulsory education fell on the shoulders of townships and villages. At that time, local governments were legally permitted to collect education surtaxes in both urban and rural areas to be used for compulsory education, according to the regulations of the State Council. The rules for implementation of the Compulsory Education Law of the early 1990s further allowed schools providing compulsory education to charge miscellaneous fees. After the revenue-sharing scheme reform in 1994, county and township governments’ revenue rapidly reduced as they lost fiscal powers while gaining administrative responsibilities. Compulsory education faced serious financial difficulties. Although the state issued the Outlines of Education Reform and Development in China (中国教育改革和发展 纲要) at that time, which specified that the central government should spend more than 4% of the national GDP on educational expenses, this goal was never realized. The data released by the state showed that the proportion of the central government’s input in education in

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the national GDP actually decreased the year when the Outlines were issued. The following years, the proportion was around 2% to 3%. As funding for education was severely inadequate, township financial administrations could not afford compulsory education in rural areas. By 1995, a practice of collecting fees for basic education emerged and became increasingly prevalent. Local government regularly collected school fees from peasants. The fiscal system with division of revenue and expenditure between the central and local governments and with contracts at different levels placed township governments or even autonomous organizations of villagers into a position of principal investor in compulsory education. After the revenue-sharing scheme reform in 1994, in 2002, the state further abolished education surtaxes in rural areas. Financial burdens on peasants were lightened; however, the shortage of compulsory education expenses was more severe. As the government financial input was seriously inadequate, illegitimate charges for compulsory education were unleashed. The statistics from the National Development and Reform Committee showed that in successive years, the number of reports on illegitimate educational charges ranked number one among all reports on arbitrary price schemes. Government campaigns against illegitimate charges took place at all levels and through all measures, such as sending investigative teams and setting up report hotlines, which was, however, rather ineffective. The central government’s attempt to stop arbitrary charges evolved into a game played between the central government and local governments. In 2001, the state experimented with a one-fee system, where schools set a fixed total amount of a combination of textbook fees and other fees and only collected it once. The one-fee system lightened the burden on families and lowered the drop-out rate in rural schools. The one-fee system was focused on lightening the burden on peasants and dealing with arbitrary educational charges, however, it paid little attention to costs of schooling. The set standard for school fees was generally lower than the amount schools collected before.In January 2001, the Chinese government declared to the world that China had realized the Two Basic Objectives. However, discussions on the issues of equality in education began. People from all walks of life in Chinese society joined the debate on whether or not compulsory education should be free. This debate was distinguished from the one in the 1980s in two aspects. First, almost all participants in the discussion agreed that compulsory education should be free; the issue at stake

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was how to implement it. Second, this was an extensive discussion that involved a diverse population, including scholars and officials with different views. On March 20, 2003, Zhou Hongyu, a representative of National People’s Congress, a professor at Normal University of Central China, vice chairman of China Association for Promoting Democracy of Wuhan, and vice director of Education Bureau of Wuhan, wrote directly to Premier Wen Jiaobao and proposed the Suggestions for Implementing Free 9 Year Compulsory Education in Rural Areas (实行农村九年义务 教育完全免费制的建议). He later presented it to the Standing Committee of the People’s Congress. Soon after that, 376 representatives signed a proposition of Expediting the Revision of Compulsory Education Law of the People’s Republic of China (关于 “农村义务教育应免费” 的建议). An article entitled “Suggestions that ‘Compulsory Education in Rural Areas Should Be Free’” (关于 “农村义务教育应免费” 的建议) was then published in more than 20 media venues, which was well received and had good response. The proposition was elected by the users of Youth.cn as the most attended proposition of that particular Congress meeting. Free compulsory education in rural areas was one of the most popular topics during the Congress meeting, which drew extensive attention from society. As charges for compulsory education were widely criticized, the central and local governments put the reform of the education system on the agenda. The Decisions on the Reform and Development of Basic Education (关于基础教育改革与发展的决定) issued by the State Council in 2001 specified that compulsory education in rural areas should adopt an administrative system “where the State Council makes the leading policy, different levels of local governments take charge of implementation and management and county governments act as the major agency.” This was one of the strategies that moved the major agency for rural compulsory education to a higher level of government. The Notice of Improving Administrative System of Compulsory Education in Rural Areas (关于完善农村义务教育管理体制的通知) issued by the office of the State Council in 2002 put forward concrete measures to secure input in compulsory education in rural areas. At the People’s Congress meeting on March 5, 2003, Premier Wen Jiaobao stated that from that year on, students from poor families in poverty-stricken counties all over China would be exempted from textbook fees and other fees, and they would be provided subsidies to attend boarding schools (i.e., Two Exemptions and One Subsidy).

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The reform of compulsory education in rural areas and implementation of Two Exemptions and One Subsidy was the preface of the central government’s efforts in implementing a free compulsory education system in China. Some local governments have already taken actions. Here are some examples. Beginning in 2000, Yunnan Province started to exempt 120,000 primary school students in administrative villages of 25 counties and cities along China’s boarder line from textbook, stationery, and miscellaneous fees. Guangdong Province budgeted 200 million yuan to be used in exempting children from poor families with a per-capita income of less than 1,500 yuan a year from textbook and miscellaneous fees. A total of 700,000 students in the province benefited from this. Beginning in 2001, Beijing exempted students receiving compulsory education in suburban counties from miscellaneous fees. Suzhou was the first city where the government paid all bills for compulsory education. Beginning from the fall of 2006, children receiving compulsory education there were exempted from tuition, miscellaneous fees, and textbook fees. Since 2005, the priority of China’s financial reform has been given to relieving the burden of the peasants. The central government introduced a series of policies to reduce peasants’ burden of their children’s education, as well as new mechanisms to secure funding for rural compulsory education within the framework of public finance. On December 24, 2005, the State Council issued the Notice on Deepening the Reform of Securing Funding for Rural Compulsory Education. It noted that the reform should follow the principle of “clarifying responsibilities between different levels of governments, sharing cost by the Central and local governments, increasing financial input, upgrading standards of protection and implementing step by step,” and establishing a new fund-securing mechanism for rural compulsory education in which the central and local governments divided educational cost by projects and proportion. The Notice clarified that starting in 2006, rural students receiving compulsory education in western areas would be exempted from all charges of tuitions and miscellaneous fees. The new Compulsory Education Law (义务教育法) issued in 2006 further confirmed the new mechanism. The new funding securing mechanisms for compulsory education included the following 6 items: (1) a mechanism to secure teachers’ salary; (2) a mechanism to secure public funding; (3) a mechanism to secure funding for building and renovating classrooms; (4) a mechanism to secure financial aid to needy students; (5) clarification

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on responsibilities between different levels of government; and (6) a plan for perfecting the system of school budge control. In 2007, according to the implementation plan of the funding-securing mechanism, tuition exemption and administration fee exemption were expanded to cover central and eastern areas. At the same time, all students in rural areas were given free textbooks. Subsidies were provided to boarding-school students to cover their living expenses. The state planned to further increase the standard of operation expenses for public use in 2008. The average public expense for a rural primary school student would be 300 yuan per year. The average public expense on a middle school student would be 500 yuan per year. In addition, the central and local governments each shared half of the cost of subsidies for poor students in boarding schools and also shared the cost in renovating school rooms, jointly spending a total of about 7.5 billion yuan each year. The large amount of input fed the basic financial need for renovating schools that provided compulsory education with regard to the depreciation rate of all rural schools offering compulsory education in China. The implementation of the new funding-securing mechanism for compulsory education is a milestone in the development of compulsory education in rural areas. It clarified the responsibilities of different levels of government in compulsory education, included expenses of compulsory education in the government finance, and brought to rural areas a major change where the people’s education is run by the government. Despite these achievements, the new mechanism still must undergo comprehensive consummation in order to be fully implemented. By fall 2006, all primary and middle school students in the rural west were exempted from tuition and miscellaneous fees; all students receiving compulsory education in the public schools in Zhejiang Province and the municipality of Shanghai were exempted from tuition and miscellaneous fees. Other provinces such as Fujian, Jiangsu, Guangdong, and the municipality of Tianjin exempted rural students in primary and middle schools from tuition and miscellaneous fees. On July 30, 2008, Premier Wen Jiabao presided over an executive meeting of the State Council to discuss tuition and fees exemption of students receiving compulsory education in urban areas. A decision was made in the meeting that in addition to consolidating the reform of a funding-securing mechanism for compulsory education in rural areas, students receiving compulsory education in urban areas

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throughout the country would be exempted from tuition and miscellaneous fees starting fall of 2008. Free textbooks would continue to be provided to students of compulsory education from urban families covered by the Minimum Living Standard Assistance Policy; living subsidies were offered to boarding-school students from poor families. The meeting also reaffirmed the government’s responsibility to ensure funding for compulsory education in order to promote a balanced development of compulsory education and equality in education. 2.3. The Policy Trajectory of Promoting a Balanced Development of Compulsory Education Since 1978, the key school system has recovered rather slowly, which is an important reason for inequality in China’s compulsory education. Huge gaps in the educational quality between different schools resulted in a series of problems, such as in school selection and transfer, as well as arbitrary charges for attending key schools. In the last thirty years, policies have been focused on solving these problems. During this process, policies to promote a balanced development of compulsory education began to take shape and became increasingly institutionalized. 2.3.1. Unequal Development: Problems in Compulsory Education during the 1990s The Key School System The key school system has been a theme of China’s basic education policy since 1949. At the National Conference on Education held on April 22, 1978, Deng Xiaoping emphasized that “in order to train qualified personnel and uplift the overall level of education, China must concentrate on building key universities, key middle schools, and key primary schools, and improving their educational level and quality.”10 Following a policy of giving priority to efficiency and elitism, the Ministry of Education issued the Trial Plan to Improve Some Key Primary and Middle Schools (关于办好一批重点中小学的试行方案) and Some 10 He Dongchang, References on Education in P.R. China, (Haikou: Hainan Press, 1998): 1607.

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Opinions on Further Improving Key Primary and Middle Schools (关于进一步 办好重点中小学的几点意见), which proposed to set up a pyramid structure of primary and middle schools and give more support to key schools in terms of investments, material conditions, qualified teachers, and students sources. In February 1978, the Ministry of Education decided to set up 20 key primary schools. In October 1980, the Ministry of Education, with the approval of the State Council, issued Decisions on Improving Key Middle Schools by Stages and Groups (关于分期分 批办好重点中学的决定). Thus, a stratified system of key schools of the nation, provinces, municipalities (cities), and counties was gradually formed. The key school system gave priority to efficiency in education and ignored issues of justice and equality, which led to a number of negative consequences. First, it nurtured an exam-oriented education where schools simply pursued a high rate of their graduates to enter higher-level schools and students were overloaded with coursework. The exam-oriented education eroded the quality of compulsory education. It was also the primary institutional factor that enlarged the gap between different schools and created imbalance among them. More specifically, limited educational resources were concentrated on only a few schools, which built the gap between schools. “In terms of fiscal appropriations, average funding for a student in a key middle school was usually 15–30% more than that for a student in a nonkey school.”11 In addition, as key schools had a higher rate of graduates entering higher-level schools, key schools and related government departments with power to control student quota selected students through various means and set up different sorts of charges for school selection—a type of arbitrary charges. Moreover, it also increased class inequality, and intensified social conflicts. Policy on School-Selection Fees With such a large population, China faced increasing needs in terms of education. At the current stage, education is increasingly important in determining one’s job opportunities and improving the quality of life, which are related to factors such as the changing of state policies on development, the restructuring of the economy, the continuous growth of the population, the prevalence of

11 Jin Yiming, Tang Yuguang (ed.), Research on Policies of Quality Education in China, ( Jinan: Shangdong Education Press, 2004).

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the one child policy, intense competition in the job market, high standard of living, and a mixture of traditional ideas and modernization ideologies. The public’s need for high-quality and specialized education grew rapidly while the provision of such education was inadequate. The contradictions between supply of and demand for good education brought about the phenomenon of school selection. In the meantime, state administration of education kept a policy orientation that gave priority to efficiency and sought to solve the problems by improving key schools. In 1997, the State Education Committee clarified that “only a small number of public schools of compulsory education (including the junior-high section of a high school ) are allowed to recruit “students who select schools.” This actually gave exceptions to the effort of stopping students from selecting schools. Rules were also made to regulate the standard and proper use of school-selection fees, which actually legitimized the charges for school selection in compulsory education. Furthermore, students’ selecting schools evolved into schools selecting students. Schools selected students in various ways, such as setting up experimental classes and dividing students into different classes by exam scores, holding competitions linked to the practice of school selection, as well as offering English classes and training classes to obtain certificates. Advanced course materials were taught in extracurricular classes in primary schools, which exhausted primary school students and severely hampered their health. Moreover, as school selection became prevalent, cost of school selection put huge financial pressure on parents. In 1999, 36.32% of the total expense of urban families with children in primary schools was spent on school selection. The percentage went up to 40.65% for families with children in middle schools (see table 2.1). A report by the Department of Audit of Guangdong Province revealed that the 66 urban public primary and middle schools that were investigated collected 753 million yuan of school-selection fees, about 54% of the total educational charges. Among them, 72.7% of the schools provided compulsory education.12 Other provinces had similar situations.

12 Yin Weiguo,“Stop School-selection from Being a New Form of Social Inequality,” Worker’s Daily, (October 20th, 2005).

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Senior middle school students Junior middle school students Primary school students

Total expenditure on education (1)

Expenditure on selective education (2)

(2)/(1)

1,440.52

811.53

56.34%

801.35

325.78

40.65%

547.79

198.95

36.32%

Charges for selective education in high schools have gone through a process of legitimization. In the beginning, school-selection fees were generally collected under the table, through relying on personal relationships. In the late 1980s, the practice of school selection was publicized. In the mid-1990s, a dual-track system was adopted in some cities: many schools accepted those who passed the admission scores, state-supported students, and those did not pass, self-supported students, as well as temporary students. Charges for school selection in high schools were thus widely accepted. On December 16, 1996, the State Education Committee issued Interim Measures of Regulations on Collecting Fees by Ordinary High Schools (普通高级中学收费管理暂行办法) (No. 101, 1996). It specified that high school tuition should be collected in proportion to the actual costs of education. Schools in different areas could charge a different amount of tuition approved by their provincial governments. On June 12, 2001, the State Council Office for Rectifying Incorrect Professional Ethos and the Ministry of Education issued Opinions on Further Rectifications of Arbitrary Charges in Education (国务院纠风办、教育部关 于进一步做好治理教育乱收费工作的意见) (No. 10, 2001), which clarified that high schools should follow the policy of Three Limits to recruit school-selection students. These three limits are: limit by scores (students below the admission scores may not be accepted); limit on the number of students (the number of students in a class may not exceed the number stipulated by the state; the proportion of school-selection

13 See Yang Dongping, The Ideal and the Reality of Educational Equity in China, (Beijing: Peking University Press, 2006).

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students may not exceed that stipulated by the provincial government); and limit on charges (the amount of school-selection fees should be proposed by the education departments, approved by the provincial governments, and announced to the public). Hence, it became legal for high schools to charge fees for school selection. Exemplar Schools Policies In light of Decisions on Improving Key Middle Schools by Stages and Groups (关于分期分批办好重点中学的决定) issued by The Ministry of Education in 1980, the State Education Committee issued the Notice on Checking and Evaluating About 100 Exemplar Schools (关于评估验收100所左右示范性普通高级中学的通知) in July 1995. It was announced that 1,000 exemplar senior high schools would be checked and evaluated in three groups around 2007. It also set high standards for the hardware of the schools. For example, for an urban school, the campus area should be no less than 25 square meters per student and for a rural school, no less than 30 square meters per student. Urban schools should have annular racing tracks of a minimum of 300 meters, and rural schools should have standard annular racing tracks of 400 meters. It also suggested that “if possible, schools should build gymnasiums, swimming pools or skating rinks.” This notice later became the policy basis for building luxury high schools. In the background that local governments were enthusiastically pursuing demonstration projects of their political achievements, building exemplar high school thus became their ideal choice. After 1999, exemplar schools appeared in a large scale in China. Luxury high schools soon became a hot social topic. In 1999, ten exemplar high schools costing 100 million yuan each were built in Shanghai. Luxury high schools costing 200 million yuan or more appeared all over China. In 2005, the local government spent 400 million yuan to build the new campus of the number one high school of Guiyang. In comparison, the total expense of education in rural Guizhou was only 450 million yuan in 2002. Building luxury high schools put basic education in debt. In 2007, at a People’s Congress meeting, “a high school principal told reporters that the government did not provide enough funding for high schools. Schools relieved their financial strain primarily through collecting school-selection fees. He calculated that the revenue of his school from school-selection fees was about 4 million yuan while fiscal appropriations from the government was only 2 million yuan. School-selection fees have become a major source of educational

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expense for exemplar high schools.”14 As a result, gaps between different senior high schools were enlarged. Policies on Alternative-System Schools In the late 1970s, there was a global trend of privatization of education. Under this influence, the Chinese state pushed forward reform of the education system and set up experimental cases to expand the sources of all kinds of resources, and to transform schools with financial and other difficulties. In 1997, new guidelines were made at the 15th National Congress of CCP to diversify the structure of ownership and interest subjects, which laid the foundation for the alternative-system schools policy. Initially, according to the principle of “government being the main sponsor of education while incorporating various social sectors in the sponsoring schools” specified in the Outlines of the Reform and Development of China’s Education (中国教育改革和发展纲要), the State Council issued the Opinions on Implementing ‘Outlines of the Reform and Development of China’s Education’ (国务院关于<中国教育改革和发展纲要>的实施 意见), which stated that experiments of system reform only took place in enterprises, institutions, and other social sectors that did not include public schools. However, this phenomenon of public schools being excluded soon came to an end. In the Ninth Five-Year Plan of Education and the Plan of Development till 2010 (全国教育事业 “九五” 计划和 2010 年发展规划) issued in 1996, it was clarified that “under proper conditions, public schools could be transformed into schools that were ‘run by the government with support from the people’ or that were ‘run by the people with support from the government’.” Both Some Opinions on Principles of Regulating the Current Actions Operation of Schools for Compulsory Education (关于规范当前义务教育阶段办学行为的若干原则意见), issued by the State Education Committee in 1997, and the Notice of Some Opinions on the Reform Experiments of School Systems for Compulsory Education (关于义务教育阶段办学体制改革试验工作若干意见的通知), issued by the Ministry of Education in 1998, clarified that public schools could participate in the reform experiment of school systems. The early preliminary reform of the school system was stateowned, principal-managed, self-funded, and autonomously-operated.

14 Zhang Xiaojing and Cai Yugao, “On Basic Education: ‘We Do Not Need Luxury Schools,’ ” Xinhua Net, (March 13th, 2007). http://news.xinhuanet.com/misc/200703/13/content_5842334.htm.

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This brought some new values to the school system. Yet, these experiments lost their significance when key schools began to develop the model of “one school, two systems” and built schools within schools. From 1998 onward, schools could rightfully charge a large amount of fees from the public, which significantly reduced government expenses on education. Thus both the government and the schools were highly motivated to conduct reform. By citing the reform of the school system as the goal, some key schools and prestigious public schools transferred their junior-high sectors into reformed schools, which were able to charge expensive fees. Undeniably, some schools that were previously troubled by financial and other difficulties benefited from the reform of the school system. In other words, the reform policy helped those schools rebuild themselves. However, other problems occurred, such as expensive charges by schools and unfair play. Some schools also took advantage of the policy to engage in rent-seeking activities. Problems of Arbitrary Charges As early as the early 1990s, arbitrary charges occurred in some primary and middle schools. In the mid1990s, the phenomenon of key schools charging expensive schoolselection fees was increasingly prevalent. To be precise, there were different reasons behind different types of arbitrary charges. In rural schools, arbitrary charges were related to a shortage of educational expenses. In urban areas, however, most arbitrary charges in key schools and reformed schools were part of rent-seeking activities. However, all of these arbitrary charges were results of an unequal development of basic education in China. The outcome of policies seeking to stop arbitrary charges was similar to that of policies to cancel key schools. Neither of these policies was able to solve the problem of inequality in compulsory education. In the past few decades, many educational policies in China have started with the perspective of pinpointing and solving the problem and slowly warped during the long process of fighting against the problem. A precise example was the case of stopping arbitrary charges in basic education. Beginning in 1993, arbitrary charges in basic education have drawn enormous attentions from society. First, arbitrary charges occurred in a wide range of schools in both urban and rural areas. Second, there were too many types of arbitrary charges. Third, the government was already attempting to regulate arbitrary charges but little success was

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seen. Fourth, there were various measures to rectify the problem. Arbitrary charges thus were a special issue of basic education in China during the past few decades. In order to solve the above-mentioned policy problems that hampered an equal development of compulsory education, the Chinese state adopted many measures, such as regulating the practice of arbitrary charges, revising unreasonable policies on the reform of school systems, as well as proposing to write into the law a principal of a balanced development of compulsory education. 2.3.2. Rectification: From Policies to Institutions Regulating Arbitrary Charges in Compulsory Education In 1995, the State Education Committee and the State Council Office for Rectifying deemed arbitrary charges in primary and middle schools as a form of incorrect professional ethos and initiated a special campaign to abolish the practice of arbitrary charges for compulsory education. On May 27, 1996, the General Office of the State Council reposted the Notice on Implementing Measures to Regulate Arbitrary Charges in Primary and Middle Schools in China (关于 1996 年在全国开展治理中小学乱收费工作实 施意见的通知) issued by the State Education Committee and other departments. Since the 1990s, the government has put in more effort to regulate arbitrary charges in education. Numerous related documents have been issued, which are illustrated in table 2.2. Opinions on Measures of Regulating Arbitrary Charges in Education (关于 2004 年治理教育乱收费工作的实施意见) issued in 2004 noted that regulations such as A Hearing System on Educational Charges (教育收费决策听证 制度), An Investigative System on Educational Charges (教育收费巡查制度), Concrete Measures of Responsibility Investigation in Endeavors of Regulating Arbitrary Educational Charges (关于在治理教育乱收费工作中实行责任 追究的具体办法), and A System of Self Audit of Education Charges (教育 收费自查监督制度) should be established in order to institutionalize the endeavors of regulating arbitrary charges. In the last ten years, the measures the government has adopted to fight against arbitrary charges in compulsory education include: publicizing school affairs, making public-school fees, holding hearings and supervisions on fees and charges, accepting public reports, conducting responsibility investigation, assessing a professional ethos, and setting up special projects.

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Table 2.2. Policy Documents for Regulating Arbitrary Charges since the 1990s Year

Issuing departments

September The Central Party 1990 Committee and the State Council

November The State Education 1993 Committee

1996

The State Education Committee and the State Council Office for Rectifying

June 1998 The General Office of the State Council

May 2001 The State Council

June 2001 The State Council Office for Rectifying and the Ministry of Education

Document titles Decisions on Firmly Regulating Arbitrary Charges, Arbitrary Fines, and Various Requisition of Donations (坚决制止乱收 费、乱罚款和各种摊派的 决定) Decisions on Regulating Arbitrary Charges (关于治理 乱收费的规定); Notice on Improving the Regulation on Fees and Charges in Primary and Middle Schools (关于加 强中小学收费管理工作 的通知); Notice on Regulating Arbitrary Charges in Primary and Middle Schools (国家教委 关于取消中小学乱收费项 目的通知) Notice on Implementing Measures to Regulate Arbitrary Charges in Primary and Middle Schools in China in the Year of 1996 (关于 1996 年在全国 开展治理中小学乱收费工 作实施意见的通知) The General Office of the Ministry of Education’s Notice on Reiterating that Primary and Middle Schools Are Not Allowed to Sell Insurances to Students (教育部办公厅关于重申中 小学校不准代办学生保险 规定的通知) Decisions on the Reform and Development of Basic Education (关于基础教育改革与发展 的决定) Opinions to Further Regulations on Arbitrary Educational Charges (关于进一步做好治 理教育乱收费工作的意见)

New measures proposed

To abolish 21 items of charge, such as the desk and chair fees and the schoolroom maintenance fee

To establish a registration system for fees and charges; to focus on regulating school-selection fees To prohibit schools from selling student insurances

To establish a one-fee system in povertystricken counties To set three limits in high schools: schools are not allowed to charge fees for school-selection students in the name of sponsorship or school construction

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Table 2.2 (cont.) Year

Issuing departments

May 2002 The State Planning Commission, the Ministry of Finance, and the Ministry of Education February The Second Plenary 2003 Session of the 16th Congress of the Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Central Committee of the CCP and the State Council Meeting of Anti-Corruption June 2003 Seven ministries and committees including the Ministry of Education and the State Council Office for Rectifying August 2003

The Ministry of Education

February 2004

Members of InterMinistry Meetings to Regulate Arbitrary Educational Charges

Document titles

New measures proposed

Notice on Spreading “A System of Transparency in Educational Fees and Charges” (关于印发 <教育收费公示制度>的 通知) Communiqué of the Second Plenary Session of the 16th Congress of the Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Central Committee of the CCP

To establish a system of transparency in educational fees and charges To enforce ten measures, such as establishing a hearing system on educational charges and making school administration and fee charges public15

Opinions on Implementing Measures to Regulate Arbitrary Charges in the year of 2003 (关于 2003 年治理教育乱 收费工作的实施意见)

To set up the system of holding interministry meetings to regulate arbitrary educational fees, and to put up hotlines for reporting arbitrary charges Zhou Ji’s Speech at the To expand the National Conference of the supervision and Inspection and Supervision participation from the of Educational Practices in public China Disciplinary and at the Televised Conference on the Regulation of Arbitrary Charges in Primary and Middle Schools Opinions on Implementing To install a one-fee Measures to Regulate Arbitrary system all across Charges in the Year of 2004 China, to improve (关于2004年治理教育乱 the policy of the three 收费工作的实施意见) limits, and to check up all the items of educational charges

15 Chu Zhaosheng, “The Ministry of Education Focuses on Rectifying Arbitrary Educational Charges,” China Education Daily, (February 24th, 2003).

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Table 2.2 (cont.) Year

Issuing departments

Document titles

New measures proposed

August 2005

The Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Supervision, and the State Council Office for Rectifying

An Urgent Notice on Forbidding Schools from Charging Arbitrary Fees and Realizing the Government Responsibility in Educational Input

To forbid arbitrary charges related to admission, to investigate and affix the responsibility of related personnel and officials; and to form a joint investigation team with members from various ministries and commissions of the central government

Policy Adjustment on Alternative-System Schools In 2001, the State Council issued the Decisions on the Reform and Development of Basic Education (关于 基础教育改革与发展的决定), which regulated public schools’ participation in the experiments of the school-system reform. Article 35 stated: “The reform of the public-school system should serve the purpose of rebuilding schools in difficulties, feeding people’s need of education, and expanding high-quality educational resources. Under the prerequisite of keeping state-owned asset intact, schools in difficulties, schools affiliated with state-owned enterprises, and new public schools are allowed to undertake experimental reform and adopt the administrative mechanism of private schools.” Public schools were excluded from the list of schools that were allowed to conduct the system reform. At the same time, the Decisions reiterated that the goal of the reform of the public-school system was to help rebuild schools in difficulties. On December 30, 2005, the National Development and Reform Committee and the Ministry of Education issued the Notice on Preparing for Regulations Fee Charges of Alternative-System School (关于做好清理整 顿改制学校收费准备工作的通知) (No. 2827, 2005). It stipulated to stop approving new alternative-system schools and new fee standards set by alternative-system schools. In early 2006, the National Development and Reform Committee, the Ministry of Education, and 6 other ministries issued the Opinions on Implementing Measures to Regulate Arbitrary Charges in the Year of 2006 (关于 2006 年治理教育乱收费工作的实施 意见), which instructed schools to stop charging arbitrary fees in the

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name of the school-system reform. All public schools that transformed to adopt the system of private schools must follow the principle of “four independence” or stop recruiting students. The practices of building schools within schools, “two systems, one school,” and charging arbitrary fees in the name of system reform must be prohibited. In March 2006, Tian Shulan, leader of the Disciplinary Inspection Group sent by the Disciplinary Commission of the CPC to the Ministry of Education, noted that closing and then rectifying the alternative-system schools was their most urgent task in 2006. Up to now, experiments on reform of the public-school system that started in the early 1990s have come to the end. However, problems still exist today in the cleanup of alternative-system schools. In some places, practices of transforming public school systems occur alongside rectifications of such practices. Despite these problems, we should not overlook the role of public-school system reform played in rebuilding schools with difficulties. To some extent, the policy of school-system reform has helped a balanced development between schools. The Principle of a Balanced Development of Compulsory Education In the mid-1990s, China changed its regional development strategies from giving priority to the eastern region and forming a development gradient to focusing on a harmonious development of all regions. As a result, the strategy of developing the western region was put on the agenda. With the idea of a harmonious development of all regions, much attention was given to the issue of uneven development of education between regions. As nine-year compulsory education was basically universal in China by 2000, the trend of popularization of higher education became more and more visible. The issue of a balanced development of compulsory education caught the attention of many people. From the state’s perspective, to promote a balanced development in education was the foundation of consolidating the achievement of Two Basic Objectives. The Decisions on the Reform and Development of Basic Education (关于基 础教育改革与发展的决定) issued by the State Council in 2001 first raised the idea of a balanced development in education. It proposed to promote “a balanced development between different regions, between urban and rural areas and between different schools, and to eventually realize the goal of comprehensive and healthy development of basic education.” A balanced development thus became an important principle of China’s basic education. The birth of the principle promoting

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a balanced development of compulsory education declared the end of the elitist line in education of the previous five decades. Compulsory education thus returned to a justice-based value system. The Environment for Balanced Development of Compulsory Education In 2002, the People’s Education (人民教育) introduced ways in which balanced development of basic education was promoted in the city of Shouguang of Shangdong Province. In October 2005, the Basic Education Department of the Ministry of Education held a conference of equality in compulsory education in Tongling City. Tongling City was probably the only city in China where the practice of school selection did not occur. The measures that Tongling took to prevent these practices were introduced at the conference, which was seen as the onset of a balanced development of compulsory education. At the national conference of basic education in March 2005, the Ministry of Education stressed that a balanced development of compulsory education should be one of the priorities for the following few years in order to enhance justice and equality in education. In May 2005, the Ministry of Education issued Some Opinions on the Deepening a Balanced Development of Compulsory Education (关于进一步推进义务教 育均衡发展的若干意见), which required all levels of the educational administrative department to effectively suppress the tendency of an increasing gap in education between urban and rural areas, between different regions, and between different schools, and to promote a balanced development of compulsory education. Various related regulations and policies were soon drafted and implemented by local governments. Thus, a national environment of promoting a balanced development of compulsory education emerged. In June 2006, a conference of exchanging experiences of promoting educational equality was held in Chengdu. At the conference, the Ministry of Education put forward concrete goals of realizing equality in compulsory education: “In three to five years, we will try to achieve a more rational resource allocation for compulsory education and better administrative systems and mechanisms. In large- and mediumsized cities, by then, schools with difficulties will generally no longer exist, the gap between different schools will be visibly narrowed, and the practice of school selection at the stage of compulsory education will be greatly reduced. In rural areas, most rural schools will reach basic educational standards, school conditions in poor areas will be significantly improved, and educational level of disadvantaged groups

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will also be significantly raised. In general, the professional level of schools principals and instructors will be raised as a whole, quality education will be largely implemented, arbitrary educational charges will be effectively curbed, and the financial, administrative, and other obstacles in compulsory education will be removed.” The Legalization of a Balanced Development of Compulsory Education The new Compulsory Education Law (义务教育法) took effect on September 1, 2006, which included the principle of promoting a balanced development of compulsory education. It specified that the State Council and local governments “should allocate educational resources reasonably and promote a balanced development of compulsory education.” It stipulated that public schools offering compulsory education could not be transformed into private schools, or sponsor or participate in running private schools. Schools offering compulsory education were prohibited from having children of school age take entrance exams, distributing students into key or non-key classes according to their test scores, and discriminating any student for their individual characteristics. The Compulsory Education Law helped compulsory education in China return to its original intentions. Up to here, the pursuit of equality in compulsory education had evolved from passive policy to systematic and legalized implementation. Equality in education, scripted into the law, became the core value guiding China’s compulsory education policies. After thirty years of trial-and-error, compulsory education eventually returned to its intrinsic quality. Even though the development of education is still uneven between regions, between urban and rural areas and between schools to a certain degree, it is undeniable that there were progressive achievements in terms of educational equality. At the final stage of the Tenth FiveYear Plan, various policies and laws were made to promote a balanced development of compulsory education. We have every reason to believe that more achievements will be attained as China moves toward the goal of equality in compulsory education. 2.4. Quality Education: From Concept to Policy There are profound social reasons for the persistence of exam-oriented education in China. Quality education “is aimed at problems specific

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to China’s education. It is the Chinese people’s own exploration of their wisdom to solve the problems in education.”16 According to official documents, “‘exam-oriented education’ refers to a tendency in the practice of Chinese education that departs from the basic needs of education and social development and simply focuses on exams in pursuit of high test scores and a high rate of students that enter a higher level of schools.”17 The core of quality education is “following the party’s principle of education, targeting promotion of civilians’ qualities and focusing on the cultivation of students’ creativity and practical abilities to nurture a group of successors and builders of the socialist cause who are raised with ideal and moral integrity, are cultured and disciplined, and have developed in an all-round way, morally, intellectually, physically, and aesthetically.”18 In the years after reform and open-up, various schools tended to blame cultural traditions such as ideas that those who study well become officials as the reason for the persistence of exam-oriented education, which demonstrated institutional incompetency. The longterm policies of uneven resource distribution and the existence of the key school system institutionalized the exam-oriented education, which was a nightmare for the past thirty years. Therefore, the emergence of quality education was not accidental. It was a reaction to improve the quality of education in China that quality education, as an educational ideal, was pursued by the state. 2.4.1. Rectifying Exam-Oriented Education and Initiating the Concept of Quality Education In May 1977, Deng Xiaoping delivered a famous speech on respecting knowledgeable and talented people. The speech clarified the direction and values of educational development in the new era. Deng said: “Education should be on its two legs: universalization and improvement. Key primary and middle schools as well as key universities

16 Common Concerns, Research team on quality education (Beijing: Education and Science Press, 2006). 17 Some Opinions on Actively Promoting Quality Education in Primary and Middle Schools, (State Education Committee, October 1997). 18 Common Concerns, Research team on quality education (Beijing: Education and Science Press, 2006).

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should be set up. Through exams, the most talented people should be selected into key middle schools and universities.”19 Rectifying Exam-Oriented Education Immediately after the system of key schools was restored, the goal of many students was to attend key schools. Problems emerged where students had excessive coursework, and many schools blindly sought after a high rate of their graduates to enter a higher level of school. Deng Xiaoping commented on these issues: “It is not desirable for students to have excessive burdens. We must take measures to prevent and rectify the practice.”20 In 1981, Chinese Youth (中国青年) published in its twentieth issue a research summary entitled Competition on a Narrow Path Makes Us Breathless—Appeals from Middle School Students (羊肠小道上的竞争叫 人透不过气来——来自中学生的呼声), which aroused much public attention. Ye Shengtao, adviser of the Ministry of Education, published an article entitled “My Appeals (我呼吁) on Chinese Youth.” He wrote: “Middle school students cannot breathe under the pressure of college entrance exams. To relieve their pressure is an urgent project. I appeal to everyone earnestly to pay close attention to this matter.” After that, many people expressed their opinions in newspapers and magazines, as well as at meetings of the People’s Congress and the People’s Political Consultative Congress. They reached a conclusion that setting up key middle schools would inevitably intensify the phenomenon where many schools blindly sought a high proportion of students to enter a higher level of schools. This was the first time that an intense dissatisfaction toward the key school was expressed publicly. The Ministry of Education soon published many documents to rectify the exam-oriented education.

Deng Xiaoping, Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping (1975–1982) (Deng Xiaoping wenxuan), (Beijing: People’s Press, 1983). 20 Deng Xiaoping, “Speech at the National Conference on Education” (zai quanguo jiaoyu gongzuo huiyi shang de jianghua), in Central Committee of CCP Office of Documentary Research (eds.) Deng Xiaoping on Education (dengxiaoping tongzhi lun jiaoyu) (Beijing: People’s Education Press, 1995). 19

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Table 2.3. Policy Documents for Rectifying Exam-Oriented Education, 1983–1993 Time

Department of issuance

Document title

December 1983 The Ministry of Education

Evaluations on curriculum, class hours, homework, sleeping hours, and schools

May 1988

Same as above

May 1988

Ten Regulations on Following the Party’s Educational Principle and Rectifying the Tendency of Blindly Seeking High Enrollment Rate in Higher-Level Schools Full-Time High Schools(experimental) (关于全日制普通中学 全面贯彻党的教育方 针、纠正片面追求升 学率倾向的十项规定 (试行)) The State Education Some Regulations on Committee Relieving the Excessive Burden on Primary School Students (关于减轻小 学生课业负担过重问 题的若干规定) The State Education Some Opinions on Committee Supervision on and Evaluations of Rectifying Administrative Directions of Full-Time High Schools and Correcting the Tendency of Blindly Seeking a High Enrollment Rate in Higher-Level of Schools (关于全日制普通中 学端正办学方向、纠 正片面追求升学率倾 向的督导评估的几点 意见)

Proposed measures

Prohibit ranking students by test scores; consolidate supervisions and evaluations

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Table 2.3 (cont.) Time

Department of issuance

July 1988

The State Education Committee, the Committee of Education, Science and Health of the National People’s Congress

March 1993

Document title

Notice on the Publication of “Identifying the Key Issues and Implementing Overall Regulation to Rectify the Tendency of Blindly Seeking High Enrollment Rate in Higher Levels of Schools” (国家教委、全国人 大教科文卫委员会印 发<抓住关键、综合 治理——克服片面追 求升学率倾向>一文 的通知) The State Education Instructions on Relieving Committee Excessive Burdens on Students at the Stage of Compulsory Education and on Improving the Quality of Education in an All-Around Way (关于减轻义务教育阶 段学生过重课业作业 负担、全面提高教育 质量的指示)

Proposed measures Emphasis on the efforts of the whole society and overall regulation

Exam reform and recruitment system reform

The measures put forward in the above-mentioned documents were mainly focused on curriculum, homework, work schedules, numbers of exams, extracurricular classes, review materials, and attitudes toward backward students. The Concept of Quality Education In the mid-1980s, scholars of education held discussions on rectifying education ideologies and clarifying educational objectives to deal with the plight of exam-oriented education. The discussion was focused on issues of establishing correct views of talented people and improving the quality of the nation. After that, some experiments of comprehensive reforms of basic education were conducted. In 1984, the central government made Yantai City an experimental zone for the quality education reform. A number of experiments such as “happy education,” “success education,” and

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“harmonious education” also took place in various places, which put the ideal of quality education into practice. In April 1987, Liu Bin pointed out at a meeting regarding coordinating curriculum of the subjects taught during nine-year compulsory education that “basic education is simply for entering higher-level schools. It is quality education for socialist civilians.” The term “quality education” was thus officially mentioned for the first time.21 In 1989, articles on quality education were published in newspapers and magazines. Quality education became a specific issue that attracted much attention from the public. The discussion also caught the attention of educational policy decision makers. The Decisions on the Educational System Reform (关于教育体 制改革的决定) issued by the Central Party Committee in 1985 clarified that the object of this reform was to promote the quality of the nation. The Law of Compulsory Education (义务教育法) enacted in 1986 reiterated that children should develop in an all-round way—morally, intellectually, and physically in accordance with the aim of promoting the quality of the nation. Under this background, the discussion of quality education became even more heated. The ideal of quality education was established and widely accepted by the society. The Outlines of the Reform and Development of China’s Education (中国教育改革和发展纲要) issued in 1993 specified that “primary and middle schools should shift from ‘examoriented education’ to a path of promoting the quality of the people; it should be open to every student, help improve students’ morality, cultural and scientific knowledge, work skills, as well as physical and mental qualities in an all-round way, and help students grow actively and lively. Schools should have their own styles.” Quality education thus was not only a measure or tactic for solving the problem of examoriented education but also a belief in education. At this point, policies on quality education were about to be put forward. 2.4.2. New Curricular Reform and the Promotion of Quality Education The Social Conditions for the Promotion of Quality Education After the Outlines of the Reform and Development of China’s Education (中国教育改革和发展 纲要) was issued, the government deliberately created an exploratory

21

Liu Bin, Thoughts on Basic Education, (Shanghai: Shanghai Education Press, 1992).

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atmosphere for quality education. Since October 1993, the government organized many seminars specifically on the topic of quality education. At the same time, people from all walks of life participated actively in the discussion. “When quality education is searched for on the electronic database, Chinaqking.com, one finds 88,895 articles related to quality education published between 1994 and 2005.”22 In June 1994, Li Lanqing made a speech at a national conference of education. He said, “Basic education must shift from ‘exam-oriented education’ to quality education. The principle of education should be followed completely and the quality of education should be improved in an all-round way.” In 1994, the Central Party Committee issued Some Opinions on Further Deepening Moral Education in Schools (关于进一步加 强和改进学校德育工作的若干意见), in which the concept of quality education was adopted. This was the first time that the term quality education was included in the documents issued by the Central Party Committee. Moreover, in some areas, there were achievements in the quality education experiments and the overall school system reform, which attracted the attention of the public. These achievements included the curriculum reform in Shanghai City and Zhejiang Province; the various forms of diversified education in Shandong, Shanxi, Jilin, Liaoning, and Hebei Provinces; the exploration of using grade systems to evaluate students’ development of qualities conducted in Yantai City, Anshan City, Jingan District of Shanghai City, and the Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces; the practice of linking the quotas of students in senior high schools to the overall educational quality of middle schools conducted in Dalian City of Liaoning Province and Jingmen City of Hubei Province; the practice of linking senior high schools’ student quota to the overall educational quality of the districts and schools in order to transfer the competition in high school entrance examination to that in educational quality conducted in Liaoning, Hebei, Zhejiang Provinces and Xishan City of Jiangsu Province; and experiments of a credit system in high schools, and the set up of quality credit, subject credit or installment of a partial credit system in Shanghai City, Tianjin City, and Jiangsu, Hubei, and Zhejiang provinces.

22 “Research Report on Quality Education and a Comprehensive Reform of Schools,” in Common Concerns, Research team on quality education (Beijing: Education and Science Press, 2006): 242.

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Quality Education in Practice: The New Curriculum Reform Chinese political leaders began to promote quality education at the National Conference on Exchanging Experience of Quality Education in Primary and Middle Schools in Yantai City, which started on September 2, 1997. Li Lanqing delivered a speech entitled For the Twenty-First Century: To Create a New Prospective for Basic Education (面向21世纪, 开创基础教育 新局面), which emphasized that quality education should be included in the education strategy of the new century. In October 1997, the National Education Committee issued Some Opinions on Actively Promoting Quality Education in Primary and Middle Schools (关于当前积极推进 中小学实施素质教育的若干意见), which gave administrative orders to local governments and relevant departments to clear institutional obstacles that hindered implementing quality education. It provided systematical elaboration on the principles of curriculum reform and examination and evaluation methods, and offered new ways to promote quality education. During this period, provincial education committees took various measures to push forward quality education according to their specific conditions. By the end of 1997, statistics showed that most provinces and municipalities had held conferences to promote quality education and drafted policies and measures related to quality education. Since the 1990s, curriculum reform in basic education has taken place all over the world in order to enhance the quality of their future citizens, which raised new challenges of talent reserve and global competitiveness in China. In response, Zhu Rongji announced at an international press conference on March 19, 1998, that the Chinese government would take developing the country through science and education as its first and foremost mission. The pace of educational reforms was thus quickened. In July 1999, the Central Party Committee and the State Council issued the Decisions on Deepening Educational Reforms and Promoting Quality Education Comprehensively (关于深化教育改 革全面推进素质教育的决定), which further raised the strategic status of quality education. It was said for the first time that promoting quality education was a common responsibility of the party and the society. It was “a profound revolution of China’s education, a systematic project which has deep and far-reaching influence on all walks of life in the society,” and “another important strategic decision made by the Central Party Committee and the State Council to develop the country through science and education.” The Decisions also specified that policies on quality education should be focused on “adjusting

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and reforming the curricular system, structure and contents and establishing new a curricular system for basic education.” The eighth curricular reform with the mission to promote quality education was about to start. The Implementation of Policies on the New Curricular Reform After extensive discussions on quality education for over a decade, the State Council approved The Action Plan to Revitalize Education in the Twenty-First Century (面向21世纪教育振兴行动计划) drafted by the Ministry of Education in 1999. According to the vision of the trans-century quality project, the Ministry of Education started the curricular reform for basic education of the twenty-first century, which was taken as an important measure to promote quality education comprehensively. In 1999, a new round of curricular reform design and research on a curricular standard for each subject started. Deputy Premier Li Lanqing also perceived quality education as the nucleus of educational policies and actively promoted the new curricular reform. At the National Conference on Basic Education in June 2001, he pointed out: “Up till now, there has been no breakthrough in quality education. Basic education itself has not been freed from the shackles of ‘exam-oriented education.’ ” Chen Zhili also addressed at the conference that as described by some comrades, in some places, slogans of quality education are heard everywhere while examoriented education is emphasized in practice. Leaders were thus eager to change the situation of exam-oriented education and speed up the new curricular reform. The new curricular reform, which embodied the will of the state, was successfully put forward through administrative channels. Approved by the State Council, in June 2001, the Ministry of Education issued the Outlines of the Curricular Reform in Basic Education (Trial) (基础教育课程改革纲要 (试行)) and the experimental draft of curricular standards for 18 subjects in compulsory education. The Ministry of Education examined and approved about 50 experimental textbooks of new courses in primary and middle schools. In August 2001, the Ministry of Education compiled the Outlines for Learning Concepts of Quality Education (素质教育观念学习纲要) and organized a brainstorming tour on changing educational ideologies and updating views of education. In September 2001, a new compulsory education curriculum was implemented on a trial basis in 38 experimental zones around China. By September 2005, the experimental compulsory education

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curriculum was utilized for freshmen in primary and middle schools almost all over the country. In September 2004, new curriculums for ordinary high schools were first experimented with in the provinces of Guangdong, Shandong, Hainan, and Ningxia. In September 2005, Jiangsu Province also adopted the new curriculum for ordinary high schools. In 2006, ten other provinces and municipalities also participated in the experiment. In 2007, Guangdong, Shandong, Hainan, and Ningxia implemented new college-entrance-exam programs and tested the connection between the new high school curriculum and the college entrance-exam reform. An impressive 1.23 million high school graduates, who were taught with the new curriculum in these provinces, took the exam—the first college entrance exam after the curricular reform. By September 2007, the experimental curriculum was adopted in high schools in six provinces, Jiangsu, Tianjin, Fujian, Zhejiang, Liaoning, and Anhui; five other provinces and municipalities, Beijing, Jilin, Heilongjiang, Hunan, and Shaanxi, started the curricular reform. The Ministry of Education approved the municipality of Shanghai as an experimental zone of independent curricular reform. High school curriculum in Shanghai was divided into basic courses, extended courses, and research courses to highlight the cultivation of students’ capacity in innovation and practical actions. By then, new curriculums for ordinary high schools had been experimented in 16 provinces and regions. The new curricular reform centered on students and emphasized knowledge and skills, processes and methods, feelings, attitudes, and values. It was an important attempt to transform quality education from ideas and policies to the practice of teaching and learning. The curricular reform facilitated the reforms of students’ evaluations and high school entrance exams. Extensive training given to teachers updated their views of education. The problems of the previous curriculum, described as “prolix, difficult, narrow-ranged, and outdated,” were changed rapidly. Students became increasingly active and exploratory in learning. The policy circumstances for quality education also changed. On December 18, 2002, over a year after the implementation of the new curriculum, with the approval of the State Council, the Ministry of Education issued the Notice on Actively Promoting Reforms of Evaluation and Examination System in Primary and Middle Schools (关于积极推进中 小学评价与考试制度改革的通知). General principles were made for the exam reform. Provinces and municipalities were asked to make

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concrete plans that were to be reported to the Ministry of Education. On January 27, 2005, the Ministry of Education issued the Guidelines for Reforms of Middle School Graduation Exams and the Student Recruitment System of Ordinary High Schools in Experimental Zones of Basic Education Curricular Reform (关于基础教育课程改革实验区初中毕业考试与普通 高中招生制度改革的指导意见) (No. 2, 2005), hoping that a breakthrough would be achieved in graduation exams and evaluations of students’ comprehensive qualities in middle schools, as well as student recruitment by high schools. By 2005, 550 experimental zones of reform of senior middle- school entrance exams were established. As for the college entrance exam, a series of reform strategies were conducted regarding subjects of the exam, application submission sites, students’ options in choosing a school, independent recruitment by colleges and universities, and time of examination. Major Problems in the New Curricular Reform With administrative pushes, the new curricular reform took on a faster pace. Previous curricular and textbook reforms in China usually took about ten years to be fully implemented. However, the educational departments planned to complete the 2001 curricular reform in compulsory education within five years. Consequently, problems emerged. The first problem was that the rapid pace of reform had a negative effect on the quality of reform. Particularly, new curriculums were extensively implemented before the first round of experiments were fully completed, and problems that might occur were yet to be summed up. There was not enough time to improve curricular standards and textbooks, and thus the qualities of some textbooks were not desirable. Because of the limited time for discussion, to a certain degree, some policies were a mere formality. Some local governments did not properly understand the policy objectives of quality education and simply imitated and copied the model. Driven by local interests, policies of quality education were not adequately implemented, which deviated from the original objective and basic contents of quality education. Another problem of the new curricular reform was the lack of theoretical support. People held different views, which were illustrated in a conspicuous debate between Wang Cesan and Zhong Qiquan. Wang Cesan argued for a curricular system with Chinese characteristics and was critical of taking western theories as the theoretical basis for the curricular reform. In 2005, some scholars furthered demonstrated that one should not blindly translate and reassemble foreign theories to be

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used as the theoretical basis of the reform.23 Zhu Xiaoman’s research team posited: “As there is scant theoretical support from relevant research, scholars of education disputed on the connotations and features of quality education.24 Little effort was given to summarizing and analyzing the theoretical issues. Therefore, many key issues were prevented from in-depth discussion and exploration, and views on quality education varied and remained unclear.” The third problem was that curricular reform departed from the basic condition of China. The gap in basic education between different regions and schools, as well as between urban and rural areas, was huge. The differences in input, infrastructure, teaching facilities, the structure of teachers’ knowledge base, and the number of students in each class were also significant between various schools. Thus schools were not on the same starting line for the curricular reform. In addition, training and other forms of educational support for teachers were inadequate. Teachers had their own understanding of the philosophy of the new curriculum, which was reflected in their teaching: “Generally speaking, the enforcement of the philosophy of the new curricular reform, the security of required curricular resources, funding for the reform, and the effectiveness of the reform was weakened successively from national experimental zones to provincial experimental zones and then to other nonexperimental places.” Correspondingly, “obstacles to experimenting the new curriculum in rural areas were comparatively larger than in urban areas.”25 The fourth problem was related to the external evaluation systems. In the past ten years of curricular reform, a number of external evaluation systems, such as selection criteria in the labor market, the government evaluation of schools, and parents’ assessment of children’s academic performance, produced strong resistance against the development of curricular reform. One research showed that 74.1% to 78.0% of respondents regarded that a high educational qualification results in a high income, and that a high educational qualification results in more opportunities for promotion; these were popular beliefs in Chinese society; employers valued knowledge and academic

23 Jin Yule and Ai Xing, “What is the Theoretical Basis for the New Curricular Reform?” China Education Daily (May 18, 2005). 24 Common Concerns, Research team on quality education (Beijing: Education and Science Press, 2006). 25 Ibid.

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backgrounds of employees and ignored their morality, abilities, and performance. Thus the new curricular reform based on the philosophy of quality education inevitably encountered resistance from people and institutions that stuck to exam-oriented education. In addition, the government has a long history of evaluating schools by performance of their graduates in the college entrance exam. In some regions, party and government leaders evaluated their bureaus of education by this same criterion, which was then adopted by the bureaus of education to evaluate schools and their principals, and by the principals to evaluate their teachers. The new curricular reform was as such seen as “wearing new shoes but walking in the old way,” which ironically further increased the burden on schools, teachers, and students. Moreover, parents still stressed about their children’s academic achievements, which supported exam-oriented education. The fifth problem was that the examination and evaluation system reform corresponding to the new curriculum fell behind. To evaluate students based on their overall quality was the core of the evaluation system reform, however, it was not put into practice smoothly. Overall abilities often gave way to test scores, and students doing well in exams were also given high scores for overall quality. The intellectual education of the new curriculum did not help promote quality education as expected. In other words, the examination and evaluation system did not successfully guide, promote, or modify the advancement of quality education and the new curricular reform. Students were not relieved of fierce competition in exams. Colleges and high schools still accepted students based on exam scores and some people even advocated that quality education should be abolished. On July 8, 2004, the mainstream media in Nanjing City blamed quality education for Nanjing students’ related low scores in college entrance exams compared to other cities in Jiangsu. In the following years, many Nanjing students went to study temporarily in other cities, and private tutors became extremely popular in Nanjing. This phenomenon popularly was referred to as “the pain of college entrance exam in Nanjing” and caused extensive and enthusiastic public discussion. One view maintained that implementation of quality education in the city was accountable for students’ poor performance on the college entrance exam. A similar case happened in Yushe County of Jinzhong City in the Shanxi Province. In July 2005, the county party committee made an announcement on television, apologizing for a big drop of

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students’ scores in the college entrance examination of that year, and suspended the leaders of Yushe Middle School, the only complete high school in the county, from their duties and publicized their search of a new principal in the province with promise of a high salary. That incident aroused strong reaction throughout the country. When Zhou Ji interpreted the amendment to the Compulsory Education Law (义务教 育法), he commented: “The dilemma of exam-oriented education has not fundamentally changed,”; this was one of the six major problems of compulsory education at that time.26 In general, the new curricular reform starting in 2001 was not built on a solid base; external and internal problems that hampered the progress of quality education were not systematically solved; it lacked active participation from educators, whose enthusiasm to participate in the new curricular reform faded gradually, and their reflections on the practice. The new curricular reform was a project driven by external administrative power without internal motivations. 2.5. The Future of Basic Education Reform China’s basic education has made tremendous achievement in the last thirty years. In general, China is no longer in serious shortage in terms of basic education; the external environment and material conditions have improved substantially. Nevertheless, the internal problems have not been solved, which calls for a further deepening of reform on the basic education in China. 2.5.1. Basic Education and the Scientific Outlook on Development With the implementation of the scientific outlook on development, free compulsory education was established in rural areas. Public policies on education have also undertaken significant changes. There are still many barriers to achieving the goal of educational modernization, which are listed here. First, the supply for compulsory education is inadequate, which puts the current practice of compulsory education 26 Zhang Guifeng, “College Enrollment Rate Is Not GDP: Making Education Autonomous is a Necessary for Ending Exam-Oriented Education.” (http://edu.qq .com/a/20060228/000030.htm).

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in a fragile state. The role and capacity of the government in providing public education needs to be institutionalized. Second, in the process of rapid urbanization and large-scale labor movement, new problems have emerged in rural education regarding how to have the reform, as well as strategies, be effective in rural areas. Third, exam-oriented education injures both the physical and mental health of the students and jeopardizes educational justice. Finally, government educational sectors are often engaged in the micromanagement of schools. A highly administrative relationship was established between the government and the schools. The autonomy of the schools in administration and the rights of parents and the society to participate in school management are seriously trimmed. In order to solve the problems of basic education, some important contents should be reflected in both policy and practice, which include the following, as detailed below. First, educational justice must be enhanced. It is essential to universalize and consolidate nine-year compulsory education, to ensure educational justice, and to promote balanced development of compulsory education in different regions. Whether or not local governments manage education by law and genuinely promote the justice of education depends on whether or not the huge profit from joint rentseeking by the government sectors and key schools is eradicated. This is a big challenge to the governance capacity of local governments. In order to get rid of the longstanding problem of rent-seeking, mechanisms involving societal participation in educational management and ensuring administrative leaders’ accountability must be established. An important measure to ease the competition in selecting middle schools is to deepen the reform of the senior middle-school entrance exam. The evaluation of students should be based on multiple capacities and from a developmental perspective. The student quota of some key high schools should be given to middle schools in order to ease the competition in middle school selection among primary school graduates. At the same time, methods of supervision and evaluation of the performance of local educational institutions should be revised. A new evaluation system of guiding the unqualified should replace the previous system of picking up the winners. The new evaluation system should also include indexes such as narrowing the gap between schools and promoting educational justice. With the extension and expansion of education, educational justice and equality in preschools and high schools should also be stressed.

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Second, the quality of education must be improved. Students should be liberated from exam-oriented education and enjoy quality education and life education. A good education is student-oriented, beneficial to students’ physical and mental health, and helpful to the overall development of their personality and potentials, which facilitates their pursuit of further development and a satisfied life. One important way is to normalize high school education and to build a fire wall between the college entrance exam and education in high schools is by placing less emphasis on the college entrance rate in the evaluation of high schools. Two institutional reforms must be undertaken in order to achieve the goal. One is to consolidate the Certificate of Education Exams (huikao) system, using the student scores at the Certificate of Education Exams instead of at the college entrance exams to evaluate the teaching of high schools. Under proper conditions, the academic performance of students in high schools can be taken into consideration in college admission. The other is to delink senior high schools from college application and admission procedures. Local residential communities host college entrance exams. Colleges receive applications directly from and send admissions directly to the students’ residences rather than their schools. This is known as the socialization of the college entrance exam. Third, primary- and middle-school management systems must be reformed, and the relationship between the government and schools must be modified. The government should change its previous comprehensive managerial role in school administration. Schools, teachers, and communities are instead empowered to school management through the constitution of the modern school system, and educators are encouraged to be fully responsible for the school administration. Schools thus become an autonomous entity, having more authority in finance, human resource, and curricular development. A school-based administrative system will revitalize the schools in China. In addition, parents, students, and communities should also participate in the creation of a diversified and lively culture of education. Fourth, plural ways of running schools must be encouraged, and the spirit of schools must be revitalized. Diversity in educational provision such as charter school, direct subsidy school, magnetic school, and home schooling are encouraged; this will enhance the options of education, feed the various need of society in education, and respect the parents’ right to choose the most appropriate form of education for their children.

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2.5.2. Promoting a Scientific and Democratic Decision-Making Process for Educational Policies Currently, public policies on China’s education focus on problem solving such as increasing financial input and regulating arbitrary charges. The government is at the explorative stage of rational management of education. The educational decision-making is constricted by traditional models and style of management. Many important decisions are made without the procedures of public hearings or discussions. The decision-making process is often not transparent and decisions are often reached based on personal preferences. As decision makers know little about the local conditions, many policies are casually made and lack flexibility. The policy visions of scientific outlook on development and constituting service-oriented government ironically strengthen the administrative power of local governments in educational affairs, which conflict with the goal of the reform in China. Therefore, the role and practice of the government in providing publiceducation services needs to be regulated to promote scientific and democratic decision making and achieve good governance of the state. In the field of basic education, all levels of government should expand institutional channels to involve social participation in educational management and establish deliberative assembly for educational affairs. Urban residential communities and rural townships should set up community educational committees, recruit local citizens on board, and provide social education with governmental assistance. With the development of modern school systems, parent committees should be established in primary and middle schools to have parents participate in the evaluation and management of schools. The basis of information, public opinion, and experiment for educational decision making should be prioritized in the decision-making procedure. A formal procedure of public expounding and proving, enquiring and discussing must be conducted prior to any important decisions being made on education. An administrative decisionmaking mechanism, which integrates public participation and experts’ expounding and proving with government decision and a public hearing system, should be established. For important decisions on education, expounding and proving their legitimacy are needed as well as a system of feedback tracking and accountability. One of the external conditions for the change of the governmental role in education and the optimization of government public service

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is the emergence and maturing of the service sector and intermediary organizations. It has been included as one of China’s developmental principles to nurture and develop social organizations as well as to supervise and manage them by law. The government should give more autonomy to intermediary organizations, nurture their self-management capacities, and facilitate them to be become independent and professional institutions with high social credibility. Guided by the scientific outlook on development, the future development of the basic education reform will focus on the modification of the relationship between government and schools and the promotion of an equal development of compulsory education and educational justice.

CHAPTER THREE

THIRTY YEARS OF SPECIAL EDUCATION IN CHINA: POLICY CONSTRUCTION OF THE MODERN SPECIAL EDUCATION SYSTEM Zhao Xiaohong, Tang Min, and Chen Jiao Special education aims to educate children with special needs who require a specially designed curriculum, textbooks, teaching methods, organization, and equipment. The target of special education generally can be divided into broader or narrower terms. In broader terms, its target includes all different types of children who are beyond the scope of ordinary children; in other words, children and adolescents with special needs. In narrower terms, it targets children and adolescents with psychological or physical disabilities.1 In China, at present, the principal target of special education is children and adolescents who are disabled in sight and hearing, and those with mental, physical, and psychological problems (including autism). Some of them have multiple problems. Attitudes toward the disadvantaged group reflects the consciousness of a society. The situation of the disabled is closely related to the civilization and development in a society. Following the same logic, the standard of special education symbolizes the development of social civilization as well. We are glad to witness that China has made its first step in constructing its modern special education system over the past thirty years.

1

3–7.

Piao Yongxin, Special Pedagogy (Fujian: Fujian Education Publishing House, 1994),

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3.1. Introduction of China’s Special Education over the Past Thirty Years 3.1.1. Major Achievements of China’s Special Education over the Past Thirty Years A First Step in Constructing a Modern Special Education System Before the economic reform, in terms of both school-management policies and policy ideas, for China’s special education, they were both in their initial stages. Since the economic reform, a modern special education system has taken its first healthy step with a series of laws, regulations, and documents. This development can be seen in the following areas: development of basic ideas, expansion of targeted groups, formulation of a special education system, and emergence of multiple special education patterns. Development of Basic Ideas and Expansion of Targeted Groups Reviewing the history of international special education, European education philosophy and thoughts have been influencing special education since the eighteenth century. Since the 1960s, the idea of mainstreaming, individual education, and inclusive education raised by European and American countries, together with the idea of normalization and utility, have formed the theoretical foundation for the development of special education in the West. In the economic reform era, these ideas were introduced to China, which influenced and promoted China’s special education. For example, the ideas of mainstream and inclusive education have great impact on China’s special education. In sum, the former concept focuses on children with special needs, emphasizing that every child should be educated within a minimum limited circumstance, while advocating that the majority of disabled children get educated in regular classrooms. The latter one focuses on education and school through emphasis on satisfying the needs of all children, being open to all children, accepting all children at their appropriate ages, gradually reducing special schools, and gradually turning ordinary schools into inclusive schools. The two concepts address the same issue, which guarantees equal education rights for disabled children. These thoughts have promoted the practice of learning in regular classrooms with ordinary children in mainland China. We will discuss this in detail later. To develop special education, first the target must be clearly identified. When the People’s Republic of China was established in 1949,

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the targets of special education were mainly students who were blind and deaf-mute, and emphasis was placed on education for the blind and deaf-mute. In 1953, the Ministry of Education set up a special department for education of the blind and deaf-mute to manage national special education work.2 At that time, the country had 64 schools for the blind and deaf-mute with 5260 students, and mentally disabled children were not included in the primary compulsory education system.3 Since 1978, China has been constructing a new system of special education in a modern sense, which includes blind, deaf-mute, and mentally disabled children as well. From 1979 to 1983, special classes for mentally disabled children were established in Shanghai, Beijing, Jiangsu province, and some other places. In 1983 and 1984, independent schools for mentally disabled children emerged in Dalian and Beijing.4 The numbers of independent schools for mentally disabled children have escalated from 4 in 1984 to 391 in 2005. The Law of the People’s Republic China on the Protection of Disabled Persons (中华人民共和国残疾人保障法) (2008 revised version) of 1990 states that disabled persons include the disabled in sight, hearing, language, body, mentality, and so on. From the existing classification of special schools (including schools for the blind, schools for the deaf-mute, schools for mentally disabled children, and comprehensive special education schools), it is evident that the main targets of special education are the blind, the deaf-mute, and mentally disabled children. Besides these, the objects of special education include more categories in practice, such as cerebral palsy, attention drawback/hyperkinetic disorder (ADHD), autism, emotional disorder and behavioral difficulties, andlearning disabilities, etc. In summary, the target of special education is expanding. The Formulation of a Special Education System China’s special education system has taken its initial form in the past thirty years. The system includes all different levels of special education, and the relations Yongxin, Special Pedagogy, 43. There are some good efforts. Beijing No. 2 Deaf-Mute School established classes for mentally disabled children in the 1950s (at that time, it was called “class for lower capacity”). It was dispersed during the Cultural Revolution. Schools for mentally disabled children were also established in Dalian (at that time, it was called Lü Da City), and it was also abolished in 1963. 4 Chen Yunying, Psychology, Education and Rehabilitation of the Mentally Disabled (Beijing: Higher Education Publishing House, 2007), 9–11. 2 3

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Special higher education

Ordinary higher education

Secondary school education

Special secondary school education

Ordinary secondary school education

Elementary education

Special schools (classes)

Pre school education

Special preschool education

Special classes in ordinary schools; learning in classes

Special classes in ordinary kindergartens

Ordinary elementary education

Ordinary preschool education

Fig. 3.1. The collaboration between ordinary education and special education.5

between ordinary education and special education (please see the below table below). We have established the combination between ordinary education and special education. For special education, there are the following stages: preschool education (special kindergartens), primary education (all types of special schools, special classes, and learning in regular classrooms), technical secondary school education (special, technical secondary schools, vocational senior schools, vocational and technical secondary schools, and vocational training centers), and higher education (special higher education institutes, special schools and departments in ordinary universities, colleges, institutes, and learning in regular classrooms). In addition to compulsory education for the disabled, special preschool education, high school education, and higher-level education for the disabled have also developed. For example, by the end of 2005, China has opened 66 special high schools with 3,891 registered students (during the Tenth Five-Year Plan period, 48 schools were

5

Yongxin, Special Pedagogy, 57.

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established).6 As for higher education, there are 10 special universities (including 4 universities and 6 colleges) enrolling disabled students only since the second department of medical treatment at Shandong Binzhou Medical School began to recruit disabled college students. From 2001 to 2005, 18,000 disabled students reached the basic requirements of the college entrance examination, 16,000 of them enrolled in ordinary universities and colleges, and 4,067 of them registered in special education colleges.7 On the other hand, in the field of vocational education and adult education, the number of vocational education and training organizations for disabled persons on the three levels of province, city, and county reached 1,044, among which 2,206 ordinary organizations offered the service of vocational training for the disabled, and 158 of them could offer secondary vocational education certificates (during the period of the Tenth Five-Year, 82 schools have been established and 11,960 students registered).8 It is fair to say that the level of special education is undergoing reform, and special vocational education and adult education are making progress. Education for the disabled has become an important part of our national education system, which is closely related and comparatively independent to primary education, vocational education, higher education, and adult education.9 Multiple School-Running Patterns of Special Education The landmark of the different developmental pattern of special education was 1978. Before 1978, China’s special education mainly focused on schools for the blind and deaf-mute; while after the year, it included mentally retarded children and started to promote diversified education modes and multiple school-running patterns. In 1979, classes for mentally retarded children began and in the 1980s, special schools came into being. By the end of the 1980s, the National Education Commission requested some provinces and cities to have an experiment of learning in regular classrooms by allowing disabled children (the blind, the 6 Meng Wanjin, et al., “Enabling More Disabled Children to Obtain Education: Comments on Educational Fairness for disabled Children,” Special Education in China 1 (2007): 4. 7 Zhang Weiwei, “Taking Care of Special Groups: The Disabled Persons Accept Vocational Education,” Education and Career 3 (2007): 84. 8 Ibid. 9 Implementation Plan for the Eleventh Five-Year Education for the Disabled, http://temp.cdpj.cn/10thfive/fzgy.htm.

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deaf-mute, and mentally retarded children) to study with ordinary children in normal schools. Based on the conclusion of national experience of special education, in 1988 the Ministry of Education raised the principles of constructing special education, which stated that “a new pattern of special education systems for the disabled shall be formed by abiding by various forms of school-running, gradually establishing a certain amount of special schools as the main framework, and encouraging the establishment of lots of special classes and the practice of learning in regular classrooms.”10 By the end of the Tenth Five-Year (2000–2005), the proposed pattern of special education was formulated.11 Statistics in the China Education Yearbook show that there were 292 schools for the blind and deaf-mute with 30,000 students in 1978, yet there were not any special schools, special classes, nor learning in classes. However, in China, there were 1,531 special education schools (among which 375 are schools for mental retardation), 826 special classes in ordinary primary schools, and 14 special classes in secondary (vocational ) schools in 2005. The number of disabled students reached 386.4 thousand, among which more than 110 thousand students belonged to all kinds of special schools, and others learned in ordinary classes or special classes. Therefore, the new pattern of special education development established multiple modes of school running. Strengthening Governmental Support and Improving the Quality of Policies In the 1950s, the central government issued Decisions on Reforming the Educational System (关于改革学制的决定), which stated that, while developing various forms of schools, “all levels of people’s government shall set up special schools for the blind and the deaf-mute to educate physically handicapped children, adolescents, and adults.” This is the first important regulation on special education in the PRC. Following it, the Ministry of Education issued some decisions and guidance, such as Some Guidance on Developing Schools for the Blind and Deaf-Mute (办好盲童 学校、聋哑学校的几点指示) and so on. During the Cultural Revolution, special education including relevant policies and regulations had been seriously damaged.

10 Hua Guodong, “Present Situation and Development Trends for Disabled Children Learning in Regular Classroom Children,” Education Research 2 (2003): 65. 11 Wang Zhan, “Inspiring Enthusiasm, Work Hard, and Strive to Realize New Development of Special Education in China,” http://www.spe-edu.net/info/6245.htm.

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During the economic reform era, the constitution, Compulsory Education Law, and regulations issued by the State Council granted the disabled, especially disabled children and adolescents, rights to education. Article 45 of the constitution issued in 1982 states that “the state and society help make arrangement for the work, livelihood, and education for the blind, deaf-mute, and other handicapped citizens.” It was the first time that the educational situation of the disabled was written into the constitution. Decisions of the Reform of Education System (关于教育体制改革的决定), issued in 1985 by the central government, states that “while practicing nine-year compulsory education, (we shall ) develop preschool education and special education for the blind, the deaf-mute, and mentally disabled children.”12 For the first time, it was clearly stated that special education should cover mentally disabled children. This content was written in Compulsory Education Law of the People’s Republic of China (中华人民共和国义务教育法). Article 9 of this law states, “Local people’s governments shall set up special schools (or classes) for children and adolescents who are blind, deafmute, and mentally retarded.” Statistics from the first national random survey on disabled people in 1987 showed that there were 51.64 million disabled people in China, among which 10.75 million were between the ages of 0–18 years old, 8.175 million were between the ages of 0–14 years old, and 6.25 million were between the ages of 6–14 years old in the age of compulsory education. However, special education, especially education for disabled adolescents and children, was lagging, and the enrollment of all blind and deaf-mute children in their schooling age was less than 6%.13 To promote the development of special education of children and adolescents, the first national conference on special education was held in 1988. The conference approved Opinions on Developing Special Education (关于发展特殊教育的若干意见), which was distributed to local levels by the State Council. Opinions illustrate comprehensively the important status of special education and stated that “it is the common obligation of the state, society and parents’ of the disabled to develop special education by a plan and to guarantee the educational rights of the disabled. Developing special education is a fundamental measure to improve the suzhi (quality) of the disabled, as well as implementing

Yongxin, Special Pedagogy, 86. This index did not count disabled children in ordinary schools. http://www.edu .cn/html/c/fagui/article/131.shtml. 12 13

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the spirit of communist humanitarianism. It plays an important role in promoting self-respect, self-reliance, and the equal participation in social life of the disabled. They can thus become participants in socialist building.”14 It is a programmatic document to especially guide the special education for the disabled. As followed, the Law of the PRC on the Protection of Disabled Persons (中华人民共和国残疾人保障法) was issued in 1990, and Regulations on Education of the Disabled (关于开展残 疾儿童少年随班就读工作的试行办法) was issued in 1994. All these laws and regulations ensure and promote the healthy development of special education in China from the policy level. Column 3.1 clearly illustrates that China has paid greater attention to special education since 1978 by issuing policies, regulations, and laws constantly, which showed that the government tends to be more supportive to special education. Column 3.1. Events in Special Education 1982: Constitution (中华人民共和国宪法). Education of the disabled was written into the law for the first time. 1985: Decisions of the Reform of Education System (关于教育体制改革的决 定). For the first time, it was specified that special education should include mentally disabled children. 1986: Compulsory Education Law of the PRC (中华人民共和国义务教育法). Article 9 stipulates, “Local people’s governments shall set up special schools (or classes) for children and adolescents who are blind, deafmute, and mentally retarded.” 1987: The first national survey on the disabled people. 1988: The first national conference on special education since the establishment of the new China. 1988: Five-Year Work Program on Disability (1988–1992) (中国残疾人 事业五年工作纲要 (1988年–1992年)). Since 1991, work on disability has been integrated within the national Five-Year Plan. 1989: Some Opinions on Developing Special Education (关于发展特殊教育的 若干意见). 1990: Law of the PRC on the Protection of Disabled Persons (中华人民共和国 残疾人保障法) 1994: Regulations on Education of the Disabled (残疾人教育条例). 1998: Provisional Regulations of Special Education Schools (特殊教育学校暂行 规程). 14 Opinions on Developing Special Education (关于发展特殊教育的若干意见) issued by the National Education Committee, the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Public Health, China Disabled Persons’ Federation, and some other governing bodies, http://www.edu.cn/html/c/fagui/article/131.shtml.

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In the twenty-first century, special education policy emphasizes the improvement of the quality of education. In order to match the new requirement of the development of special education, the revised 2006 Compulsory Education Law (义务教育法) has included more articles about special education. The revised Compulsory Education Law aims to promote balanced development of compulsory education and guarantee the educational rights of disabled children and adolescents. It has detailed regulations on the following five aspects: governmental responsibility, educational models, remuneration of teachers, investment input, and legal responsibilities. (Before the amendment, only Article 9 stipulated that local people’s governments shall set up special schools (or classes) for children and adolescents who are blind, deafmute, and mentally retarded.) With the introduction of the ideas of the scientific development concept and people-orientation as the state management, the disadvantaged group has detracted special attention from policy makers and special education has further coming under the spotlight. In Proposals on the Eleventh Five-Year Plan of National Economic and Social Development (国民 经济和社会发展第十一个五年规划的建议), the central government raised the principles of prioritizing education, paying more attention to education, employment, and allocation of the disadvantaged group in the society, emphasizing a balanced development of different areas and fields, and promoting scientific development.15 The report of the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2007 clearly raised the issue of paying attention to special education. In 2008, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council put developing education for the disabled as the first article of Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Promoting the Development of Disabled Persons (中共中 央国务院关于促进残疾人事业发展的意见). It can be seen that the state and the society are paying increasingly more attention to special education, which has gradually strengthened policy guarantees. Developmental Principles of Special Education: Focusing on Popularization and Guaranteeing Compulsory Education In the past, our foundation of policies’ accumulation of special education was comparatively weak, but 15 Li Tianshun, “Abide by Scientific Development View, Strengthen Establishment and Management of Special Education Schools, and Promote New Development of Special Education,” accessed September 24, 2007, http://www.cqvip.com/ qk/82386X/200601/21153992.html.

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since 1978 it has developed rapidly. This was especially evident in 1989, when the State Council unveiled Some Opinions on Developing Special Education (关于发展特殊教育的若干意见), the first policy focusing on special education, which clearly put forward for the first time that “developing special education should combine popularization with improvement and focus on popularization.” The principle of focusing on popularization is based on the reality that large numbers of disabled children are not enrolled in school. It is reasonable for the principle to be recognized in the followed related legislation. As for popularization, it is also a developing process to ensure that educational rights of the disabled at each stage should be guaranteed. Opinions, issued in 1989, proposed that the basic principle of developing special education is to “focus on preliminary, vocational, and technical education, actively promote preschool education, and gradually develop secondary and higher education.” Article 20 of the Law of the PRC on the Protection of Disabled Persons (中华人民共和国残疾人保障法), issued the following year, stipulates, “Education for the disabled shall combine popularization with improvement by focusing on popularization, emphasizing compulsory education, and vocational and technical education, actively promoting preschool education, and gradually developing secondary and higher education.” The principles for special education are not only written into law, but also raised to a higher level of educational policy making. In Opinions, the section that states, “Focusing on preliminary (mainly primary) education” has been changed to “focusing on developing compulsory education,” which enlarges the protection range from primary schools to secondary schools and widens the rights of being educated for disabled children. In addition, the revised Law on Protecting the Disabled Persons (残疾人保障法) in April 2008 has adjusted “placing emphasis on developing compulsory education” into “guaranteeing compulsory education.” The power of guarantee is significantly increased. Continuously Perfecting Laws and Regulations on China’s Special Education As a series of laws and regulations on special education has been successively promulgated, and laws, policies, and regulations of China’s special education have been continuously perfected, special education is gradually on the track of having a set of laws and regulations to follow and for education to be managed by law. The major laws, regulations, and documents since 1982 are listed in table 3.1.

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Table 3.1. Major Laws, Regulations, and Documents Related to Special Education since 1982 in China Laws

Article 45 of the constitution of the PRC (中华人民共和国宪法) (1982), Compulsory Education Law of the PRC (中华人民共和国义务教育法) (1986, revised in 2006), Law of the PRC on Protection of the Disabled Persons (中华人民共和国残疾人保障法) (1990, revised in 2008), etc. Regulations Regulations on the Education of the Disabled (残疾人教育条例) (1994), Some Opinions on Developing Special Education (关于发展特殊教育的若干意见) (State Education Committee, 1989), etc. Regulations of The Proposed Measures on Implementing the Practice of Learning in Classes for the the Educational Disabled Children and Adolescents (关于开展残疾儿童少年随班就读工作 Department 的试行办法) (1994), Temporary Measures on Special Educational School (特殊 教育学校暂行规程) (1998), etc. Programs The Five-Year National Program on Disability (1988–1992) 《 ( 中国残 疾人事业五年工作纲要 (1988年–1992年)); The Eighth Five-Year National Program on Disabilities (1991–1995) (、《中国残疾人事业 “八五” 计划纲要 (1991年–1995年)); The Ninth Five-Year National Program on Disabilities (1996–2000) (、《中国残疾人事业 “九五” 计划纲要 (1996年–2000年)); The Tenth Five-Year National Program on Disabilities and Matching Implementation Scheme (2000–2005); (中 国残疾人事业“十五”计划纲要与配套实施方案 (2000年–2005年)); The Eleventh Five-Year National Program on Disabilities and Matching Implementation Scheme (2006–2010) (中国残疾人事业“十一五”发 展纲要与配套实施方案 (2006年–2010年)), etc.16

In addition, there are some articles specialized on special education in a series of macroeducational policies, laws, regulations, and documents, such as Decisions on the Reform of Educational System (关于教育体制改革的 决定) (1985), Law of Protection for Non-Adults in PRC (人民共和国未成年 人保护法) (approved in 1991, revised in 2006), Outline on Development for Chinese Children in the 1990s (九十年代中国儿童发展规划纲要) (1992), Outline of China’s Education Reform and Development (中国教育改革和发展 纲要) (1993), the Educational Action Plan toward the Twenty-First Century ( 面向21世纪教育振兴行动计划) (1999), Decisions on Deepening Educational Reform and Comprehensively Promoting Quality Education (深化教育改革全面 推进素质教育的决定) (1999), and the Educational Action Plan 2003–2007 (2004) (2003–2007 年教育振兴行动计划), etc.

16 Since 1988, the state started to promulgate development plan for disabled people. Since the national Eighth Five-Year Plan, the Chinese disabled enterprise has stipulated that the national program, and each program has its matching scheme.

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At the same time, some local governments have stipulated local regulations and policies based on their actual situation to deal with some concrete problems caused during the implementation of the national laws and regulations. For example, Measures of Hei Long Jiang Province to Implement Law of PRC on Protecting the Disabled Persons (黑龙江省实施 中华人民共和国残疾人保障法办法), Plan of Developing Special Education in Beijing (北京市特殊教育事业发展规划), and Law of Protections for Non-Adults in Shanghai (上海市未成年人保护法). In sum, the special education policy system has been gradually consummated with the promulgation of laws and regulations, which symbolizes that China’s special education has been on the track of managing education bylaws. 3.1.2. The Raising Scale and Quality of Compulsory Education for the Disabled Compulsory Education Law of the PRC (义务教育法) clearly stipulates that education for special children and adolescents is a part of compulsory education. The Five-Year National Program on Disability (1988–1992) (中国残疾人事业五年工作纲要 (1988年–1992年)) requires that primary education of the disabled be integrated into the track of nineyear compulsory education. When the Law of the PRC on Protection of Disabled Persons (残疾人保障法) came into effect in 1990, the State Council made the special notice to require educational departments at all levels to take action to “involve the education of the disabled children and adolescents into the track of compulsory education by unified planning, management, arrangement, and examination.” Through the past thirty years’ development, China’s education for the disabled children and adolescents has been included in master planning of nine-year compulsory education. The quality and popularization of compulsory education for children and adolescents has improved, and more and more persons with disabilities enjoy rights of education and obtain opportunities for better education. In 2006, there were 1,605 special schools with 362.9 thousand students with These programs and implementation schemes are closely related to the development of special education. In order to ensure the fulfillment of the national program, the Disabled Persons’ Work Coordination Committee of the State Council organized the relevant departments to make the matching implementation schemes. For example, during the Eleventh-Five-Year period, 18 implementation schemes have been made, and the Implementation Plan of the Eleventh Five-Year Special Education (残疾人 教育工作“十一五”实施方案) is one of them.

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disabilities at school, among which there were 41.5 thousand students in blind schools, 115.8 thousand students in schools for the deaf-mute, and 205.6 thousand mentally disabled students in ordinary schools.17 Meanwhile, the quality of special education has improved. This shall be explained in detail below. China has increased its educational input gradually since the economic reform. Schooling conditions have improved while numbers of high-quality teachers have increased. The quality and efficiency of special education has continuously improved. In this chapter, part 1.2 will further illustrate the achievements of special education in China using the process of promoting compulsory educational fairness for the Chinese disabled children as an example. The Developmental Process of Compulsory Educational Fairness for Disabled Children Educational fairness is obviously the core value of special education. The situation of where disabled children can also obtain educational rights is an important indicator of educational fairness. In the following, we examine the process of promoting the educational fairness for disabled children in China from the perspective of the stage of compulsory education. Increased Funding, Construction Areas, and Equipment Fees Per Year in Special Schools From 1998 to 2005, all kinds of school funding for special education gradually increased each year, such as school educational funding, education expenditure per student, education allocation within budget, and education expenditure within budget per student. In 1998, school educational funding and education expenditure per student for special education was 0.852 billion yuan and 6096.06 yuan, respectively, while in 2005, they were 2.354 billion yuan and 14,912 yuan, which were 2.8 and 2.5 times of 1998. Education allocation within budget and education expenditure within budget per person was 0.596 billion yuan and 4,493 yuan, respectively in 1998, while 1.753 billion and 10,791 yuan in 2005, 2.9 and 2.4 times of 1998 (see figures 3.2 and 3.3).

17

Bulletin of National Education Development in 2006, http://www.stats.edu.cn/tjgb.aspx.

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Fund (Unit: 100m Yuan)

Educational Funds Education Allocation Budget (Unit 100m Yuan) 25.00 23.00 21.00 19.00 17.00 15.00 13.00 11.00 9.00 7.00 5.00 1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

Year

Source: China Education Expenditure Statistics Yearbook.

Fig. 3.2. Education fund and education allocation within budget each year.

Fund (Unit: 100m Yuan)

Education Expenditure per Student Education Expenditure Budget per Student (Unit Yuan) 16000 14000 12000 10000 8000 6000 4000 1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

Year

Fig. 3.3. Education fund expenditure and education fund expenditure within budget per person for special education schools.

The Increase of Construction Areas of Special Education Schools and SpecialPurpose Equipment Fees per Year In the past thirty years, especially after the 1980s, schools for special education have gradually increased, and construction areas have expanded. From fig. 3.4, we can see that the constructing areas of special schools increased 1,220,000 square meters. From fig. 3.5, the payment for buying special-purpose equipment per year of special schools increased gradually from 1996 to 2005. Especially during the Tenth Five-Year, the expenditure rapidly increased.

Number (Unit: ten thousand people)

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Surface Area of Schools by end of the year (Unit ten thousand square meters) 440 420 400 380 360 340 320 300 280

1

42 99

3

3

38

3

4 34

36

41

3

8 31

9

29

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

Year

Fig. 3.4. Construction area of special education school buildings each year.

1000

1996 1997

1998

1999

5424

2505

2107

2231

2000

1348

3000

2505

3469

4000

582

5416

5000

572

Expenditures for Purchasing Equipments (Unit ten thousand Yuan) 6000

2000 2001

2002

2003 2004

2005

Year

Fig. 3.5. Expenditures for purchasing equipment for special schools each year.

The Enrollment Rate of Disabled Children Is on the Rise (1) Increase in the Number of Special Schools Special schools are increasing year by year (shown in fig. 3.6). There were 64 schools for the blind and deaf-mute in 1953, and the number increased to 292 in 1978. There were 4 special schools for mental retardation in 1984, and the figure increased to 391 in 2005. There were 1,605 special schools (including special schools for mental retardation) by 2006, 25 times of 1953 and 6 times of 1978.

Number of School (Unit Number of school)

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1800 1600 1400 1200 1000 800 600 400 200 0

Number of Special School (Unit Number of school) 1520 1540 1593 1426

1605

1123 746 504 292

302

330

1978

1981

1984 1987

1990

1993 1996 Year

1999 2002

2005

2006

Source: The figures from 1979 to 2005 stem from the China Education Yearbook; the figure of 2006 stems from the Statistic Communiqué of the 2006 National Education Development. Also see the website http://www.stats.edu.cn/tjgb.aspx.

Fig. 3.6. The increase of the numbers of special schools.

(2) Disabled Children’s Enrollment Rate Continuously Increases As Table 3.2 shows, the enrollment rate for the disabled increased continuously from 1991 to 2005, namely from the Eighth Five-Year to the Tenth Five-Year. In general, the enrollment rate of compulsory education for disabled children and adolescents increased 17.5% from the Eighth Five-Year to the Tenth Five-Year. (3) The Enrollment Rate, and the Number of Enrolled Students and Graduates are Increasing As fig. 3.7 shows, the enrollment rate, number of enrolled disabled students and graduates have increased since the 1980s, especially during the 1990s, after the government promoted the policy of learning in classes, the situation of enrollment, enrolled students, and graduates of the disabled children rapidly increased and reached the peak in 2001. The number of enrolled disabled children was around 3,864,000 in 2001 and 3,644,000 in 2005. Table 3.2. The Enrollment Rate of Disabled Children from the Eighth Five-Year to the Tenth Five-Year

Enrollment rate

1991–1995 (The eighth five-year)

1996–2000 (The ninth five-year)

2001–2005 (The tenth five-year)

62.50%

77.20%

80%

Data Source: The information center of China Disabled Persons’ Federation, The Fulfillment of Major Tasks for the Work on Disability in China (1988–2005).

thirty years of special education in china Number of Graduates

Number of Enrolled Students

181 Students in School (Unit person)

Number of Students (Unit person)

400000 300000 200000 100000 0 1981

1985

1989

1997

1993

2001

2005

Year

Data Source: China Education Yearbook.

Number (Unit: ten thousand people)

Fig. 3.7. The situation of the enrollment rate, the number of enrolled students, and graduates of disabled children each year.

Quantity of Professional Teachers (Unit ten thousand people) 4.00 3.50

3.34

3.00 2.70

2.50

2.85

2.00 1.50 1.00 0.50

1.60 0.80 0.51

0.00 1981

1986

1996

1991

2001

2006

Year

Data Source: China Education Yearbook.

Fig. 3.8. The quantity of professional teachers in special schools.

Quantity and Quality of Professional Teachers Are Constantly Improved Statistics in the China Education Yearbook show that in 1978, 6,933 staff worked in the special education field. The figure increased to 42,300 in 2005, a net increase of 35,300, among which the quantity of professional teachers increased from 4,200 in 1978 to 31,900 in 2005. In addition, the educational background of teachers constantly improved. From 2002 to 2004, the professional teachers in special

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schools with only high school certificates decreased, and teachers with college and university certificates gradually increased, among which there was a net increase of 2,200 with university certificates, and 2,300 with college certificates.18 3.1.3. Pursuing Fairness: Major Problems in Special Education Special education in a modern sense is still in its initial stage. The problems are listed below. There are still lots of disabled children and adolescents who have not obtained compulsory education, and the quantity of special schools can hardly meet the demand (see figure 3.9). Its distribution is also unbalanced. First, the number of special schools is much less than the practical needs. According to statistics from the China Disabled Persons’ Federation, the total number of disabled children at the schooling age not enrolled in schools was 243,490 in 2005. Forty-five percent of not enrolled disabled children (109,547) was in the twelve provinces in western China including Neimenggu, Guangxi, Chongqing, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, Xizang, Shannxi, Gansu, Qinghai, Ningxia, and Xinjiang. There were 89,828 nonenrolled disabled children and adolescents at the schooling age, comprising 37% of the total, in the eight provinces of middle China including Shanxi, Jilin, Heilongjiang, Anhui, Jiangxi, Henan, Hunan, and Hubei. The other 18% was in other provinces.19 As for the geographical distribution, using 2005 as an example, from the selected provinces and cities, there were less special schools in western China, especially in Shanxi, Gansu, and Yunnan, they had less than 30 special schools each, and Qinghai province only had 9 special schools. There were comparatively more special schools in the eastern provinces; for example, Shandong and Jiangsu provinces had more than 100 special schools. The quantity of special schools in Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai were similar. In general, there are huge distinctions between western and eastern China, among which the number of special schools in Shandong province was four times more than the total number of special schools in Shanxi, Gansu, Qinghai, and Sichuan (135). 18 Meng Wanjin et al., “Enabling More Disabled Children to Obtain Education: Comments on Educational Fairness for disabled Children,” Special Education in China 1 (2007): 4. 19 Bulletin on Implementation of “the Tenth Five-Year” Work Program of China’s Disabled People, no. 11 (2006), http://www.cdpf.org.cn/shiye/sj-04.htm.

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139 123 109 83 67 29 14

74 59 25

25

24

28

9

Sh an xi G an su Q in gh ai Si ch ua n Yu nn an An hu i Jia ng xi H en an Li ao ni Sh ng an do ng Jia ng su Be iji ng Ti an j Sh in an gh ai

Number of School (Unit Number of school)

Quantity of Special Education School (Unit Number of school) 160 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0

Province

Data Source: China Education Yearbook.

Fig. 3.9. The distributions of special schools in provinces and municipalities in 2005.

There are three major problems for special schools: (1) lack of financial investment; (2) huge geographic difference between western and eastern China; and (3) the conditions of schools are comparatively poor. According to Wang Hui’s survey on 135 school principles of special schools, one of the most distinguished problems during the development of special schools is the lack of school funding and resources.20 Moreover, there are huge geographic differences regarding governmental allocation. For example, in 2005, from the selected provinces, Liaoning, Shandong, and Jiangsu, three provinces in eastern China, the financial allocation within budget for special schools is over 0.1 billion, while in Gansu and Qinghai in the western areas and Jiangxi in middle China their financial allocation within budget is less than 15,000,000 (see table 3.3). Even taking the differences of figures of students into consideration, the disparity of financial allocation between these areas is comparatively large. Due to funding shortage, the condition of special schools is relatively poor, which is enough to meet the demand of the development of special education.21

20 Wang Hui, “Report on Problems in the Development of Compulsory Education for Disabled Children in China,” Special Education in China 10 (2006): 6–7. 21 Ministry of Education, “Developmental Work Programme of Special Education in the Eleventh Five-Year,” accessed November 22, 2007, http://www.happyonline .com.cn/html/2007-11/1576.htm.

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Table 3.3. The Number of Enrolled Students in Some Provinces and Financial Allocations within the Budget Shannxi Gansu Qinghai Sichuan Yunnan Anhui Jiangxi Henan Liaoning Shandong Jiangsu Enrolled 6627 students financial 1544 allocation within Budget (10000 yuan per unit) 万元

8339

2307

24788

19417

1356

534

4001

3334

17957 18805 4093

1259

20287

8296

16126

30688

6550 10785

16265

14561

Data Source: The figures of enrolled students of special schools and financial allocation within budget are quoted from the China Education Yearbook and Educational Expenses Statistical Yearbook of China, respectively. And the enrolled students include those who learn in regular classrooms in ordinary secondary and primary schools.

The following problems must also not be ignored: the comparatively low quality of education, the imbalanced development between cities and rural areas, different regions and different schools, lack of professional teachers, and teachers on the job with lower educational backgrounds. The quantity and educational level of special education teachers directly impact the quality of special education. Though the number of professional teachers of special education has increased since the economic-reform era, the staff shortage is still a serious problem. For example, in 2004, there were 1,560 special schools with 370,000 enrolled students nationwide. If calculated according to the ratio 1:4 (1 teacher to 4 students), the standard percentage of teachers and students of special schools in the developed countries, China needs 90,000 professional teachers, while the actual number of professional teachers was only a little bit more than 30,000. Moreover, more than half of the teachers graduated from junior college, and most of them have not received any professional training on special education. For example, in 2005, the number of professional teachers in special schools was close to 32,000, among which only half received some kind of professional training on special education. All these statistics show that the quality of special education in China is not optimistic. The school-running system of special education is not perfect so far and there is still a long way to go to popularize compulsory education at the stage of secondary school. For example, the National Education Inspection Team examined six provinces, including Jilin, Heilongjiang,

thirty years of special education in china 2001

2002

2003

2004

185

2005

2006

Number of Enrolled Students

60000 50000 40000 30000 20000 10000 0 1

2

3

4

5

6 Grade

7

8

9

10

Data Source: China Education Yearbook.

Fig. 3.10. Comparison of the number of enrolled students in different grades.

Jiangxi, Hunan, Guizhou, and Yunnan, at the end of 2003, and discovered that though the six provinces achieved great success on special education, special education had a big gap at the preschool and high school levels and could hardly meet the developing requirements of disabled children. Higher education for the disabled is still nonexistent besides Jilin province.22 Comparing the different stages of nineyear compulsory education, the number of disabled students in schools obviously dropped after sixth grade; therefore it is an urgent task and a big responsibility to popularize compulsory education at the stage of secondary school for disabled adolescents. For example, from 2001 to 2005, the number of enrolled students in primary special school in general constantly increased from first grade to fifth grade; however, the sixth grade in primary schools and the first grade in secondary schools (seventh grade) was a turning point, and after that, the number of enrolled students rapidly decreased, and dropped to a low point in the tenth grade (the first grade of the high school ) (see fig. 3.10).

22 Meng Wanjin, Liu Zaihua, and Liu Yujuan, “It’s a Long Way to Go to Promote Education Equality for Disabled Children: Comments on Education Fairness for Disabled Children,” Special Education in China 2 (2007): 6–7.

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zhao xiaohong, tang min, and chen jiao 3.2. Review and Evaluation of Special Education Policy over the Past Thirty Years

Since 1978 economic reform and opening up, education is regarded as one key developing strategic task; at the same time, special education has entered a new stage of development. Since 1982, a series of laws, regulations, and documents was made on special education; it is on the track of legalization (see attachment 2). 3.2.1. Regulations on the Special Education Fund Funding input is the precondition to develop special education, and hereby it is necessary to make policy analysis, especially on this issue. The Policy of Special Educational Funding Input is Strengthened The Five-Year National Program on Disability (1988–1992) (中国残疾人事业五年工 作纲要 (1988年–1992年)), first stated in 1998 that the state allocates special expenses for special education from the national-education fund and increases subsidies for special education, and the special education fund shall gradually increase with the increasing education fund. The following series of policies have accordingly made regulations on the special education fund. All the regulations have similar contents, namely that it is the responsibility of all levels of government to provide major channels of funding. In addition to construction and institutional fund, there are special subsidies for education of the disabled. In general, early laws and regulations on funding have less enforcement power because they lack detailed stipulations on quantity of educational funds for the disabled. Recent policies of educational funding have clearer regulation of the division of responsibilities between the central government and local government, and expenditure quota and purposes, which improves the operability of the policies. For example, during the period of the Ninth Five-Year, the Ninth Five-Year National Work Program on Disability and Matching Implementation Scheme (中国残疾人事业 “九五” 计划纲要配套实施方案) stipulates in its conclusion that “in order to guarantee the implementation of the work program, the Working Coordination Committee on Disability under the State Council shall organize relevant departments to stipulate matching implementation schemes, and related departments shall raise funds and allocate necessary special funds.” Such regulation is too general to be enforced. Moreover, there are not any articles clarifying

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the expenditure in part II. During the Tenth Five-Year period, the Tenth Five-Year Implementation Plan of Vocational Training for the Disabled (残疾人职业教育培训 “十五” 实施方案), enacted in 2001, states that “local governments at all-levels and private-school holders shall allocate enough educational funds for vocational training in accordance with the standard of average expenditure per person of vocational schools. Governments should gradually increase the fund for vocational schools and training according to requirements of the state.”23 Though this regulation is still comparatively general, it has improved when compared to the former. During the Eleventh FiveYear period, the clarification of central and local funding is much clearer in the Eleventh Five-Year Implementing Plan of Education for the Disabled (残疾人教育工作 “十一五” 实施方案) in 2006. First, central funding is mainly for supporting the development of special education in middle and western China, assisting disabled students with financial difficulties or children of disabled parents in poverty to obtain education, setting up standards for secondary vocational educational institutions, establishing and perfecting core curriculums and textbooks of the secondary vocational schools for the disabled, establishing national training bases for professional teachers specialized in vocational education for the disabled, and promoting research and popularization of sign language and Braille. Second, for the local funding, local governments are required to constantly increase input on special education, allocate the special education fund, and gradually improve the guarantee mechanism for educational funding.”24 Another example is the Eleventh Five-Year Work Program for Constructing Special Schools in Middle and Western Regions (2008–2010) (“十一五” 期 间中西部地区特殊教育学校建设规划 (2008年–2010年), issued in 2007. It clearly defined fund allocation and usage, including how to use the central fund and how the local government takes responsibility to raise the matching fund. During the Eleventh Five-Year period (2008–2010), the central government shall allocate special funds of 600 million yuan, among which 450 million yuan shall be used in

23 Department of Education and Employment, China Disabled Persons’ Federation, and the Department of Primary Education, the Ministry of Education of the PRC, Selected Documents on Special Education (1996–2001) (Huaxia Publishing House, 2002): 73–96. 24 Education Implementation Scheme for Disabled People during the Eleventh Five-Year Period, http://temp.cdpj.cn/10thfive/fzgy.htm.

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construction (65 new school construction projects with an investment of 200 million yuan, and 125 extensive projects for old schools with an investment of 250 million yuan), and necessary teaching and rehabilitative training equipment with an investment of 150 million yuan (among which 50 million are for new projects, and 100 million are for extension projects). Special investment of the central government gives a certain inclination toward new construction projects at the county level by subsidizing 3 million yuan per school, and the local matching fund is not required in principle. For new school construction projects at the city level, each one gets 3 million yuan in financial subsidies, and local governments are responsible for fund supplements. For purchasing necessary educational equipment and rehabilitative facilities, the central government shall allocate 800,000 yuan, while local governments are responsible for the rest. As for some construction projects in the western provinces, because of their special geographical location, transportation inconvenience and arduous construction conditions, they need overall planning and concentrated construction through collaboration between the central and local government, and the central government shall allocate special funds to intensively support project schools.25 In sum, obviously, the government has allocated increasingly more for special education funds, and the expenditure policies have rapidly improved and become more detailed and operational. Temporary Measures on Special Schools (特殊教育学校暂行规程) (1998) needs amendment. There are contradictions on the provider of special fund between Compulsory Education Law of PRC (义务教育法) (revised in 2006) and Temporary Measures on Special Schools (特殊教育学校暂行规 程); therefore the latter one needs amendment. Article 42 of Compulsory Education Law of PRC asserts that “the state put compulsory education in the range of financial security, and compulsory education funding shall be guaranteed by the State Council and all-levels of governments according to this article.” Accordingly, special education should abide by this law. However, Article 53 of Temporary Measures on Special Schools (特殊教育学校暂行规程) stipulates that “school-running conditions and funding of special schools shall be provided by holders.” Who are school holders at present? According to provision 1 of Article 19

25 Ministry of Education, Construction Plan of Special Schools in Middle and Western Regions during the Eleventh Five-Year Period (2008–2010), accessed February 29, 2008, http://www.chnlaw.net/newlaw/HTML/newlaw_32135_3.htm.

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of Compulsory Education Law of PRC (2006 revised version), “special schools and classes shall be established by local governments at the county level and above if necessary.” Namely, the holders are the local government at the county level and above. Therefore, the legislative conflict emerges here: whether the funding for special education, in accordance with Compulsory Education Law of PRC, should be provided by the State Council and local governments, or provided by the holders of schools—local governments at county level and above. In the situation of legislative conflict in the same area, the general principle is that laws overpower regulations; therefore Temporary Measures on Special Schools (特殊教育学校暂行规程) (1988) should be amended. 3.2.2. Introduction and Analysis of the Law of the People’s Republic on the Protection of Disabled Persons (残疾人保障法) At present, there are 83 million disabled people in 0.26 billion families in China. Law of the People’s Republic on the Protection of Disabled Persons, issued in 1991, has played an important role in promoting handicapped utilities and guaranteeing legal rights of disabled people.26 Since the Chinese Communist Party proposed the idea of scientific development and human-oriented administration in 2003, the situation of the disadvantaged group in society has obtained much more attentions than before, accordingly; safeguarding the rights of the disabled was put on governmental agenda. Under the circumstances, the Ministry of Civil Affairs and China Disabled Persons’ Federation started work on revising the old law on the protection of disabled persons. The revised Law of the People’s Republic on the Protection of Disabled Persons was passed through by vote at the second conference of the Eleventh National Standing Committee of People’s Congress on April 24th, 2008. It took effect on July 1st, 2008. The Advantages of the Revised Law of the People’s Republic on the Protection of Disabled Persons. Experts point out that there are four advantages of the revised Law of the People’s Republic on the Protection of Disabled Persons.27 The Central Committee of the CPC and the State Council, Opinions on Promoting Development of Education for Disabled People, http://news.xinhuanet.com/ newscenter/2008-04/23/content_8036156.htm. 27 Wu Jingjing and Chen Fei, “For the Interests of 83 Million Disabled: Four 26

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First, contents of prohibiting discrimination against disabled people have been expanded. Provision 3 in Article 3 of the Law of the People’s Republic on the Protection of Disabled Persons only stipulates that “it is forbidden to discriminate, humiliate, and harm disabled people.” Since the Chinese government signed the International Covenant on Disabled People in 2007, the relevant contents of the international covenant need to be combined into the revised law on the protection of disabled persons. International covenant clearly states that “countries in agreement should forbid all kinds of discrimination based on disability,” which includes not only discrimination in the area of education and employment, but also some situations like not offering convenient facilities to disabled persons. Based on the international covenant, the revised Law of the People’s Republic on the Protection of Disabled Persons stipulates clearly that “it is forbidden to discriminate, insult, or harm disabled people. It is forbidden to degrade or humiliate disabled people through mass media or other means.” The revised law expands the content of prohibiting discrimination, and makes good contact with the international covenant, which is beneficial for the protection of disabled persons. The second advantage is the promotion of prevention and treatment of birth defects. Investigations made by relevant units show that China has approximately one million newborns with birth defects and disabilities. Compared to the old Law of the People’s Republic on the Protection of Disabled Persons, the revised one has added contents, such as “establishing and perfecting mechanisms to early prevention, discovery, examination, and treatment of birth defects” and “prioritizing treatment and rehabilitation for disabled children” into related articles. These stipulations have important significance on promoting early prevention, discovery, and treatment, and improving the rehabilitation of the disabled. Third, the Law of the People’s Republic on the Protection of Disabled Persons provides for arranging employment for the the disabled. There are 8.58 million employable disabled people who are not employed, and this annually increases by 3,000,000. The revised Law of the People’s Republic on the Protection of Disabled Persons clearly stipulates that “the state carries out an arranged employment system in proportion for the disabled.” This can be compared to the old law, which advocates to arrange employment for the disabled in proportion. The amendment

Advantages of the Revised Law of the People’s Republic on the Protection of Disable Persons,” http://news.xinhuanet.com/legal/2008-04/25/content_8046687.htm.

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changed from a concrete measure of promoting the employment of the disabled into a systematic legal obligation for the state to safeguard the employment rights for the disabled. The power of protecting the employment of the disabled is strengthened. Fourth, the law emphasizes governments’ responsibility to protect interests and rights of the disabled. Article 5 of the revised Law of the People’s Republic on the Protection of Disabled Persons stipulates that “people’s governments at the county level and above shall include handicapped utilities in national-economy and social-development planning. They should strengthen the leadership, promote coordination, and budget accordingly to establish a stable funding-guarantee system for handicapped utilities.” All these articles clarify responsibilities of governments. Related Regulations and Analysis on Special Education Both the old and revised Law of the People’s Republic on the Protection of Disabled Persons have nine articles on education written in chapter 3. Except for Article 29, which remains the same, all the other 8 articles were amended in the revised law. The revised law has the following characteristics on regulating special education. First, it emphasizes equal education rights for the disabled. In the amended law, provision 1 of Article 21 states that the state guarantees equal education rights for disabled people. Compared to the old version, the state guarantees education rights of disabled people, the revised law stresses equality, which illustrates the government’s value orientation of promoting equality of special education. Moreover, there are some changes to developmental policy on special education. Article 22 advocates to guarantee compulsory education for the disabled, whereas the old version was “to stress developing voluntary education.” In sum, equal education rights of the disabled are guaranteed much more. Second, it consolidates responsibilities of governments. Provisions 3 and 4 of Article 21 of the old law state that “the state, society, schools, and families carry out compulsory education for disabled children and adolescents. The state exempts tuition fees for disabled students during the compulsory education period, and deducts or exempts petty expenses according to the actual situations. The state sets up scholarships to help poor disabled students enter schools.” The revised law has changed it to “the government, society, and schools shall take effective actions to solve actual problems that disabled children and adolescents encounter in schooling so as to assist them to complete compulsory education. People’s governments at all levels shall provide free

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textbooks for the disabled and poor students from families with disabled persons, and subsidize their accommodation during compulsory education period. For those students who receive education more than compulsory education, governments at all levels shall provide subsidies to them in accordance with state standards.” In comparison, the new version stresses that the subjects of responsibilities are governments at all levels. The contents of security have also been enriched, not only exempting tuition fees, but also providing free textbooks, accommodations, and other subsidies. Moreover, the government financially supports disabled students and poor students from families with disabled persons to obtain education not limited to compulsory education. Article 24 regulates that “people’s governments above the county level shall set up educational institutions for the disabled according to their quantity, distribution, and categories, and encourage running a school by social support and donation.” In the old version, the corresponding article just simply regulates, “The state is responsible for institutions for the disabled and encourages running a school by social support and donation.” It is clear that the amendment clarifies the obligation of all-level of government in securing educational equality and have more detailed measures of assistance. Third, related stipulations are more detailed, and therefore more enforceable. For example, regarding the establishment of special education schools and institutions, the old law only stipulates that “the state is responsible for institutions for the disabled and encourages running a school by social support and donation.” Article 24 of the amended law states that “people’s governments above the county level shall set up educational institutions for the disabled according to their quantity, distribution and categories . . .” The subjects of educational institutions are clearer; the main factors that need to be considered are escalated to a legal level, and therefore become more enforceable in practice. Provision 1 of Article 25 stipulates that “ordinary education institutions shall accept disabled people with ability, and offer assistance and convenience for their study.” Provision 4 of Article 26 states that “institutions providing special education should have sites and facilities suitable to the study, rehabilitation, and living of disabled people”; in this article, the requirement of ordinary education schools and institutions to offer assistance and convenience is newly added, and provision 4 is also new. The contents of security are enriched, and the power of security is strengthened.

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3.2.3. Comments on Laws and Regulations of Special Education Legislation of Special Education Needs Improvement First, the existing articles on special education focus too much on principles and are too general to be enforced. For example, Article 9 of Regulations on Education of the Disabled states “all parts of society should be concerned with and support education for the disabled.” Article 21 of the Law of the People’s Republic on the Protection of Disabled Persons (1990) stipulates that “the state encourages running a school by social support and donation.” Article 24 of the amended law still states that and encourages running a school by social support and donation. The same problem of the expenditure input of developing special education exists. Second, the existing laws and regulations on special education lack the independent and systematic reward and punishment system for professional teachers and accordingly lack the assistance measures to protect the rights of special children. On the positive side, on the aspect of educational assistance to disabled students, provision 4 of Article 21 in chapter 3 on education of the amended law of the People’s Republic on the Protection of Disabled Persons regulates that “people’s governments at all levels should provide free textbooks for the disabled and poor students from families with disabled persons, and subsidize their accommodations during the period of compulsory education. For those students who receive education beyond compulsory education, governments at all levels shall provide subsidies to them in accordance with state standards.” The stipulation for providing subsidies for disabled students on the national legal level is worthy to be advocated. And finally, China has no special education law at present, which needs to be unveiled in time. A Weak Judicial System and Enforcement Difficulties on Special Education Existing laws and regulations on special education do not clearly define legal responsibility, therefore causing the lack of legal evidence of punishment to illicit subjects and effective assistance measures and remedies to whose rights are violated. As provisions and articles are not concrete, relevant governing bodies shift responsibilities to each other, causing difficulties in enforcement. Meanwhile, the judicial system on special education is weak.28

28 Hao Xiaocen, “Review and Reflection of Legal Construction of Special Education in China,” Special Education in China 6 (2003): 75.

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In addition, special administrative departments in most provinces, cities, and counties are attached to the ordinary education system; however, relevant policies on ordinary education can hardly guide and supervise work in the field of special education, which has resulted in the isolation of special education administrative departments. 3.3. Learning in Regular Classrooms: Policy Analysis Learning in regular classrooms is a specialized form of education where disabled children are enrolled in ordinary schools to study with ordinary children.29 It is one of the major measures to develop and popularize compulsory education for disabled children and adolescents, which can rapidly increase the enrollment rate for disabled children and adolescents during nine-year compulsory education, and plays an important role in promoting the development of special education in China. This part focuses on the policy analysis of learning in regular classrooms. 3.3.1. Background of Policy Making Mainstreaming: Let Special Education Return to Ordinary Education After World War II, the special education field in Northern European countries first proposed the idea of normalization, which advocated to change the traditional isolated and closed method of special education institutions, and allow disabled students to study and live in a normal social circumstance. In the 1960s and 1970s, the idea of normalization developed into a mainstream campaign due to the efforts of special educational circles in America and other developed countries. As a theory of practicing special education and a new institution of special education, mainstreaming is widely recognized all over the world. Its core ideas are to: enable disabled children to receive education under minimum limited circumstances; adopt different types of educational modes, methods, and techniques according to the different states of disability of each child and design individual educational plans for them; allow most disabled children to study and live with normal children 29 Chen Yunying, Psychology, Education, Rehabilitation of Mentally Disabled People (Beijing, Higher Education Publishing House, 2007), 179.

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in ordinary classrooms and in ordinary schools as much as possible. It changed the traditional way of concentrating disabled children in special or full-time boarding schools with the purpose of allowing the branch of special education to return to the mainstream of ordinary education, and combine these two into a whole.30 Later, the education reform on integration between ordinary education and special education emerged, and in the 1990s, integrative education developed into inclusive education.31 Integrative education is an educational thought and practice, and means that special education and ordinary education support and are integrated with each other in order to offer the best education for all children. This educational reform is called “integrative education” in Hong Kong and Taiwan. In mainland China, this education is known more as “learning in regular classrooms” than it is known more as integrative education.32 In June 1994, UNESCO and the Spanish government held the World Special Education Conference and published the Salamanca Declaration, which first clearly proposed the concept of inclusive education. The document pointed out that inclusive education should satisfy the needs of all children, and each school should accept all children in its service area. Each school should provide various conditions for these children so as to satisfy their different needs and guarantee the quality of education. In accordance with the inclusive principle, schools should be open to all children and accept all children at their right ages. Special schools should be reduced while ordinary schools change into inclusive schools gradually. Equality of educational opportunities and educational fairness are the core ideas and concepts of inclusive education. The acceptance and operation of the concept of inclusive education is reflected in the educational theory and practice of learning in regular classrooms in China. Formulation of the Policy: Learning in Regular Classrooms Influenced by the educational thoughts of integration and mainstreaming in the West, China has developed a form of education for special children—

30 Xiao Fei, “Learning in Regular Classroom in China: History, Present, and Future,” Special Education in China 3 (2005) 3. 31 Chen Yunying, “Developing Inclusive Education in China,” Special Education in China 2 (1997): 2. 32 Chen Yunying, Psychology, Education, Rehabilitation of Mentally Disabled People (Beijing, Higher Education Publishing House, 2007), 180.

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learning in regular classrooms. It enables disabled children to enter ordinary primary schools near their home and receive nine-year compulsory education,33 and it also includes a lot of disabled children who were rejected out of the door of schools in the past. Learning in regular classrooms is usually regarded as belonging to inclusive education.34 However, the practice of learning in regular classrooms existed in China, especially in rural areas a long time ago. As early as the 1950s, some rural schools allowed local disabled children learn in regular classrooms,35 however, it was the result of limited educational resources rather than a reasonable policy design. The concept of learning in regular classrooms appeared for the first time in official national documents in 1987. In December 1987, National Education Committee clearly proposed that “the majority of light mentally retarded children should learn in regular classrooms in ordinary schools” in Teaching Plan of Full-Time Special Schools (draft version for soliciting comments) (全日制弱智学校（班）教学计划). In the 1988 first national special education conference, the state changed the practice of enrolling special students learning in regular classrooms in ordinary schools into a policy of developing special education. The promulgation of the policy of learning in regular classrooms came from the situation where the resources for special education in China lagged far behind the needs of the popularization of special education. A national survey of the disabled in 1987 showed that there were 8 million disabled children at the right ages of schooling; however, the quantity and scale of special schools at that time were far from enough to meet the huge demand. Moreover, constructing new and expanding old special schools were impossible due to limited financial and material resources. Under such circumstances, ordinary educational institutions had to recruit disabled children to schools near their homes and allow learning in regular classrooms. Since 1987, the Chinese government has conducted experimental projects in 15 counties and cities in order to find a method of mainstreaming disabled children with Chinese characteristics. After several 33 Deng Meng, “Inclusive Education in the Eyes of Special Education Administrators: Research on Implementation of Learning in Regular Classroom,” Special Education in China 4 (2004): 41. 34 Hua Guodong, “Present Situation and Development Trends of Children Learning in Regular Classroom,” Education Research 2 (2003): 65. 35 Xiao Fei, “Learning in Regular Classroom in China: History, Present, and Future,” Special Education in China 3 (2005): 4.

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years of experiment and research, the National Education Committee issued Temporary Measures on “Learning in Regular Classrooms” for Disabled Children and Adolescents (关于开展残疾儿童少年随班就读工作的试行 办法) in 1994, which marks the formulation of policy framework of Learning in Regular Classrooms. 3.3.2. Contextual Analysis of the Policy The National Education Committee issued Temporary Measures on “Learning in Regular Classrooms” for Disabled Children and Adolescents in 1994. The following will analyze the main contents of the policy. Main Contents: Temporary Measures on “Learning in Regular Classrooms” for Disabled Children and Adolescents has 7 parts and 36 articles, including general principles, targets, enrollment, education requirements, training of teachers, working with parents, and education administration. In the target section, it stipulates that the targets of learning in regular classrooms are disabled children including the disability of sight (including blind and low vision), hearing and language (including the deaf and the hard of hearing), and mental ability (mild, and schools with better conditions can enroll the moderate cases). It also has provisions on departments of test and certification, staff, and process. In the enrollment section, it stipulates sites, ages, and number of students in each class, etc. In the section on education requirements, it states objectives of education, teaching contents, teaching materials, teaching principles, and evaluation for those children learning in regular classrooms. In the section on training teachers, it provides qualification of teachers, training, evaluation of work, and rewards. In the section on education management, it prescribes that education administrative departments at local levels should draft plans and provisions based on research in order to set up an objective responsibility system. It requires administrative departments to increase allocation and concern about the special needs of the practice of learning in regular classrooms from the following aspects, such as teachers’ quota and workload, teaching materials, and books, etc. General Comments: Temporary Measures on “Learning in Regular Classrooms” for Disabled Children and Adolescents is China’s first document on this subject. It is still in its stage of exploration and is yet to be perfected.

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(1) About Policy Targets According to the general principle part of Temporary Measures, learning in regular classrooms is regarded as one of the “major measures to develop and popularize compulsory education for disabled children in our country.” Its main objectives are: enrolling disabled children and adolescents in the schools nearest to their residences, raising the enrollment rate of disabled children and adolescents, and popularizing compulsory education. Considering the situation at that time, these objectives were appropriate. The enrollment rate increased to 62.5% during the Eighth Five-Year period; henceforth, enrollment opportunities were an issue to be considered first priority. (2) Measures of Fulfilling the Objectives From the content of Temporary Measures, the document touches upon funding, facilities, and training of teachers; however, they are not detailed and have too much operational flexibility. For example, “township primary schools with better conditions or schools with more disabled students learning in regular classrooms need to gradually set up studying rooms, and purchase necessary teaching materials, rehabilitation equipments and reading materials.” Another example, “educational administrative departments at all levels should gradually increase financial input for disabled children learning in regular classrooms, and be concerned about the special needs of the practice of learning in regular classrooms from the following aspects, such as teachers’ quotas and workload, teaching materials, books, etc. These general provisions are difficult to implement and supervise because they are too general and have too much flexibility. In fact, investigations show that shortage of funding and lack of necessary knowledge and skills of teachers are two major obstacles hindering the work of learning in regular classrooms.36 In the area of quality and evaluation of learning in regular classrooms, Temporary Measures stipulates that administrative staff, researchers, and teachers should be organized into a research group to actively study the educational practice of learning in regular classrooms in order to improve the teaching quality. However, Temporary Measures does not offer any appraisal indicators, which makes this provision simply just talk. Moreover, it has no clear regulations on supervision and responsibilities. For example, there is an article stating that “schools are not

36 Wang Zhu, Yang Xijie, Zhang Chong, “Investigations on Elements Effecting Quality of Learning in Regular Classroom,” Special Education in China 5 (2006): 8–9.

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allowed to suspend disabled students learning in regular classrooms if there are not any special reasons . . .”; however, no articles stipulate punishment for such behaviors. 3.3.3. Analysis on Implementation and Outcomes Implementation of the Policy: A Learning Process from Top to Bottom Learning in regular classrooms is a new thing, and its implementation process is accompanied with a top-to-bottom learning process. The Ministry of Education has taken various measures to promote it throughout the whole nation, such as, promulgation, experiments, summaries, and the spread of experiences. In 1994, the primary education bureau of the National Education Committee held a conference in Yancheng City in Jiangsu Province, clearly defining the obligations of governments, ordinary schools, and special schools. The Ministry of Education has motivated the experiment of learning in regular classrooms in different places many times, and organized seminars, conferences, and research during the implementation period. In addition, the Beijing office of UNICEF has also played an active role in promoting the work of learning in regular classrooms by developing projects, such as, “education for children with the need of special education,” and “golden key projects of children with sight problems to learn in regular classrooms.” All these experiments, pioneering projects, research, and conferences can be regarded as a process of understanding, implementing, advocating, adjusting, and consolidating the policy. In 2002, after 8 years of implementation, Li Lianning, director of the primary education bureau of the Ministry of Education, summarized the experiences and emphasized the following four aspects: first, the obligations of governments in promoting learning in regular classrooms; second, social participation, social promotion, and social coordination; third, the key role that special schools played in promoting and expanding the work; and fourth, capacity building. When these are fulfilled, a working model of the policy of learning in regular classrooms will become mature. Policy Analysis of the Outcome of Learning in Regular Classrooms The biggest achievement of learning in regular classrooms is to raise the

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enrollment rate of compulsory education for disabled children and adolescents.37 Statistics in 1993 showed that there were 688,000 disabled students learning in regular classrooms for the first time.38 According to the China Education Yearbook, the number increased to 230,000 at the end of 2005, a net increase of 160,000 students compared to 1993. During the Eighth Five-Year Plan (1991–1995), the enrollment rate reached 62.5%, and at the end of the Tenth Five-Year Plan (2001–2005), 17.5% was added and the rate reached 80%.39 In general, learning in regular classrooms has an effective security mechanism generating good results. The practice has not only promoted mainstreaming of disabled children, but has also created a good social environment to help the disabled and the poor.4041

Column 3.2. Research and Data on Learning in Regular Classrooms Questionnaires made by Qian Lixia and Jiang Xiaoying (2004) show that major achievements of learning in regular classrooms include the following: a powerful security mechanism; a better learning environment for the class; better development of communication skills for disabled children; teachers’ devotion, and capacity of planning individual education; benefits to disabled children; no side effects for ordinary students and regular teaching; and good appraisal and evaluation work. Their research also shows that the security system for learning in regular classrooms is powerful. About 93.5% of those sampled state that “setting up a resource classroom has a special function for disabled children.” About 81.8% of those sampled agree that “the policy on learning in regular classrooms has the function of guiding practical work,” which powerfully promotes the development of learning in regular classrooms.41

37 Hua Guodong, “Present Situation and Development Tendency of Disabled Children Learning in Regular Classroom,” Education Research 2 (2003): 65. 38 Xie Jingren, “Expanding Scale and Raising Quality of Learning in Regular Classroom,” Education Research 10 (2003): 9. 39 “Report on Implementation of Major Indicators for China Disabled Persons’ Enterprise (1988–2005),” June 6, 2006, http://temp.cdpk.cn/doc/2004-06-06. 40 Li Zhen, Yu Lin, “Report on National Conference of Working Experience Sharing of Learning in Regular Classroom,” Modern Special Education 1 (2003): 4. 41 Qian Lixia and Jiang Xiaoying, “Quantitative Report on the Evaluation of the Development of Learning in Regular Classroom,” Special Education in China 1 (2003): 4.

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There are many studies that focus on the attitudes to learning in regular classrooms, and many different groups of people are included, such as teachers, parents, students, and enrolled students in normal universities. Since questionnaires, sampling methods, and representatives of samples are different, the results are also different. Column 3.3. Research and Data (2) Peng Xiaguang’s (2004) study on teachers’ attitudes to learning in regular classrooms showed that teachers in special schools generally took a positive attitude to learning in regular classrooms; however, a certain misunderstanding, prejudice, and even inclination toward rejection and isolation still exist. Teachers with junior and middle professional rank were more positive than teachers with senior rank.42 Deng Meng (2004) found that teachers in rural and urban areas obviously differed on their understanding and attitudes to inclusive education. For example, urban teachers noticed more drawbacks of inclusive education than rural teachers, and rural teachers have more positive attitudes to inclusive education.43

3.3.4. Main Problems and Recommendations The Scale of Learning in Regular Classrooms Should Be Expanded The number of students in learning in regular classrooms is still limited compared to the total number of disabled children and adolescents. The total number of disabled children and adolescents between the ages of 7 and 15 years old was estimated at 2.37 million in 1995.44 Disabled children between the ages of 0 and 17 years old were 11.7 million in 2006, about 3% of the total children in the country.45 In the same year, disabled children enrolled in schools were only 360,000, which

42 Peng Xiaguang, “Research on Attitudes of Teachers to Disabled Children Learning in Regular Classroom in Special Schools,” Special Education in China 4 (2000): 19–20. 43 Deng Meng, “Comparative Study on Rural and Urban Teachers’ Attitudes to Inclusive Education in Ordinary Primary Schools,” Education Research and Experiment 1 (2004): 62. 44 Xie Jingren, “Expanding the Scale and Improving Quality of Learning in Regular Classroom,” Modern Special Education 10 (2003): 9. 45 Chen Yunying, Psychology, Education, Rehabilitation of Mentally Disabled Children (Beijing, Higher Education Publishing House, 2007), 183.

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illustrated that large numbers of disabled children had not entered ordinary middle or primary schools. Educational Quality Needs Improvement Learning in regular classrooms is still in its initial stage in China. The quantity of students is limited. The quality of teaching is comparatively low. The work of learning in regular classrooms has imbalanced development in different regions. Some students are just “sitting in regular classrooms” instead of “learning in regular classrooms,” which led to increasing dropouts of disabled children from schools. Take 2001 to 2004 as an example; the enrollment rate of special schools increased annually, while the number of enrolled disabled children learning in regular classrooms in ordinary schools decreased. Due to the low quality of learning in regular classrooms, some disabled children returned to special schools.46 Supporting Systems and Mechanisms Should Be Improved The quality of learning in regular classrooms is influenced by many factors. The improvement of learning in regular classrooms is a systematic project, which should be established to raise its quality. Although the state has issued regulations and laws, such as Temporary Measures on Learning in Regular Classrooms for Disabled Children and Adolescents (关于开展残疾儿 童少年随班就读工作的试行办法) and the Law on Compulsory Education of PRC (义务教育法), which have clear stipulations on learning in regular classrooms, they have limited power due to a lack of detailed and enforceable stipulations. Besides, polices on administrative obligations, education resources and funding, and key role of special schools are far from enough.47 Training of Professional Teachers Should Be Strengthened Training professional teachers is an important element to guaranteeing the quality of learning in regular classrooms. Temporary Measures on Learning in Regular Classrooms for Disabled Children and Adolescents have stipulations on qualifications, training, appraisal, and reward for professional teachers

46 Meng Wanjin, Liu Zaihua, and Liu Yujuan, “Taking Effective Measures to Promote Equal Rights and Fair Education Opportunities for Disabled Children,” Special Education in China 4 (2007): 3. 47 Wang Zhu, Yang Xijie, and Zhang Chong, “Research on Effecting Elements on Quality of Disabled Children Learning in Regular Classroom,” Special Education in China 5 (2006): 3.

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Column 3.4. Research and Data (3) Qian Lixia (2004) found through surveying that the main functions of educational administrative departments at all levels were organization and management. Of the sample, 40.3% thought their management is not effective enough; only 11.7% of the investigated agreed that the “majority of learning in regular classrooms schools could provide enough education resources.” This illustrates that the majority of ordinary schools seriously lack educational resources.48 Deng Meng’s study (2004) showed that those surveyed thought there were not enough funds and facilities for learning in regular classrooms in local schools, and they even believed that there were almost no teaching supplementary equipments for disabled children in the province. More funding was needed to construct school buildings, purchase facilities, and solve other problems. This study summarized key elements to develop learning in regular classrooms: the attention of leaders; enough funding; and supportive social attitudes and circumstances.49

involved in the work of learning in regular classrooms. Temporary Measures requires that ordinary teachers’ schools have special education courses from time to time in order to train more teachers to be capable with the work. However, with a lack of enforcement power, in reality, these articles can hardly be implemented; hence training of professional teachers is still a huge problem schools face. General Evaluation and Reflection of Learning in Regular Classrooms The policy of learning in regular classrooms is suitable not only for the international trend of special education, but for China as well. The success of the practice has proved that “learning in regular classrooms is a successful endeavor made by our primary educators, especially professional teachers in the field of special education.”50 Learning in regular classrooms has raised the enrollment rate of compulsory education for disabled children and promoted the development of special education. It has also positively influenced China’s education system, including ordinary education, thoughts and ideas of education, teaching methods, 48 Xie Jingren, “Expanding the Scale and Improving Quality of Learning in Regular Classroom,” Modern Special Education 10 (2003): 9. 49 Qian Lixia and Jiang Xiaoying, “Quantitative Report on the Evaluation of the Development of Learning in Regular Classroom,” Special Education in China 1 (2003): 4. 50 Deng Meng, “Inclusive Education in the Eyes of Special Education Administrators,” Education Research and Experiment 4 (2004): 43.

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Wang Zhu et al., (2006) showed that a low level of teaching is a serious problem faced by those learning in regular classrooms. The study concluded that the direct reason for the low quality of learning in regular classrooms is that ordinary teachers hold a low professional level of special education. Namely, first, there is an insufficient quantity of experienced professional teachers in ordinary schools. Second, the quality of teachers is not high. Third, there is a varied distribution of teachers in different regions.51 Deng Meng’s study (2004) showed that, on the aspect of training the teachers for learning in regular classrooms, administrators thought special education training “lacked systematic arrangement and planning; some districts did it while others did not.” The majority of school principals in urban cities were not satisfied with the training and thought it should be more systematic; school principles in rural areas complained about a shortage of trained teachers and thought the training could not keep up with the fast development of learning in classrooms. One school principal said that many teachers were not trained, and trained teachers changed their jobs.52

and appraisal, etc. The policy is still in its initial stage, which requires improvements in deliberation, enforceability, and restriction power. For example, subjects of learning in regular classrooms at present are the blind, deaf-mute, and mentally disabled children. Such a category is rather limited. Provisions on fund input, allocation of teachers, and management lack enforcement power. Appraisal indicators for students learning in regular classrooms should be available. More disabled children should learn in regular classrooms, and the policy will be challenged when it meets the demands of an increased number of students. First, targets of special education should be expanded as customers of special education are going to include more special needs children in the twenty-first century; it should be limited to the traditional three types of disable children. Second, with social and economic development, demand for professional teachers and other resources should be higher. Hence, relevant policies should be improved and perfected, including amendments to laws and regulations. Deng Meng, “Inclusive Education in the Eyes of Special Education Administrators,” Education Research and Experiment 4 (2004): 44. 52 Wang Zhu, Yang Xijie, and Zhang Chong, “Research on Effecting Elements on Quality of Disabled Children Learning in Regular Classroom,” Special Education in China 5 (2006): 3. 51

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We suggest that a particular law on special education be issued and learning in regular classrooms be written into it. Temporary Measures should be amended before a new law is issued. There are several aspects that can be improved: expanding service categories and objects; adding more articles on educational quality; making detailed appraisal indicators according to categories of handicap of students; creating detailed provisions regarding funding; and creating clearer articles on punishment. 3.4. International and Taiwanese Experiences 3.4.1. Legislative Experiences of Special Education Specialized Laws on Special Education Some developed countries and countries surrounding China have specialized laws on special education. For example, Belgium issued the Law on Special Education in 1970 and the Law on Special Education and Integrative Education in 1986. The United States formulated the Law on Education for All Disabled Children in 1975. The Wamock Report issued in 1976 in Britain was accepted by English Parliament and became the foundation of Education Law of 1981 and 1993. The two laws constituted obligations of local education bureaus in safeguarding education rights of disabled children.53 Korea promulgated the Law on Promoting Special Education in 1977. Israel issued the Law on Special Education in 1988. The Taiwan District of China also issued the Law on Special Education in 1984. A Perfect Legal System on Special Education As an example, in Japan, the Basic Law on Disabled People is the basic law to protect the rights of disabled people. In addition, there are over ten laws in concrete areas which forms a complete legal system, including the Law on Welfare of the Disabled, the Law on Education of the Disabled, the Law on Employment Promotion of the Disabled, the Law on Occupational Training of the Disabled, the Law on Subsidies of Nurturing Disabled Children, the Law on Welfare Association of the Disabled, the Law on Mental Health, the Law on Teachers’ License, and the Law on Employment Strategies. 53 Bureau of Primary Education, “The Announcement of Distributing Reports on Working Conference of Learning in Regular Classroom,” no. 4 (2003) http://www .wxcl.org/wxcl/Default.aspx.

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Constant Amendments of Education Legality For example, Taiwan pays a lot of attention to protect disabled children’s rights in feeding, schooling, medical care, and employment. The Law on Special Education was amended three times. Educational administrative bodies promulgated Implementation Measures on Special Education Law in 1987 to make the law more applicable. In 1997, the highest educational administrative department in Taiwan added the idea of psychological handicap to special education and amended the law. The Law on Special Education has 33 articles. Major amendments cover: two types of physically and psychologically disordered children; autism and development delay; and preschool education expanded to include kids under 3 years old. A final major amendment stipulated that “education administrative bodies at all levels should set up special units to be responsible for special education,” which changed the history that institutions are not responsible for special education. After this first amendment, the law was amended twice in 2001 and 2004,54 which further clarified the responsibility and rights. 3.4.2. Research Progress in International Inclusive Education The Development of Inclusive Education in America The United States issued the Law on Education for All Disabled Children (PL94–142) in 1977, marking the start of mainstreaming special education. Afterwards, American inclusive education experienced four reforms, namely a return to mainstream education, active campaign of ordinary education, firstinclusive education, and second-inclusive education. The amended American law on special education (Education Law for Capacity Disordered, IDEA—97) emphasized the importance of inclusive education from two principles of minimum limited environment and proper education, and further promoted the second-inclusive education reform. The second-inclusive reform represented interests of all handicapped students and encouraged teachers to teach according to the differences of each student. The core value of education was to provide complete service to all students with differences (including capacity-disordered students) so as to protect the interests of all students. To achieve this goal, special measures should be sought to reform ordinary education, 54 Deng Meng and Zhou Hongyu, “Proposal on Drafting Special Education Law,” Special Education in China 7 (2005): 4.

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and ordinary education and special education should find means of collaboration. The main framework of collaborative teaching is to let two or more educators shoulder the teaching task together. They design curriculum, provide teaching, and evaluate education activities through eliminating teaching for a whole class and increase effective individualized teaching. At present, schools involved in the secondinclusive education are locating disabled students in ordinary schools, and researching reconstruction of schools for the interests of all students.55 Britain’s Research Progress on Inclusive Education British inclusive studies have the following preliminary conclusions: (1) both the number of special schools and students are decreasing year by year, mainly because special schools recruit fewer students with mental and limb disability; (2) no evidence has shown that large quantities of students in special schools will be reintegrated into ordinary schools; (3) students with special needs could create social effects of inclusive education, but its academic effects are not obvious; (4) to students with special needs, attitudes of ordinary students in mainstream schools are active; (5) parents of disabled students take different views on inclusive education; (6) teachers in ordinary schools usually accept the idea of inclusive education, though when disabled students are allocated to their classes, their attitudes change; and (7) tutors play a key role in the success of inclusive education.56 Disputable problems of inclusive education are: (1) how to effectively tutor in class; (2) how to manage and train tutors; (3) how to train teachers on inclusive education in ordinary schools; (4) how to reform special schools so that the education system pays more attention to inclusive education; and (5) choice and attitude of students with special needs to inclusive education. The Inclusive Education Progress in Latin America Mexico and Chile have been trying to abide by international policies and in the past ten years, have focused on integration and children with special educational needs. Based on the model for inclusion promoted by the Salamanca Declaration in 1994, the two countries shifted the focus from clinical services 55 Zhang Jifa and Li Xianzhi, “Legalization and Inspirations of Special Education Law in Taiwan,” Hua Zhong Normal University Journal 2 (2006): 16–18. 56 Tong Yuehua, “Development Process of Inclusive Education in America,” Jinan University Journal 12.1 (2002): 77–79.

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to education. In Chile, integration and inclusive education have been written into laws. Learning disabilities and behavior obstacles are not seen as handicaps, but rather as temporary limited conditions. There are certain standards for certifying disability. No matter whether a child is disabled or not, if the child needs special education, it has to be provided. The state has a universal integration plan; each student can enroll in an ordinary school for regular learning. Educational institutions stipulate study plans for students. If it is approved, these institutions can get a budget for employing experts and teachers to support students and for need assessment, therefore offering specific education for specific needs. In Mexico, special education serves temporary and long-lasting disabled individuals as well as gifted children.57 3.4.3. Inspirations and Implications of International and Taiwanese Experiences Special Legislation on Special Education Special education requires special support. The highest level of policy, the formulation of law, needs to be put into force. China needs to draft detailed and enforceable laws on special education. Enlightenment of Progress in Inclusive Education The international society has accepted and promoted the idea of inclusive education. We should learn from international experiences to strengthen international cooperation and communication, promote the progress of inclusive education, and fulfill educational fairness. 3.5. Policy Recommendations 3.5.1. Speeding up the Legislation Construction of Special Education Speeding Up Promulgation of the Law on Special Education of the PRC (特殊 教育法) China does not have a specialized law on special education. We must speed up the process of drafting such a law. In this law, there shall be definite articles on government’s obligation, the category and

57 Huang Zhicheng and Wang Wei, “Present Situation of Inclusive Education Research in Britain,” Foreign Education Research 3 (2002): 15–16.

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certification of disabled children, subjects that will organize special education, input of funds, qualification of teachers, and legal obligations, etc., to ensure its feasibility and operability. Making Amendments to Existing Laws and Regulations We must amend relevant laws and regulations. In the meantime, we should enhance propaganda of these laws and regulations in order to strengthen the law enforcement power. 3.5.2. Adopting Effective Measures to Promote Special Education The financial investment system on special education is the basic guarantee for promoting educational fairness for disabled children. The budget for special education, especially national financial education funding, should be annually and stably increased. The ratio of investment in education funding for compulsory education of disabled children, as well as the ratio of spending, should be increased. In addition, obtaining funds through various channels of donation should be encouraged. The government should abide by the principle of “special funding for special purpose,” and effectively use limited resources. The government must enhance training and nurture professional teachers. A shortage of professional teachers of special education and a low quality of them has negatively influenced the quality of special education. Demand for professional teachers will increase with the development of special education. We should “repair the house before it rains” to take actions before it is too late. During the Eleventh FiveYear period (2008–2010), the state has paid much attention to the construction of special schools in the middle and western regions. The state plans to build 190 comprehensive or single special schools in the middle and western regions where the population exceeds 300 thousand at the county level. We can imagine that an urgent need for special teachers is going to come. Thus we need to take action and make comprehensive plans to take various measures to train teachers. The national education system must achieve a balanced development of compulsory education for disabled children and ordinary children. To popularize compulsory education for disabled children, we should narrow the gap between rural and urban areas and regional disparity to promote a balanced development. Educational initiatives must establish more preschool education for disabled children and develop secondary vocational training for

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disabled children so they can recover at an early stage to be self-independent and adapt to society. 3.5.3. Problems that Emerged Due to the Wenchuan Earthquake During the report-writing period, Wenchuan of Sichuan province had an 8.0 earthquake on May 12, 2008. Nearly 70,000 people died and 370,000 people were injured. It is estimated that a large number of school children may be handicapped for the rest of their lives. The emergence of a large quantity of limb-handicapped children will raise new problems for special education. The issue should be included in the overall plan of reconstruction after the earthquake disaster. This will stimulate us to issue more supportive and operational policies to promote the development of special education. We should grasp the opportunity to push the policy of special education to a higher level. We propose the following suggestions. (1) Relevant departments should include children with limb disabilities in the category of learning in regular classrooms. Temporary Measures of Learning in Regular Classrooms for Disabled Children and Adolescents issued in 1994 stipulates that the objects of learning in regular classrooms are disabled children including those with sight disability (including blind and low vision), hearing and language disability (including the deaf and the hard of hearing), and mental disability (mild, and schools with better conditions can enroll the moderate cases). In practice, limb-disabled children are also included in special education. Therefore, we suggest that related governing bodies unveil and supplement the Sichuan local policy of learning in regular classrooms to clearly list out limb disability as a separate category. If the policy is not clear, the education of children with limb disabilities will possibly encounter concrete problems. (2) Active measures shall be taken to promote law enforcement. Provision 1 of Article 6 of the Revised Compulsory Education Law of the PRC in 2006 stipulates that “the State Council and local government at the county level and above shall allocate education resources reasonably, . . . to ensure that disabled children and children with financial difficulties obtain compulsory education.” Provision 3.4 of Article 21 of the Law of the PRC on the Protection of Disabled Persons promulgates that “the government, society, and schools should take effective actions to solve actual problems that disabled children and adolescents encountered in schooling so as to assist them to complete compulsory education. People’s governments at all levels should provide free textbooks

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for the disabled and poor students from families with disabled persons, and give subsidy for their accommodation during the compulsory education period. For those students who receive educations beyond compulsory education, governments at all levels shall provide subsidies to them in accordance with state standards.” On one hand, these laws and regulations should be propagandized; on the other hand, enforcement should be strengthened. Especially in the earthquake hazard region, those injured children have to bear the double burden of handicap and loss of relatives; their body, mind, and spirit need to recover. For those originally disabled children and adolescents, they also experience a certain loss to their lives and properties. Under such circumstances, the government, society, and schools must take effective measures to solve their actual problems and help them complete compulsory education through measures of policy preference, financial subsidies, professional teachers’ assistance, and psychological counseling. (3) “Ordinary schools should recruit capable disabled children at the proper age to learn in regular classrooms and assist them in learning and rehabilitation.” In fact, this is provision 2 of Article 19 in the revised Law on Compulsory Education of the PRC. Each ordinary school is obligated to implement it—especially schools in earthquake-affected regions. First, schools should actively recruit disabled children who are capable of receiving ordinary education when they are at the proper age. Second, having accepted disabled children, conditions on campus should be improved. Especially for those limb-disabled students, who may need wheelchairs, ordinary schools should be renovated into nobarrier campuses. For example, ordinary schools have the responsibility to construct pathways, toilets and elevators to meet the special needs of the disabled. Third, resource classrooms should be set up, teachers need to be allocated, and necessary facilities and rehabilitation equipments should be provided in order to improve the functions of resource classrooms. Fourth, medical care should be combined with special education. Schools should stipulate rehabilitation plans for students learning in regular classrooms and implement these plans on schedule. Fifth, study buddies should be allocated to disabled students to help them study and recover. Sixth, psychological aid should be offered in the aftermath of the earthquake. Seventh, occupational training and employment guidance should be provided to senior disabled students learning in regular classrooms in high school. Eighth, school leaders, teachers, and society should care about disabled children learning in regular classrooms.

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In general, all of society should adopt a variety of measures to ensure the quality of life and study for disabled students, in order to avoid the situation of “sitting in regular classrooms” as opposed to “learning in regular classrooms.” To serious handicapped children, who cannot enroll in schools, local special education centers and resource classrooms should create opportunities and deliver education straight to the door. Moreover, both ordinary and special schools after the disaster must establish no-barrier schools. Appendix 3.1. Case Study: A Case Study of Learning in Regular Classrooms in a Primary School in Xuanwu District, Beijing 1. Background In March 2008, we started our research in one primary school in the Xuanwu district, Beijing, in order to understand the related issues of practice and development of the policy of learning in regular classrooms. 2. Method This study selected Shangxiejie Primary School as the research object, and two methods of questionnaire surveys and interviews are mainly used. The research participants include students, teachers, parents, and school principals. 3. Results and Discussions Basic Information on the Primary School Shangxiejie Primary School in Xuanwu District, Beijing merged with Xuanwaidajie Primary School in 2004. It took over research tasks of the learning base for hearing disabled children from the latter. The school has 39 full-time teachers, 11 classrooms, and 257 students. History of Learning in Regular Classrooms The state started the learning in regular classrooms experiment in 1987. During the first national conference on special education in 1988, the state decided to formally recruit special students learning in regular classrooms in ordinary schools as a policy of developing special education. One of the earliest

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schools to be involved, Beijing Xuanwaidajie Primary School started the practice in 1989. The school built up resource classrooms in 2002 and renewed facilities in 2006 and 2007. In 1977, the school had five students learning in regular classrooms. In 2008, there were thirteen. Seven have hearing abilities, four have mental disabilities, and there are two students with autism. The school has recruited fifty disabled children in the past twenty years and more than forty of them have been enrolled in middle schools. Implementation Effects of Learning in Regular Classrooms The school has obvious achievements in the work of learning in regular classrooms in the following aspects: a well-formed supporting system of learning in regular classrooms; well functioning resource classrooms; a good environment; good quality of teachers; educational effects of teaching; and parent-teacher collaboration. There are two main aspects reflected on students’ study effects. (1) Situation of Students Learning in Regular Classrooms The majority of disabled students in the school entered middle ordinary schools after graduation and achieved better development. For example, Wang, a student with a hearing impairment is now studying at university. Xu, another student with hearing disability was awarded as one of the “Ten Best Young Pioneers in Xuanwu District” in 2005. Chai, a healthy student who had been a study buddy for a student learning in regular classrooms for several years, was also awarded as one of the “Ten Best Young Pioneers in Beijing” in 2006. Now disabled children learning in regular classrooms are accepted by their fellow students, teachers, and parents. One hundred percent of disabled students are willing to study in ordinary schools; they have friends and feel happy at school. They think they can learn more and make greater progress in school. Over half of the disabled students make obvious progress in communication and language skills. But they still lack self-reliance, life skills, and independent learning ability. (2) Development Condition of Ordinary Children In general, ordinary children in classes of learning in regular classrooms develop well and have not had a negative influence from disabled children. The majority of parents believed that students learning in regular classrooms stimulated teaching activities in classrooms and encouraged healthy children. All these are positive factors for the development of ordinary students. About 93.33% of parents believed that “disabled children in class can stimulate their children’s growth.” Half of parents

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believed that the existence of disabled children promotes “cherishing health” (71.11%), “self-reliance” (57.78%), “communication abilities” (57.78%), “will” (55.56%), “gratitude” (55.56%), and “harder studying” (51.11%) in ordinary students. 4. Discussion Reasons of Success: Experience in Policy Implementation Interviews and surveys showed that the school succeeded in implementing the policy of learning in regular classrooms, because the Xuanwu district paid attention to the work and actively put it into practice, guided by national policy. Utilizing Administrative Resources First, the Xuanwu district drafted detailed local policy and strengthened management. In accordance with relevant national and Beijing policies, the Xuanwu District Education Committee issued 5 local documents from 1992 to 1996, which covered enrollment, teaching and education, teaching materials, management, teachers’ training, subsidies, and rewards. For example, in 1992, the Xuanwu district promulgated the Basic Requirements for Learning in Regular Classrooms for Mentally Retarded Children of the Educational Bureau of the Xuanwu District (宣武区教育局关于对弱智儿童随班就读工作的 基本要求) two years earlier than the state one. Another example, the Xuanwu district stipulated Detailed Administrative Regulations on Learning in Regular Classrooms for Disabled Children (宣武区残疾儿童少年随班就读 管理工作细则) in 1998. These were early efforts in this field.58 Second, the district paid attention to administrative promotion, professional guidance, and technical support. For example, the district formed a guiding system consisting of district leaders, a head-ofeducation committee, and relevant staff. A management group and a research team were also formed.59 Elements Related to the School Itself First, the school has advanced the idea and created a good environment. The school abided by ideas of “promoting a foundation on research, emphasizing comprehensive 58 Todd V. Fletcher, From Mexico To Chile: Assessing the Advance of Inclusion in Two Latin American Republics, (2007). 59 Beijing Xuanwu Education Committee, Collected Documents on Special Education in Xuanwu District (2001): 73–82.

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participation, facing all students, treating difference well, meeting demands, and promoting development” to develop learning in regular classrooms. Second, the school had a good support system. The school established a working mechanism and management network. It perfected regulations on learning in regular classrooms. It also had good resource classrooms and cooperating mechanisms between parents and the school. The school principal, having many years of experience in special education, has played an important role in promoting the policy. He used to do administrative work in a special school for mentally disabled children, and has a rich experience in special education and the idea of inclusive education, special teachers’ management, and psychology of disabled students. All these have proven to be convenient in the work.Third, teachers’ training had distinguished features. The school has made efforts in raising teachers’ ability by training them in and out of the school, which improved the professional capacity of teachers. Investigations showed that all teachers that were involved in this work (in total, thirty teachers, including one resource teacher) got support and help from experts, school leaders, and peer colleges. Problems Still Exist Which Reflect Policy Inadequacy Investigation showed that the school faces the following problems: (1) a shortage of funds, and resource rooms require more input, and second, subsidies for teachers are low; (2) the professional level of special teachers should be raised; (3) research should be done on how to promote coordination between school teachers and parents and how to guide parents to train students at home; and (4) the size of classes is too large for teachers to care individually for each student. The above problems are common problems in implementing learning in regular classrooms, which reflect that the policy has dim or even no regulations on issues such as funding allocation, professional teachers, maximum number of students per class, and training for parents, etc. General provisions have led to many problems because of too much flexibility, too much freedom, and no enforcement. 5. Conclusions and Inspirations (1) The school has solved educational problems for some disabled children by implementing the learning in regular classrooms policy. This proves that the basic idea of the policy is correct.

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(2) Administrative support and active implementation of the school has guaranteed good results. (3) Experiences and lessons learned in this school shall be useful to the amendment of the policy.

The investigated district and school is a pioneering site. It has its priority in administrative and financial input as well as theoretical guidance. It is hard to generalize for the whole country. However, it is still significant to understand the quality and problems of learning in regular classrooms. Appendix 3.2. Related Laws, Regulations, and Documents on Special Education The following table lists main laws, regulations, and documents on special education since the reform era in time sequence.

Appendix 3.2, Table 1. Main Laws, Regulations, and Documents on Special Education since the Reform Era in Time Sequence Item

Name and promulgation Main contents date

Background, significance, general comments

(1)

Constitution of the PRC Article 45 claims: The (1982) (中华人民共和 state and society help make 国宪法) arrangement for the work, livelihood, and education for the blind, deaf-mute, and other handicapped citizens.

Education for the disabled is written into the constitution for the first time. This marks that the state has paid attention to education of the disabled. It also has an important significance in promoting legalization in China.

(2)

Compulsory Education Law of the PRC (1986) (中华 人民共和国义务教育 法) and Implementation Regulations (1992) (实施 细则)

Article 9 stipulates: “Local people’s governments shall set up special schools (or classes) for children and adolescents who are blind, deaf-mute, and retarded.” The National Education Committee issued Implementation Regulations of Compulsory Education Law of the PRC (中华人民共和国义务教 育法实施细则) in 1992. It has stipulations on the age of enrollment structure of special schools, qualification of teachers, etc.

Enrollment of disabled children was the top problem requiring solution at that time in order to develop special education, and that the government should establish special schools is the important precondition of solving schooling problems. Therefore Article 9 is important in that it included special education in the progress of compulsory education. But there are not direct regulation on other aspects of disabled children accepting compulsory education.

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Appendix 3.2, Table 1 (cont.) Item

Name and promulgation Main contents date

Background, significance, general comments Compared to the law, the Implementation Regulations is more detailed, and more enforceable in developing special education. In general, the Compulsory Education Law of 1986 and Implementation Regulations of 1992 did not have clear provisions on the divisions of obligations of governments at different levels, education fund input, reward, and punishment systems.

(3)

Several Opinions on Developing Special Education (1989) (关于发展特殊教 育的若干意见)

The document elaborates the importance of special education. It raises 22 opinions from the three aspects on guidelines and policy, objectives and tasks, and leadership and management. In the part of leadership and management, it states, “Under the leadership of people’s governments at all levels, educational departments shall coordinate with departments of Civil Affairs, Public Health, Labor, Finance, the disabled persons’ Federation, etc., to work for special education. It has a division of obligations of different departments.

It was the first guideline document specialized in education on disabled people. The First National Survey for Disabled People showed that there were 51.64 million disabled people in China in 1987, among which 6.25 million were between the ages of 6 and 14, also right age for compulsory education. However, special education in China was far behind with actual needs, and the enrollment rate of blind and deaf-mute children at their right age for compulsory education was only 6%.60 To promote the development of special education in China, the first national conference on special education was held in 1988 to discuss developmental issues. The conference issued Several Opinions on Developing Special Education, which was approved by the State Council. The document is a landmark in China’s special

60 Opinions on Developing Special Education, issued by Ministry of Civil Affairs, Ministry of Finance, http://www.edu.cn/html/c/fagui/article/131.shtml; Pan Lei and Zhang Yanshu, “Perfecting Supporting System of Learning in Regular Classroom: Promoting Development of Special Education in Xuanwu District,” Special Education in China, 1 (2008): 92–93.

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Appendix 3.2, Table 1 (cont.) Item

Name and promulgation Main contents date

Background, significance, general comments education field. It answered the following key questions, such as how to develop special education; objectives of special education, and who administrates it, etc.

(4)

Law of the Peoples’ Republic of China on the Protection of Disabled Persons (1990) (中华人民共和国残疾 人保障法)

The law has 94 articles and 9 chapters, including an appendix, on general principles, rehabilitation, education, employment, cultural lives, welfare, environment, and legislative responsibility. There are 9 articles in chapter 3 about education for disabled people. Article 18 stipulates that “the state protect the education rights of disabled people . . . . The state, society, schools and families provide compulsory education to disabled children . . .” In addition, the law also has stipulations on educational policy, measures of implementing the policy, and training of professional teachers, etc.

This is the first law on protection of disabled people’s rights. It is beneficial to safeguard the legal interests of disabled people and equal rights for them to participate in social life and share social and material achievements. Based on Several Opinions on Developing Special Education (1989), the Law of the PRC on the Protection of Disabled Persons (1990) has stipulations on educational policy, teaching modes and institutions for the disabled persons, and training of professional teachers, etc. The law guarantees stability and effects of relevant policies.

(5)

Regulations on Education for Disabled People (1994) (残疾人教育条例)

The regulation has 52 articles and 9 chapters. There are 9 articles on general principles; 3 on preschool education; 10 on compulsory education; 6 on occupational education; 6 on ordinary high school education and above, and education for adults; 8 on teachers; 6 on materials conditions; 2 on rewards and punishment; and 2 on supplementary articles.

This is the first administrative regulation on education for disabled people. It is drafted according to the Law of the PRC on the Protection of Disabled Persons and relevant laws on education. It aims to better guarantee education rights of disabled people and develop special education. Compared with the Law of the PRC on the Protection of Disabled Persons, the regulation bears the same spirit with the law, but has detailed provisions on aspects of education for disabled people. For example, it emphasizes the guidelines of developing

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Appendix 3.2, Table 1 (cont.) Item

Name and promulgation Main contents date

Background, significance, general comments special education and regulates it from all stages including preschool, compulsory education, occupational education, ordinary high school education and above, and adult education. It has detailed stipulations on material conditions, rewards, and punishment. But some stipulations are too general.

(6)

Temporary Measures on “Learning in Regular Classrooms” for Disabled Children and Adolescents (1994) (关于开 展残疾儿童少年随班就 读工作的试行办法)

The document has 7 parts and 36 articles. The 7 parts are general principles, objects, enrollment, education requirements, training of teachers, working with parents, and education administration.

This is an important policy for ensuring compulsory education rights of disabled children. The document regards learning in regular classrooms as a major school-running measure to develop and popularize compulsory education for disabled children in China. It aims to raise the school rate of disabled children, and regulate and promote the work of learning in regular classrooms.

(7)

Temporary Regulations on Special Education Schools (1998) (特殊教育学校暂 行规程)

It includes general principles; enrollment and management; teaching and learning; school principles; teachers and staff; health and security; institutions and daily management; school buildings; equipment and funding; school, society and family, and supplementary articles. It has 9 chapters and 68 articles.

This is the first regulation on standardized management of special schools. Its main purpose is to strengthen standardized management, completely carry through the educational policy, and raise the quality of special education. Laws and regulations in the past lack detailed stipulations on management of special schools. This regulation has a supplementary function. However its legal effect is not powerful enough.

(8)

Compulsory Education Law of PRC (amended in July 2006) (中华人民共和国 义务教育法)

The newly amended law has 8 chapters and 63 articles, and five of the 63 are about special education. Provision 1 of article 6 states, “The State Council and people’s governments at

On one hand, Compulsory Education Law of the PRC issued in 1986 stipulates in Article 9 that “local governments at all levels shall establish special schools (classes) for blind, deaf-mute,

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Appendix 3.2, Table 1 (cont.) Item

(9)

Name and promulgation Main contents date

Law of the Peoples’ Republic of China on the Protection of Disabled Persons (amended in 2008) (中华人民共和 国残疾人保障法)

Background, significance, general comments

the county level and above shall allocate education resources reasonably, promote balanced development of compulsory education . . . , to guarantee disabled children with financial difficulties compulsory education.” Provision 1 of Article 19 stipulates that “local people’s governments above the county level shall set up schools (classes) for special education to provide compulsory education for blind, deaf-mute, and mentally disabled children. Special schools (classes) shall provide sites and facilities suitable for study and rehabilitation of disabled children.” Provision 3 of Article 31 states that “special education teachers have special subsidies.” In addition, provision 3 of Article 43 and Article 57 are also about special education.

and mentally disabled children. The newly amended Compulsory Education Law of the PRC centers on promoting balanced development of compulsory education and ensuring disabled children and adolescents’ rights of receiving compulsory education. It has stipulations on five areas, namely governmental obligation, educational reforms, teacher treatment, funding input, and legal obligation. It promotes the construction of special schools, ensures normal functioning of these schools, raises education standards, improves teacher treatment, and provides the better legal guarantee of the development of special education. On the other hand, the amended law has no definite articles on funding guarantees and articles on punishment; there is also not enough related legal protection.

The amended law took effect on July 1, 2008. It has 9 chapters and 68 articles including general principles, education, rehabilitation, employment, cultural life, social life, social security, no-barrier environment, legal obligations, and supplementary articles. Among them, education is only in chapter 3 and has 9 articles.

It is an important task to construct a harmonious, socialist society to promote the development of the disabled people’s enterprise and improve their conditions. The amended law has enriched articles on prevention of discrimination against disabled people, enhanced the protections of the rights of the disabled, and improved the legal applicability and maneuverability. However, from the perspective of enforcement, after the revision of the protection law, relevant departments should study and publicize the new law; while local regulations based on the old law should be amended, refined, and improved. Enforcement of the new law should be strengthened.

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References Jifa, Zhang, and Li Xianzhi. “Legalization and Inspirations of Special Education Law in Taiwan.” Hua Zhong Normal University Journal 2 (2006): 16–18. Jingren, Xie. “Expanding Scale and Raising Quality of Learning in Regular Classroom.” Modern Special Education 10 (2003): 9. Wanjin, Meng, Liu Zaihua, and Liu Yujuan. “Taking Effective Measures to Promote Equal and Fair Education for the Disabled Children.” Special Education in China 4 (2007): 3–5. Xiaocen, Hao. “Review and Reflection of Legal Construction of Special Education in China.” Special Education in China 6 (2003): 74. Yonggang, Feng. “Practices and Reflections of Inclusive Education in China.” International Education Information 7 (2006): 32. Yunying, Chen. Psychology, Education, Rehabilitation of the Mentally Disabled. Beijing: Higher Education Publishing House, 2007. Zhen, Li, and Yulin. “Reports on the Working Experiences Sharing Conference of Learning in Regular Classroom: The Development of Special Education in the Tenth Five-Year.” Modern Special Education 1 (2003): 4–5. Zhicheng, Huang, and Wang Wei. “Present Situation of Inclusive Education in Britain.” Foreign Education Research 3 (2002): 15–16.

CHAPTER FOUR

COMPULSORY EDUCATION OF MIGRANT CHILDREN: PROBLEMS AND POLICY REACTION, FROM THE ANGLE OF EQUITY Qu Zhiyong and Wang Li 4.1. Migrant Population and Migrant Children 4.1.1. The Migrant Population in China Beginning in the 1980s, an era of large population movements started in China. The bulk of such movement was composed of rural laborers. Within the short time period of two decades, the size of the migrant population rapidly expanded. In the early 1980s, there were fewer than 2 million rural migrant laborers.1 In 1984, the central government loosened the limits placed on the rural population, regarding rural laborers entering the cities; limits on entering middle- and smallsized cities were especially loosened. That year, the migrant population reached 20 million. In the late 1980s, the TVE’s ability to absorb surplus agricultural laborers was weakened, especially in the 1990s, as China’s macroeconomic system gradually transformed from a planned economy into a market economy. The labor market in cities was further opened to rural laborers. With institutional barriers greatly lowered, the speed of rural-to-urban migration increased. And the trend toward rural labor migration was unstoppable. In 1993, there was a strong migrant population of 60 million. It reached 80 million in 1995,2 and 100 million in 2000 (see figure 4.1).3 Currently there is a 1 Chen Hao, “Rural Laborer Out-Migration and the Development of Rural Areas in China,” Population Research 4 (1996). 2 Duan Chengrong, “The Impact of Migrant Population on Social and Economic Development of Cities and Countryside,” Population Research 4 (1998). 3 The Fifth Nationwide Census indicated that the number of migrants was 144,390,000. See the data of the Fifth Nationwide Census published on the National Bureau of Statistics website http://www.stats.gov.cn/was40/gjtjj_data_outline.jsp, 2000. Some researchers calculated the number of migrants after excluding the urban

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Trend of Population (Unit ten thousand People)

Trend of Migrant Population 12000

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2000

Year Fig. 4.1. The trend of migrant population in China.

surplus of 100 million more rural laborers in the countryside that need to be transferred to non-agricultural sectors; therefore the size of the migrant population is expected to continue to grow.4 4.1.2. Migrant Children within the Migrant Population According to the Fifth National Population Census (2000), the migrant population is defined as people who have lived in places other than one’s household registration for more than half a year. For the purpose of discussing compulsory education, migrant children are defined here as people under age 14 (or 15) within the migrant population. The Size of the Migrant Children Population Has Become Increasingly Large 5 Since the 1990s, family migration (as opposed to single men and women residents whose hukou is located at a different place from where they reside. For instance, Chengrong Duan concluded that the number of migrants was 101,750,000 in 2000. See Chengrong Duan, Yujing Sun, “Changes in the Scope and Definition of the Migrant Population in China’s Censuses and Surveys”, Population Research 4 (2006). 4 Yan Lu, Suqiu Yu, “Study on Migration of Agricultural Surplus Labor Force in China”, Population Journal 1 (2006), 17–20. 5 Data on migrant children is fundamentally insufficient, especially in terms of a lack of knowledge of the base, because most local governments of the migration destinations have not set up any registration protocol for migrant children yet. The data

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Migrant Children 16

14.2

Percentage (%)

12 9.2 8

6.7

4

0 1997

2000

2006

Year Data Source: Qu Zhenwu, et al. “The latest situation and analysis of migrant population in Beijing,” Population Research, 2007(3):30–40.

Fig. 4.2. The proportion of migrant children within the migrant population in Beijing.

migration) has become more common; thus the number of migrant children has kept increasing. Using the data of the Fifth National Census, it is estimated that there are now 14.09 million migrant children under age 14,6 and among them 8.8 million are in the age period of compulsory education.[1] At present, not only is the number of migrant children high, but their proportion within migrant population is also increasing. In Beijing for example, the Beijing Migrant Census of 1997 shows that migrant children constituted only 6.7% of all migrant population. The proportion grew to 9.2% in 2000, and further jumped to 14.2% in 2006 (see figure 4.2). on migrant children referred to in this report come from different sources, including sample surveys or conducted by researchers, calculation based on relevant data and materials, scattered data maintained by some local governments, and data published on the internet or in journal articles. 6 Chengrong Duan and Hong Liang analyzed the general and educational status of migrant children using the 2000 nationwide census data. See Chengrong Duan, Hong Liang, “Status of China’s Migrant Children”, Population Research 1 (2004), 53–59.

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qu zhiyong and wang li Migrating Cross Province 24%

Migrating within County 41%

Migrating Cross Area inter-Province 35% Data Source: Duan Chengrong, Liang Hong, “The situation of migrant children in China,” Population Research 1 (2004): 53–59.

Fig. 4.3. Geographic migration patterns of migrant children.

Geographic Migration Patterns of Migrant Children Figure 4.3 shows the geographic migration patterns of children migration. It shows that 76% of migrant children, or 14 million, move by a short distance (that is to say, within their home county, and within their home province). The other 24% fall under interprovince long-distance migration. (see figure 4.3). A large proportion of migrant children originate from provinces with large labor out-migration, and move into more prosperous provinces in the eastern region. This pattern is clearer in the case of interprovince migration (see figure 4.4). Most migrant children (70.9%) hold a rural hukou (household registration). The types of home addresses of migrant children are mostly xiang and village committees, which combined, constitute 76.5% of all types. It is clear that most migrant children are from the countryside (see table 4.1). The Duration of Migrant Children Residency in Cities Most migrant children reside in cities long-term, as opposed to temporarily. Many migrant children are born and grow up in their new city. But because they do

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Provinces with Number of inward-migration and outward-migration of children (%)

14.0

13.1

12.0 10.0

12.0

11.8

10.7 9.7

9.2

8.0

9.3

7.2

6.7 5.7 5.4

6.0

6.0 6.0 5.3

4.9

5.2

4.8 4.7 4.6

4.0 2.0

Areas with high number of outward-migration

Areas of high number of inward-migration

High numbers of Cross Province outward-migration

Jiangsu

Xinjiang

Shanghai

Guangdong

Jiangxi

Hunan

Zhejiang

Anhui

Sichuan

Zhejiang

Sichuan

Shandong

Jiangsu

Guangdong

Zhejiang

Anhui

Henan

Sichuan

Guangdong

0.0

High numbers of Cross Province inward-migration

Data Source: Duan Chengrong, Liang Hong, “The situation of migrant children in China,” Population Research 1 (2004): 53–59. Note: The percentage of children of in-migration or out-migration from a province out of the total number of migrant children. Or the percentage of interprovince migration in or to a province out of the total number of interprovince children migration.

Fig. 4.4. Provinces with a high number of hukou of children. Table 4.1. The Type of Household Registration and Home Addresses of Migrant Children Type of hukou Type of home addresses

Rural Urban Xiang Village Else

70.90% 29.10% 40.60% 35.90% 23.50%

Data Source: Duan Chengrong, Liang Hong, “The situation of migrant children in China,” Population Research 1 (2004): 53–59.

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not have the local hukou of the receiving city, the rights for education of these children are not safeguarded. Their upbringing and education have become a social issue of great relevance.[2] 4.2. The Issue of Educational Equity for Migrant Children The issue of education for migrant children emerged in the 1990s and has attracted a lot of attention since then. In the blue book “The Analysis and Predictions of Social Situations in China in 2008,” compiled by CASS, it pointed out that in a development policy context that emphasizes reducing inequality, education for migrant children has become the most salient issue of education equity. Whether migrant children can receive compulsory education in equal terms with urban residents has great significance. Compulsory education is a basic education for all members of society and the cornerstone of survival and development of a nation and all of its members.[3] The result of compulsory education in turn affects entrance to and success at higher levels of education, and ultimately affects a person’s academic path and the development of one’s career and life. Whether migrant children can have equal access to their right to education determines whether this group can survive, develop, and succeed on equal terms, determines whether poverty will pass on to future generations, and determines the overall quality of future workers of cities. Migration in some degree has promoted the equality of education. A study of 3,000 school-age migrant children in 50 migrant schools shows that the in-school rate of migrant children in Beijing is higher than that of school-age children in their home origin.7 [4] Another study of 8 schools in 5 cities in Zhejiang Province shows that when asked to compare to home origin, 68.57% students stated that “it is better to go to school in the current location.”8 Students are more satisfied with

Dr. Jialing Han studied 3,864 school-age children and 102 teachers located in 50 migrant schools and 2,157 migrant families, using methodologies including questionnaire, oral history interview, focus groups interview, field observation, and literature review, from July to December, 2000. See Jiangling Han, “The Situation of Compulsory Education for Migrant Children in Beijing”, Youth Studies 8 (2001), 1–7. 8 Questionnaire survey and expert panels are utilized for the purpose of the study, which involved 6 cities in Zhejiang Province, including Hangzhou, Wenzhou, Ningbo, Jinhua, Lishui, and Quzhou. 8 schools (half of which are migrant schools and the other half are public schools) located in the former 4 cities were surveyed, using 600 questionnaires for students and guardians and 219 questionnaires for teachers. See Di 7

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current schools in terms of “campus environment, teaching conditions, study habits, and school management.”[5] The 2003 Nine-City Survey also finds that more than 80% of migrant children believe their schools in receiving cities is better than schools at home. Even in substandard migrant schools, more than half (54.3%) of students gave this answer.9 [6] These studies show that compared to migrant-sending places, the education situation of migrant children has improved. Migration has therefore improved the equality of education overall. But these results also on the side reflect the imbalance of education between urban and rural areas. Blatant inequality for compulsory education still exists for migrant children. Although when compared with their hometowns, their condition and environment for education has improved, inequalities still exist for migrant children in cities in terms of opportunity for compulsory education, educational environment, and educational outcomes. These inequalities mainly show in the following areas. 4.2.1. Access to Education Is Insufficient, the Distribution of Educational Resources Is Unequal, and the Equity of Educational Opportunities Is Unprotected A High Not-In-School Rate among Migrant Children Results from the Fifth National Census show that 4.0% of all migrant children between the ages of 6 and 11 never went to school, and another 0.8% dropped out of school. These two categories total an out-of-schooling rate of 4.8%, higher than the national average (3.3%).[7] The Nine-City survey conducted in 2003 also shows that the educational situation of migrant children is worse than the national average. The not-in-school rate of migrant children in that survey reached 9.3%.[8] The Problem of Late School Entrance, and Overage Schooling According to China’s Compulsory Education Law (义务教法规定), “all children who have reached the age of six shall enroll in school and receive Wang, “Educational Problems of Migrant Children”, Chinese Journal of Population Science 4 (2004), 59–65. 9 UNICEF, All-China Women’s Federation, and China National Children’s Center studied 12,116 guardians of migrant children under 18 years old and 7,817 migrant children between the ages of 7 and 18 by conducting home surveys, discussion panels, interviews, and data analysis from 2002 to 2003. Researchers also carried out interviews with migrant children, guardians, and community workers to learn about the education situation of migrant children. See Liming Zhang, Shunyi Zhao, “Situation of Migrant Children in China’s Nine Cities”, 2003.

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qu zhiyong and wang li In School Rate

Not-in-School Rate

In School Rate

100.0

99.2

98.7

98.4

15.4

97.9

96.4

95.0

93.0

90.0 7.0

84.6

85.0

4.0 2.0

3.6

80.0

2.1

1.6

1.3

0.8

16.0 14.0 12.0 10.0 8.0 6.0

75.0

Not-in-School Rate

18.0

105.0

0.0 s.

r 8Y

O

ld

s.

r 9Y

ld

O

s.

1

r 0Y

ld

O

s.

1

r 1Y

ld

O

s.

1

r 2Y

ld

O

s.

1

r 3Y

ld

O

s.

r 4Y

ld

O

1

Data Source: Zhang Liming, Zhao Shunyi (ed) Report of Nine-City Survey of the Situation of China’s Migrant Children (Beijing: The People’s Press, 2003), 13.

Fig. 4.5. The in-school situation of migrant children, by age (%).

compulsory education for the prescribed number of years, regardless of sex, nationality, or race.” But the Nine-City survey shows that 47% of 6-year-old migrant children are not in school. This shows that many migrant children cannot start education on time.[9] Among 14-year-old migrant children, 18.6% are still in primary school. This kind of overage schooling reaches as high as 33.3% among children of interprovince migration.[10] A High Drop-Out Rate The Nine-City survey shows that from the ages 8 and 14, migrant children’s not-in-school rate increased from 0.8% to 15.4%. It reflects that the school enrollment rate of migrant children is unstable, and the dropout situation is serious.[11] (see figure 4.5). The Education of Migrant Children Differs by Geographic Migration Patterns Analyses of literacy, the non-schooling rate, and the dropout rate show that, in general, the educational situation for children migrating within their county is the best, while those migrating within the province are in the middle range, and those migrating interprovince fare the worst (see figure 4.6).

compulsory education of migrant children Migration Within County

Migration Within Province

231

Cross Province Migration

120

Percent (%)

100

97.6 95.6 93.4

97.4 96.1 95.1

80 60 40 20

6.3 2.6 4.3

1.3

1

0.5

0 Literacy Rate

In-School Rate

Non-schooling Rate

Drop-out Rate

Education Situations

Data Source: Duan Chengrong, Liang Hong. “The situation of migrant children in China,” Population Research (2004) 1:53–59.

Fig. 4.6. Education situations of children of different migration patterns (%).

Extreme Inequality in Resource Distribution Migrant children have three options for education in receiving cities: public schools, private elite schools, and migrant schools. The state allocates almost its entire public education resources to public schools. Migrant schools, which predominantly accept migrant children of poorer families, rely only on the minimal fees collected from those migrant families. Unequal Conditions to Enter Public Schools Public schools regularly request that migrant children pay various forms of tuition and fees, and these fees often need to be paid in one lump sum. For most migrant workers, who live on low wages, these fees form high barriers for their children to enter public schools. The Beijing survey shows that among all students who transferred out of public schools, 64% cited tuition being too high as the reason.[12] 4.2.2. The Issue of Equality in the Educational Environment for Migrant Children The Big Differences between Public Schools and Migrant Schools Place Migrant Children in an Unequal Educational Environment When faced with high barriers to enter public schools, a big proportion of migrant children

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are forced to go to migrant schools.10 The Nine-City survey shows that 20% of migrant children go to migrant schools or similar private schools.[13] In Guangdong Province, more than 70% of migrant children go to migrant schools.11 Migrant schools to a certain degree have solved the issue of compulsory education for migrant children from low-income families, and have supplemented the formal education system.[14] But in terms of school facilities, curriculum design, teacher quality, and exams, migrant schools often cannot meet the requirements set by educational authorities. The educational environment for migrant children cannot compare with that of students in public schools. Various studies12 show that most migrant schools have substandard buildings, crowded classrooms, and inadequate lighting. Drinking water and sanitation facilities are poor, so students are at risk of catching diseases that might affect their study and physical and mental development. Also these schools have a lack of school facilities such as playgrounds, teaching equipment, and books. In terms of curriculum, most schools can only offer two core courses (Chinese language and mathematics). Even though other courses are often offered in order to compete for student enrollment, they are mostly taught by one teacher, and thus cannot guarantee teaching quality. The quality of teachers is also not standardized. Most teachers are relatives or acquaintances of the school founders, brought from their hometown. These employees do not necessarily have teaching experience. Their education level is mostly at the senior high school level. The turnover rate of teachers is also very high.[15] Migrant Children in Public Schools Do Not Enjoy Equal Treatment with Local Students, Even at the Same Schools Some public schools are found to discriminate against migrant children in the management of teaching activities. For example, the academic performance of migrant children is not included in the evaluation of teachers; therefore teachers tend

10 Most students of these schools are migrant children, the majority of which are the children of migrant laborers from rural areas. Therefore, these schools are also called schools for migrant children. 11 Migrant children school survey in Guangzhou, http://www.ep-china.net/content/academia/e/20040508085706_2.htm. 2004-05-08. 12 To study the issue of school admission of migrant children, Shukai Zhao et al. surveyed more than 100 schools for migrant children in Beijing from September 1998 to October 1999. See Shukai Zhao et al., “The Marginalized Basic Education— Studying the Schools for Migrant Children in Beijing, Management World 5 (2005).

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to neglect migrant children’s education, and fail to monitor their performance. Also, because migrant children do not have local hukou, if they want to participate in certain competitions, they have to use the names of local students; and if they win any awards, the honor goes to the local students.[16] In addition, migrant children in public schools can be rejected and excluded by local students. Inside public schools, open discrimination based on cultural backgrounds often exists. It is difficult for migrant children to integrate with local children. Local children often overtly discriminate against migrant children.[17] 4.2.3. The Issue of Equality in Educational Outcomes of Migrant Children Migrant Schools Cannot Acquire Legal Status, Which Affects the Schooling of Migrant Children The Nine-City Survey found that most migrant schools did not have legal status, and thus these schools were not qualified to award diplomas that are recognized by the state. The schooling of migrant children from these schools is not accepted by formal institutions, and further education for these students is severely affected.[18] The Inability of Migrant Children to Go to Higher Level Schools in Host Cities Also Affects Their Development For migrant children who have managed to enter public schools in host cities, there are still strict barriers for them to enter higher-level schools in these cities because they cannot take the entrance exams without the local hukou. These children will have to return to their hometowns (where their hukou is) to take the entrance exams for the next level of schooling. However, because the progress of curriculum reform and admission policies vary greatly from province to province, those students who have to transfer schools just before graduation have to make big adjustments in their study plans, and are ill-prepared for exams overall. Naturally exam outcomes, and therefore their future education, are negatively affected.[19] 4.3. A Review and Analysis of Policies for the Education of Migrant Children Accompanying the thirty years of drastic transformation in China’s economy and society, policies for migrant children’s education have emerged from being nonexistent, and have gradually progressed from

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a discriminative policy to a protective policy. We can identify three stages in this policy development. 4.3.1. Before 1995, There Was a Lack of Policies Before 1995, the issue of compulsory education for migrant children did not get much attention. There were few media reports, empirical surveys, or academic research papers on this topic. Neither the public nor the government realized that this issue might be a problem. It did not enter the government policy agenda and therefore there was no specific policy regarding migrant education. The Compulsory Education Law (义务教育法) issued in 1986 did not address the issue of compulsory education for people outside their hukou residency areas. From that time until the passing of the 1995 Education Law (教育法), the education authorities in China issued more than 100 policies and regulations on education, but not a single one targeted the issue of education for migrant children in cities.[20] The only exception was Item 14 of the “Detailed Rules for Implementation of the Law for Compulsory Education” issued in 1992. It touched upon this issue slightly: “when school-age children receive compulsory education in other than one’s hukou registration region, if approved by the county-level education authority or xiang level people’s government of one’s hukou region, they may apply for ‘guest-student status’ according to the regulations of the people’s government of the actual residency.” 4.3.2. Restriction-Oriented Policies, 1996–2000 The issue of migrant children education was brought to public awareness by a report in China Education News in 1995.13 Afterwards, the public interest on the issue was sparked. Even though there was not much real academic research on this topic before 1998,[21] the mass media published large numbers of reports. For example, Guangming Daily and Science and Technology Daily both stated that in 1995, the enrollment rate of migrant children in Beijing was only 12.5%. This statement was somewhat exaggerated, but it attracted a lot of public attention.

13 It indicates the article “Where do the migrant children go to school—Discussion on education of migrant children”, which was authored by a journalist named Jianping Li and published on China Education, January 21st, 1995.

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On the other hand, this period also witnessed a rapid growth of migrant-laborer influx to cities. It increased the burden to public facilities within cities, and increased difficulties for city management as well. The large mobile population also contributed to increasing crime rates in cities. To maintain the status quo of social order and interest structure, some big cities that had a large number of migrants started to implement restrictive or discriminative policies or pass measures hostile toward the migrant population. Such measures include, for example, forced clearances and repatriations and occupational restrictions (migrant workers were only allowed to enter sectors that local people did not want).[22] In this context, the government started to pay attention to the education of migrant children in cities and issued related policies. It was a result of the public’s reaction to news coverage, but these policies were issued from the perspective of maintaining social order, rather than from the perspective of fostering the development of migrant children or of enhancing the protection of the migrant populations’ interests. In 1996, the Ministry of Education issued Regulations for Schooling for School-Age Children among the Migrant Population in Cities (Trial) (城镇流 动人口中适龄儿童、少年就学办法 (试行)). This was the first policy document that specifically targeted migrant children. It signaled that education for migrant children had changed from a social issue into a policy issue. Based on the outcome of this trial policy,14 in 1998, the MOE and the Ministry of Public Security together issued the Interim Regulations of Schooling for Migrant Children (流动儿童少年就学暂行办法) (Interim Regulations (暂行办法) thereafter). These two policies had a positive significance at that time because to a certain degree, they broke the long-held rule that one could only receive compulsory education in the region in which one was registered (the hukou region). The Interim Regulations provided policy support for migrant children that wanted to receive education in host cities. But unfortunately, these policies were still based on the mentality of urban-rural separation, and discrimination against migrant children continued, with the goal of restricting the migration of children into the cities. 14 During the second half of 1996, The Department of Basic Education and Education Management Information Center of the State Education Commission conducted a joint study of the situation of school admission of school-age migrant children in the 6 cities stated above, the result of which contributed to the formulation of the 1998 Interim Regulations.

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First, the policies decreed that the local governments of the migrants’ hometown should strictly control the out-migration of children during the period of compulsory education. Only when children were proven to be unable to receive proper family care, where one’s hukou was registered, could they be allowed to receive compulsory education in the host cities. It is clear that the governments of host cities were resistant and restrictive towards migrant children. Second, the policies did not clearly define the host city government as having the main responsibility of providing compulsory education for migrant children. These policies only stated that the governments of host cities should create conditions and provide opportunities for migrant children’s education, and that city authorities should be responsible for the management of these opportunities. But the policies did not explicitly designate the governments of host cities as the main responsible party, nor did it determine fiscal responsibilities. Consequently, host cities inevitably chose to revert to conventional policy arrangements where “compulsory education is the responsibility of the government of the hukou circumscription,” not that of the government of the migrants’ current domicile. Third, the policies treated migrant children and local children differently. For example, the 1996 Regulations stated that “those migrant children who do not fulfill the requirements to enter regular full-time primary and middle schools may enter various kinds of classes to receive informal education.” The 1998 Interim Regulations also had a similar item. In addition, Item 11 also stated, “public, primary, and middle schools that accept migrant children may require fees for guest students according to relevant regulations.” Consequently, migrant children from low-income families were essentially barred from public schools by these high guest-student fees and other additional fees under various names. These children thus had to choose cheap but substandard migrant schools.[23] 4.3.3. Since 2000, the Shift of Policy Orientation Is toward Promoting Equal Treatment and Interest Protection After entering the 21st century, China started to pay more attention to the imbalances that accompanied high-speed economic growth. An imbalance exists between urban and rural areas, among different regions, and between social and economic sectors. In terms of macrodevelopment strategies, China also moved from a pure economic

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focus to a dual emphasis on economy and society. More and more attention is paid to people’s livelihoods and social equality. New concepts, such as a moderately prosperous society, scientific development, and a harmonious society, were also coined accordingly. In this context, state policies toward migrant workers also changed. The starting points were no longer to protect the privileges of, and to satisfy the needs of, urban residents, but to coordinate urban and rural development and to promote equality of status between urban and rural residents. At the same time, the state increasingly emphasized the balanced development of education, especially the development of basic education. Combined, these two forces have pushed policy making for migrant children’s education towards more equality and fairness. At the beginning of the new century, solving the problem of migrant children education was included as an important task in the government’s Guidelines for Child Development in China 2001–2010 (中国儿童发 展纲要 (2001–2010年)). It clearly stated in the Guidelines (纲要) that government will “protect the rights for education of children with disabilities, orphans, and migrant children . . . [and] improve the education system for migrant children. Based on the needs for urbanization, proper design of education should be conducted in order to satisfy the needs of migrant children for education in urban areas.” Thereafter, policies gradually emphasized equal treatment and protection of children’s interests: a series of policies gradually placed the responsibilities for migrant children education on host city governments and on public schools; the Opinions on Further Improving Compulsory Education for Migrant Children (关于进一步做好进城务工就业农民 子女义务教育工作的意见) (2003) stated that equal treatment was to be one of the main principles for policies; and the State Council’s Opinion on Solving Migrant Workers’ Problems (国务院关于解决农民工问题的 若干意见) (2006) specifically emphasized the importance of “guaranteeing that migrant children receive compulsory education in equal terms.” The progress of these policies show that the equity-orientation of policy making has grown clearer and more mature. The Emergence of a New Policy Orientation: Policies Emphasize Host Cities and Public Schools In 2001, the Chinese government started the education reform, with special emphasis on basic education and compulsory education in rural areas. It also clearly stated that public schools are the main providers of compulsory education. In this context, the issue of migrant children education was reexamined from the perspective

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of strengthening nine-year compulsory education nationwide. In Decisions From the State Council on the Reform and Development of Basic Education (国务院关于基础教育改革与发展的决定) (2001) (thereafter the Decision (决定)), migrant children’s compulsory education was deemed a weak point. Accordingly, Decision stated that host city governments and public schools should be the main responsible parties in protecting the rights for compulsory education of migrant children. This principle set up by Decision for the first time answered the question of which government level should be responsible for the provision of education to migrants, and also clarified that public schools should be the main venue for migrant children’s education. This principle departed from discriminatory and restrictive policies in the past and sought to face the issue proactively. But Decision was only a policy guideline. Though it formed the core of subsequent policies for migrant children education, Decision did not touch on the governance system, funding mechanisms, and the quality monitoring of government implementation. Therefore, even though migrant children’s compulsory education made some progress, many problems and challenges remained. The Formation of an Equality-Oriented Education Policy for Compulsory Education of Migrant Children In August 2002, the Ministry of Education convened a conference on the issue of nine-year compulsory education of migrant children. Nine relevant ministries such as the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, as well as representatives from 29 provinces participated in the conference. This conference was a landmark event for the development of education policies for migrant children. It reviewed the various experiences and problems in the work of migrant children education, especially those since the implementation of policies that emphasized the responsibilities of host cities and public schools. The conference set the goal that, after a few years’ effort, “accessible, affordable, and quality” compulsory education should be provided for migrant children. The following key areas raised by the conference provided the basis for formulating a new policy system: (1) Raising awareness is key. It is necessary for there to be a full understanding of the importance of schooling for migrant children in order to improve China’s compulsory education, push for urbanization, protect the interests of migrant workers, and maintain social stability.

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(2) A governance system is to be primarily established. The host city government is the main responsible party, and further division of responsibilities has been clarified within different government agencies. (3) It is again emphasized that public schools are to be the main channel to provide migrant children’s education. In addition, public schools are required to lessen the economic burdens for migrant children to receive compulsory education, such as lowering fees, trimming charging items, and changing the payment method from yearly to monthly to accommodate the high occupational and residential mobility of migrant families. Also, public schools are to provide equal treatment to migrant children in classroom education, competitions, and extracurricular activities. (4) It is important to accept migrant schools as part of the solution to migrant children’s schooling by strengthening management, and when appropriate, lower the requirements for new school establishment. (5) Establish financing mechanisms is crucial, as is including the cost of education for migrant children’s education into local budgets; establishing appropriate methods to plan and recruit teaching staffing levels for those public schools that accept migrant children; and allocating a portion of the city education surcharge to solve the issue of migrant children schooling. This meeting showed, at least in principle, a proequality attitude that discarded the earlier discriminative and restrictive policy attitude. In September 2003, the State Council convened the National Working Conference on Rural Education. The conference emphasized the host city and public school principles once more, and it became the catalyst for issuing new policies. From Proequality Guidelines to Actual Policy In September 2003, the Ministry of Education and five other ministries issued the Opinions for Further Improving Compulsory Education for Migrant Children (关于进一步做好 进城务工就业农民子女义务教育工作的意见) (thereafter Opinion (意 见)). Opinion delineated a comprehensive policy framework for migrant children’s schooling, and also clarified the guidelines in policy principles, development goals, government’s responsibilities, governance and management systems, and finances. Consistent with the changed perspective for policies regarding migrant workers, the policy perspective of Opinion also changed from protecting the privileges of city children

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and maintaining the social status quo to promoting equal development for all children and protecting the interests of disadvantaged groups. It can be said that Opinion, issued in 2003, symbolized a fundamental change of policy orientation for migrant children’s education. Still, there were several issues remaining in the 2003 policy in promoting equal treatment to migrant children. While having promoted equal treatment in fee charging, Opinion did not specifically abolish the guest student fee. Since the guest student fee was legitimized by the 1998 “Interim Regulations,” this fee was the greatest barrier for migrant children trying to enter public schools. The financing structure for migrant children education raised in “Opinion” was vague and had no quantifiable measurements; thus “Opinion” guidelines could not guarantee adequate funding. The following two policies made supplements and adjustments to address the two problems stated above. In 2004, the Ministry of Finance issued Notice on Regulating Fees to Promote Income Increase of Rural Citizens (关于规范收费管理促进农民增加收入的通知). It clearly stated: “Migrant children should be treated equally in terms of school fees. With the exception of school fees, tuitions, living fees, and textbook charges, no guest student fees or school-choice fees can be charged.” The Ministry of Education also issued a similar regulation in the same year that required all guest student fees charged to migrant children during the compulsory education phase to be eliminated. In January 2006, the State Council issued State Council’s Opinion on Solving Migrant Workers’ Problems (国务院关于解决农民工问题的若干 意见). It stated: “Host city governments should incorporate compulsory education of migrant children into planning for local education development, and include it into local education financial budgeting. Public schools should be allocated funding based on the actual number of students in schools.” The highlight of this policy was that it provided concrete financing guarantee plans. In 2006, China revised the Compulsory Education Law. The new law established the legal equal status of migrant children when receiving compulsory education. The law ordained that “all children and adolescents who are People’s Republic of China nationals and have reached the school age shall have equal rights and have the right to receive compulsory education, regardless of the gender, nationality, race, status of family property, religion, belief, etc.” (Article 4); and “For a school-age child and adolescent whose parents are working or dwelling at a place other than their permanent residence, if he receives

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compulsory education at the place where his parents or other statutory guardians are working or dwelling, the local people’s government shall provide him with equal conditions for receiving compulsory education” (Article 12). In 2007, the Ministry of Education issued the Regulations for Managing School Registration Information for Primary and Middle School Students (中小学学生学籍信息化管理基本信息规范). Regulations changed the old school registration management that was based on hukou registration, considering this policy to no longer be suitable to the new situation. The new school registration management method is important for making cross-regional connection of schooling possible, preventing dropping out, and eliminating misallocation of compulsory education funds. As pointed out by experts, “a national unified school registration management means that migrant children can now attend schools easily and in time, wherever they go.”15 With the above key policies, relevant government agencies also issued documents that repeatedly touched on the issue of migrant children education. Many regional educational bureaus also issued a large number of local policies that implemented the principals of central government policies. Altogether, these policies formed a complete policy system. The issue of education for migrant children evolved alongside China’s modernization, urbanization, and economic marketization. The understanding of the issue and policy reactions thereto have also undergone parallel changes. Though earlier policy making was discriminatory and restrictive toward migrant children, at the end, the stated policy moved toward a positive development trend that promoted equality and protection of rights and interests. This change highlighted how China’s general policy making transformed from being restrictive to people-centered.16 Even though the policy system for migrant children’s education has been more mature, more equality-minded, and of increasingly higher quality, it is also clear that most policies were issued in an ad hoc manner to deal with pressing issues that emerged at the time.17 There is still a lot of room for improvement for long-term planning and policy 15 The website of the Ministry of Education, http://www.moe.edu.cn/edoas/ website18/info32869.htm. 2007-09-19. 16 Runyong Yang, “Education Policy for Migrant Children and Relevant Issues Associated with Its Implementation”, Contemporary Educational Science 8 (2006), 3–7. 17 Liming Zhang, Shunyi Zhao, “Situation of Migrant Children in China’s Nine Cities”, 2003, 133–57.

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coordination. For example, after more than ten years of development, the main challenge for migrant children’s education has moved up from the primary school level to the middle school level, but so far there has not been much policy arrangement on how migrant children can achieve higher levels of schooling, including how to take the college entrance exams.18 4.4. Implementation of Policies for Migrant Children Education 4.4.1. Important Experiments Since the 1990s, many places have conducted various forms of exploratory experiments on how to best deal with the issue of migrant children education. Elimination of Unequal Fee Charging for Migrant Children Most cities gradually eliminated the guest-student fee, sponsoring fee, and other unregulated fees that public schools charged migrant children. Nanjing City, for example, implemented a same-city treatment policy to migrant children. By 2006, 99.8% of the 52,000 school-age migrant children in Nanjing had entered public schools. Premier Wen Jiabao praised such policy when he visited Nanjing in 2005.19 Improving School Registration Management and Simplifying Procedures for Enrolling into and Transferring Schools Hangzhou City ordained that children with appropriate reasons be allowed to transfer in and out of school at any time as long as there were open spaces in other schools. Hangzhou also experimented with the introduction of a transfer card to facilitate mobile management of school registrations. In Wuhan City, migrant children’s school registration is completely identical with local students, eliminating the discriminatory guest student classification.

18 Currently, only quite a few areas allow migrant children to take exams for higher levels of school admission, such as the college entrance exams, in the area where they migrate to. For instance, according to a recent regulation in Anhui Province, the ban on children of migrant workers taking the local admission exams for junior high school has been repealed, which eliminated the limit on migrant children taking the exams and attending junior high school. See http://news.xinhuanet.com/newscenter/ 2008-04/27/content_8060263.htm. 2008-4-28. 19 An “Over-exercised” Equal Right to Education Is Not Desirable” [EB/OL]. http://www.zjol.com.cn/05zjc/system/2006/06/05/006657529.shtml. 2006-06-05.

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Wuhan education bureau issues standard student ID numbers to migrant children and creates formal student records for them. In cities like Tianjin and Guangzhou, migrant children whose parents have not acquired temporary resident permits can enroll in schools before completing other paperwork requirements. Government Should Use the Good Aspects of Migrant Schools to Provide Education for Migrant Children Even though migrant schools tend to be substandard, it is undeniably better for migrant children to have some schooling than no schooling. Furthermore, some measures adopted by migrant schools, such as low school fees, simplified enrolling procedures, and a free school bus for students, are welcomed by migrant families. When public schools cannot accommodate all migrant children, migrant schools can help maintain migrant children’s school enrollment. Support from the government can help improve migrant children’s educational environment. In Taicang City in Jiangsu Province, for example, migrant children constitute 50% of all school-age children. When public schools were overwhelmed, the city promoted the development of migrant schools and provided guidance, management, and financial support. Taicang adopted three models: more prosperous villages would build schools and then rent schools to school founders; when some village primary schools stopped functioning due to school merges, the vacated schools were sold to school founders at low prices; and when school founders invested capital to school building, government matched the funds put forward by the school founders. As a result, the enrollment rate and in-school rate for all school-age children in Taicang are now both at 100%.20 Another example of this approach is seen in Shanghai. In 2007, 42.9% of migrant children attended migrant schools. The government provided free training for migrant schoolteachers and headmasters to improve their professional capacity. 4.4.2. Problems Exist in Policy Implementation The Basic Data for Migrant Children Is Unclear; It Is Difficult to Make Accurate Plans for Building Schools and to Allocate Funds without Good Data At present, only migrants between the ages of 16 and 48 are required 20 Advancing Cross-regional Equity in Education and the Modernization of Compulsory Education—A Study of Public Financing Supporting Education in Rural areas, internal materials.

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to acquire a temporary resident permit. Most places do not take registrations for accompanying children under the age of 16. The high mobility of migrant population makes it even more difficult for the government to estimate the size of the migrant children population in a given city. Without this baseline estimate, it is hard to calculate the education demand of migrant children and to make plans for school construction and funds allocation. Public Schools in Large Cities Lack Capacity to Admit All Migrant Children Since the 2001 host city and public school policy was issued, public schools have gradually become the main venue for migrant children. But in some large cities, the proportion of migrant children studying in public schools has remained low. For example, out of 366,000 migrant children in Beijing by July 2006, 228,000 (62.3%) were in public schools, 138,000 (37.7%) were in migrant schools, and most of these migrant schools were unauthorized schools.21 The numbers for Shanghai are also not good. At the end of 2007, only 57.1% (217,000) of migrant children were in public schools.22 In Guangdong Province, less than 28% (90,000) of migrant children were in public schools, and the remaining 200,000 migrant children studied in various levels of private schools (including migrant schools).23 In fact, the strict one child policy in cities that has been in effect for more than two decades has effectively reduced the population size of local school-age children in large cities. Public schools there often have insufficient enrollment causing teaching and equipment capacities to be underused. On the surface, these idle resources would be a natural solution to the increased demands of migrant children. But the migrant population is mostly concentrated in the peripheral area of the city (the suburbs and surrounding townships), while extra school capacity lies in urban centers and cannot solve the structural imbalance in peripheral areas.

21 Educational Development Research Department Task Group of CNIER, “Research on the Policy Measures of Compulsory Education for the Children of Farmers Working in Cities”, Educational Research 4 (2007), 49–54. 22 Schools for Migrant Children Will Be Placed under the Management of the Private Education System in Shanghai, http://www.sina.com.cn, 2008-01-21. 23 The Government of Guangzhou Surveyed the Issue of Education of Migrant Children, http://www.gdhed.edu.cn/msgshow.php?bk=gdedu&newsid=95a93c28e7 7bdf78091bb10994aae1a8. 2005-01-20.

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Reasonable but Illegal: The Dilemma of Migrant Schools Many migrant schools cannot get governmental authorization because they cannot meet the minimum requirements in teaching capacity, management, and school safety. For example in Beijing, by 2006 there were still 239 migrant schools, or 80% of the total, that were unable to get formal authorization.24 On one hand, when public schools cannot accept all migrant children, migrant schools can help to improve the enrollment rate of migrant children. It is reasonable that the government ease the requirements for the establishment of migrant schools, and to provide financial support and teacher training for them. However, allowing low-quality schools to exist also creates a new double standard in education. It gives legitimization to new unequal systems of education. When implemented, it is also hard to avoid interest-driven behaviors, which will ultimately be detrimental to migrant children. On the surface, it seems a difficult choice for the government to either abolish or allow migrant schools to exist. But this dilemma in fact reflects the absence of government. The government has unavoidable responsibilities in compulsory education. In addition, migrant workers are contributing greatly to the development of China’s cities. It is estimated that an average migrant worker creates a value of 24,000 yuan a year in cities, but their wage is only about 8,000 yuan. In addition, migrants do not enjoy public services equal to that of city residents.25 It is obvious that migrants do not get equal returns for what they give. Therefore, in terms of protecting migrant children’s equal rights for education, the government has done far from enough. Difficult to Abolish Guest-Student Fees Even though the 2004 Notice on Regulating Fee Charges to Promote Income Growth of Rural Citizens (关于规范收费管理促进农民增加收入的通 知) mandated that “no guest-student fees or school-choice-fees can be charged” to migrant children, regulations for fee-free enrollment remained onerous. 24 The General Office of the Government of Beijing, About Security Issues Associated with Unauthorized Private Schools for Migrants, 2006-7-12. 25 Wei He, “The Sticking and the Exit of the Three Agriculture’s Problem”, Economic Research Guide 12 (2007). The author also mentioned in this article that “they (migrant workers) leave their energy and the best time of their lives to the cities before they start to age and return to the rural areas without health care and pension. They remain as second-class citizens”.

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First, migrant workers need to follow strict paperwork procedures before they can benefit from this policy. In the Number 50 order issued by the Beijing government in 2004, migrant workers were required to possess five documents—proof of no appropriate guardian for schoolage children at the hukou circumscription, their work permit in the city, their temporary resident permit in the city, their hukou registration booklet, and proof of actual residence in the city—before applying for “proof of guest student status for migrant children.” Only then could their guest-student fee be waived.26 Shanxi Province has similar requirements.27 Zhejiang Province only abolished migrant children guest-student fees in 2008, and still required that migrant children provide proof that no suitable guardian was available at the home origin and that their parents needed to already have Zhengjiang Province resident permit.28 Second, many public schools are still charging disguised guest-student fees. The biggest difficulty for public school to accept migrant children is insufficient funding. Therefore many schools need to charge high guest-student fees to make up for the extra expense. When required by the government to abolish guest-student fees, some public schools start perceiving migrant children as an unwarranted heavy burden. Some schools do not actively accept migrant children, and even look for excuses to refuse acceptance of them. They also seek guest-student fees from parents under the table, or use alternative names (such as “sponsorship fee”) to charge guest-student fees. Policies Lack Consideration of Other Stakeholders Though policies in recent years have repeatedly emphasized that public schools should be the main venue for educating migrant children, these policies lack appropriate consideration of how local children and their parents react to the policy changes. In Hangzhou, when Tangbei Primary School started to accept migrant children in 2006, this generated strong opposition

26 Zhenyuan Song, Shu Li, “Questioning the Issue of Migrant Children Having Difficulty Going to School”, http://www.edu.cn/jiao_yu_ping_lun_1070/20060429/ t20060429_176676.shtml. 2006-04-29 27 Xuefeng Zhang, Jie Zhang, “Invisible Obstacles to the Waiver of Extra Fees Creates Difficulty for Migrant Children to Benefit from Policies”, http://www.edu .cn/ji_jiao_news_279/20060323/t20060323_138748.shtml. 2005-09-07 28 Linyi Wang, “Migrant Children Will Receive Free Compulsory Education in Zhejing”. http://www.edu.cn/ji_jiao_news_279/20080219/t20080219_280102.shtml.200802-19

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from local residents. In Wuhan, a similar phenomenon was named “village kids came, city kids left.”29 A study in 4 public schools in Shanghai shows that close to one-third of parents of urban children do not wish for migrant children to study in public schools.30 Some urban residents transferred their children out of schools that accepted a large number of migrant children. These incidents have revealed the rejection of urban residents toward migrant workers and their children.[24] This resistance has affected the policy implementation for migrant children’s education, and put public schools into a difficult position. Lack of Mechanisms for Monitoring and Accountability Within the policy system for migrant children’s education, there are clear mandates on host city government and public schools, and a clear division of labor within government agencies. But there is no effective mechanism designed to monitor the host city governments’ and public schools’ implementation of these policies. Neither is there any accountability when these policies are not appropriately executed. 4.5. Policy Suggestions 4.5.1. Establish a Registration System for Migrant Children under Sixteen The lack of an effective channel to tally migrant children has greatly affected the implementation of education policies. For example, the 2006 “Opinion” mandated that host city governments finance migrant children’s education by including it in the host city’s education budget. But planning and budgeting were difficult without a reasonable estimate of the affected population. Therefore, we suggest that registration for the temporary population should be expanded to include children under 16. Information on their age, home origin, family situation, and schooling situation should be collected to provide basic data for the government to design and implement policies.

29 Zheng Huang, Yongning Zou, “The Trend of Urban Children Transferring away Creates Embarrassment for Newly Admitted Migrant Children, http://www .jyb.cn/xy/xylb/xycz/t20071225_133432.htm. 2007-12-25 30 Shouchui Zeng, The Research on the Urban Parents’ Attitudes toward Migration Children’s Entering in Public School—An Investigation Based on the Case of Shanghai, Education Research Monthly 3 (2008).

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4.5.2. Adjust the Financial Management System for Compulsory Education In China, the county is the main management unit for compulsory education. Fiscal allocation for education is calculated based on population as measured by local registration. Public schools that accept more migrant children often face heavy financial pressures that are not covered in county budgets, and therefore they are not motivated to enroll migrant children. Thus, it is desirable to adjust the compulsory education fiscal system from hukou-based to actual enrollmentbased. Such changes will help improve the integration of responsibility and capacity and avoid the resistance of public schools in accepting migrant children. 4.5.3. Strengthen Monitoring and Accountability The host city policy has emphasized the government’s responsibility of the host city, but there has been no matching policy arrangement on how to monitor implementation and maintain accountability. Migrantsending and migrant-receiving governments, as well as the different level of governments, have their own different considerations. So the local government often resists or does not act according to the policies. Therefore it is urgent to design a monitoring and accountability system for compulsory education in which measurable indexes, such as the enrollment rate and the educational investment per person, are used to evaluate the performance of the local government. 4.5.4. Fill the Holes in the Policy System and Improve Policy Details and Operationalization The current policy system of migrant children education has not touched on the important issue of the interface between different levels of education. Currently most migrant children have to return to their home province to take entrance exams to enter senior high school and college. There is an urgent need to supplement integration policies with changes to these restrictive rules. Also the operationalization of many policies, which tend to be principles and guidelines that lack operationalizable details, needs to be improved.

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4.5.5. Promote Respect and Acceptance of Migrant Workers and Migrant Children The mass influx of rural migrants into cities is an intrinsic element of modernization and urbanization. Migrant workers also greatly contribute to the development of cities and the national economy. But many urban residents do not accept migrant workers, to the extent that they do not want their children to be in the same school with migrant children. It is important to let urban residents see the positive side of urban integration, and the importance of social inclusion and equality. Therefore, public awareness and public education campaigns are essential. 4.5.6. Understand and Manage Migrant Schools Based on Reality Despite the many problems of migrant schools, they still play an important role in migrant children’s education, at least until public schools’ capacity grows to be able to accept all migrant children. Therefore it is not advisable for the government to abolish migrant schools abruptly. To promote equality in education, policies on migrant schools should emphasize improving the quality of migrant schools. Matching funds is a preferred method of helping migrant schools. To prevent waste, government can require migrant schools to reach certain basic conditions before the government provides monetary help on school equipment. Also, more training for migrant schoolteachers and headmasters is also needed to improve the quality of the software of migrant schools. Appendix: Case Study: Interview of a Migrant School Headmaster Migrant schools have played an important role in shaping the public’s understanding of the problem of migrant children education. It was the development of migrant schools that brought the issue of migrant children education into public awareness. They embodied how China’s education system failed to adapt to rapid social changes, and they are still perceived as a symbol of the failure of the education system to cope with social change. To provide a closer look at migrant schools, we interviewed a headmaster of a migrant school in Tongzhou District at the suburbs of Beijing (most migrants in China live in suburban areas, where housing is cheaper than in downtown areas).

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Before he came to Beijing, Mr. Li was a substitute teacher in his hometown. Following the suggestion of a hometown migrant worker who worked in Beijing, Mr. Li came to Beijing in 1999 to open a migrant school and become the school headmaster. His two children also attended HX school. One of them recently transferred back to the hometown because he will soon take the entrance exam for senior high school. When the school was newly opened, there were only about 70 students in preschool and grades 1 to 4. Most teachers at that time were recruited from the director’s hometown. Enrollment increased every semester to the current 750 students, including a preschool class, grades 1 to 6, and junior high years 1 and 2. A junior high year 3 class will open soon. Out of the current 28 teachers, more than half are not from the hometown. Most of the teachers have a junior-college or specialist high-school level education. Half of the teachers have a teacher’s certificate. The turnover rate of both students and teachers is fairly high. Most of the students’ families have modest economic means. The curriculum of HX School is fairly comprehensive. In addition to the two core courses (Chinese and mathematics), the school also offers music, arts, English, computer, and other basic courses. These courses all use national standard textbooks. Teachers often offer several courses per person. The minimum teaching load of teachers is 28 classes for primary school and 25 classes for the junior-high level. Apart from regular classes, the school also organizes some extracurricular activities. In 2006, HX School moved to its current location. The campus is around 20 mu (2500 square meters) in size. There are twenty classrooms in a one-level brick building. Student desks and chairs, as well as the computers in the student lab, are bought secondhand. Some of this was surplus given by public schools when they upgraded their own equipment. The school cafeteria provides lunch for students so they do not have to go home. The fee for lunch is 40 yuan per month for students. The school has also opened a designated bus line for students living far away. The bus and driver belong to the public transportation company. The annual cost for the bus transportation is 850,000 yuan, of which the school pays 250,000 yuan and the rest is shared amongst the 160 students (about 375 yuan per student per year). The main source of income for HX School is students’ tuition. The current tuition is 450 yuan (including the textbook fee) per semester per student at the primary school level, and 900 yuan (including the

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textbook fee) at the junior high school level. Main expenses are teachers’ salaries and rental fee for the school buildings. Teachers’ salaries range from 800 yuan to 1500 yuan per month, with an average of 1200 yuan. During winter and summer vacations, teachers only get 300 yuan per month of living subsidies. The annual cost of the whole salary roll is 350,000 yuan. The annual rental fee for the school building is 120,000 yuan. With the exception of the first two years and the first semester after school relocation in 2006, the school has profited in all the other years. HX School got its legal status in 2005. Before that, the government in general did not put up too many barriers for the school, with the exception of the 2003 SARS epidemic, when the government intended to close the school. Now the government includes HX School into relevant school district meetings. When the school needed to be relocated, the education bureau provided help to rent its current location at a discounted price. However, if the current location needs to be demolished for urban construction, then the discount will automatically end, and the school will have nowhere to go. In 2008, the city education bureau gave each legal migrant school in Tongzhou District a one-time subsidy of 200,000 yuan. It was the first time the school received any government funds. Using this money, HX School upgraded desks and chairs, bought electronic keyboard instruments, and a ping-pong table, as well as two computers and a printer for the headmaster’s office. In principle, these designated funds should not be used for office equipment, but the headmaster pleaded with the government and it was approved. The government also conducts annual safety and hygiene checks. Before the start of every school year, HX School puts up enrollment ads on their bulletin board. Similar migrant schools nearby also compete for enrollment. Public schools also enroll migrant children when they have spare capacity. From this case, we can see the following: (1) HX School acquired legal status in 2005 and became one of a small number of legal migrant schools in Beijing. This means that the conditions of HX School are better than most migrant schools, but even then, its conditions are not comparable to public schools. When asked to compare with both schools at his hometown and public schools in Beijing, Headmaster Li said HX School is much better than those rural schools at home, but definitely worse than

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Beijing public schools in terms of school facilities, equipment, and teachers’ qualifications. In general, the local government has been supportive of the development of migrant schools, in accordance with relevant policies. Headmaster Li said that the school’s relationship with the government is very good, and that both the district and township education bureaus have been very supportive. He said that given past government attitudes to migrant schools, they were already grateful if the government simply let them be. Now that the government is providing support, they are even more satisfied. When asked what kind of support they would like the government to provide, Headmaster Li said that he did not dare hope for more financial support, but he did hope that the government would help improve the school equipment. The limited capacity of public schools means that migrant schools are still needed. According to Headmaster Li, in the town’s public school, 60% of the students are migrant children. This number suggests that public schools have been quite open to accepting migrant children. However, due to the limited capacity of public schools, many migrant children still have to go to migrant schools. Regarding his school, the headmaster said that enrollment has been increasing every semester, but he also revealed that the enrollment in many other migrant schools was declining. We believe that enrollment in migrant schools in general has been affected by public schools and the equal payment policy. Migrantchildren enrollment patterns are undergoing an adjustment period, with parents now having to choose between public schools and migrant schools.31 Flexible measures used by migrant schools to accommodate migrant families are worth learning from. Migrant school provides lunch and privately financed bus routes for students who live away where public transportation is not available. The school also takes care of children after school if their parents cannot pick them up in time. These measures provide important services to students and are suitable to the specific needs of the

Urban public elementary and secondary schools are making remarkable progress in waiving tuition and fees under the current policy, which has lowered the costs of attending public schools and, therefore, will very likely eliminate the advantage of schools for migrant children in terms of costs over public schools. 31

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migrant population. The government can adopt similar services when improving various kinds of public services targeted at migrants. This case reflected some problems in compulsory education for migrant children. The carrying capacity of public schools remains the most important factor that affects the implementation of the host city and public school policy. On the other hand, as long as migrant children cannot all go to public schools, there will still be a need for migrant schools. In this situation, government help to migrant schools can greatly enhance the educational equality for migrant children. But the government’s supportive measures are often temporary and ad hoc. Therefore, measures supporting migrant schools must be made more concrete and more effective in improving the quality of the education imparted. References Duan, C. & Liang, H. (2004). Status of China’s migrant children. Population Research, 1, 53–59. Educational Development Research Department Task Group of CNIER. (2007). Research on the policy measures of compulsory education for the children of farmers working in cities. Educational Research, 4, 49–54. Feng, L. (2003). The value analysis of schools for cities floating youth. Urban Problems, 2, 48–52. Han, J. (2001). The situation of compulsory education for migrant children in Beijing. Youth Studies, 8, 1–7. Liu, F. (2002). The state of equity of China’s education policies. Educational Research, 10, 48. Wang, D. (2004). Educational problems of migrant children. Chinese Journal of Population Science, 4, 59–65. Wu, X., & Liu, C. (2007). Accepted or excluded—the integration of migrant children into urban societal space. China Youth Study, 7, 13–16. Xiong, S. (2006). The social integration of migrant children and guiding strategies of school education. Social Sciences in Guangdong, 1, 165–69. Zhang, B. (2001). The current status and trend of research on migrant children education. Research On Education Tsinghua University, 4, 4–7. Zhang, L., & Zhao, S. (2003). Situation of migrant children in China’s nine cities. 133–57. Zhao, S. (2005). The marginalized basic education—studying the schools for migrant children in Beijing. Management World, 5. Zhao, S. (2008). Thirty years of peasants migration. China Development Observation, 1.

CHAPTER FIVE

AN OVERVIEW OF STUDIES IN VOCATIONAL EDUCATION POLICY IN CHINA OVER THE PAST THIRTY YEARS He Zhen, Wang Qiu, Zhang Mei, and Cui Jian According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), technical and vocational education supports modern civilization and the complex structures of social and economic development. Technical and vocational education is conductive to the realization of individual and social development goals. Vocational education is an important part of the national education system and lifelong education system in China. It plays an important role in training high-quality workers and technicians, promoting employment, eliminating poverty, and stabilizing society. Vocational education is considered an important force for socialist modernization in China. 5.1. An Introduction to the Development of Vocational Education in China over the Past Thirty Years 5.1.1. Major Achievements Vocational education has received a great deal of attention in response to the urgent need of developing socialist industries since the founding of the new China. It was put forward at the First National Conference of Education in December 1949 that the situation of too few vocational and technical schools should be changed. In March 1952, the State Council issued Instructions to Rectify and Develop Middle Technical Education (关于整顿和发展中等技术教育的指示), which explicitly pointed out that it was urgent to train large quantities of middle- and entry-level technicians. A number of technical secondary schools and skilled worker training schools were set up over the following years. Between 1958 and 1960, due to mistaken policies, the development of

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Secondary Vocational Education Junior Vocational Education

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Fig. 5.1. The Chinese vocational education system.

vocational education was temporarily impeded during the Great Leap Forward. Vocational education resumed its healthy development after the Great Leap Forward. During the ten years of the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976), however, vocational education was severely damaged. But in the past thirty years since the implementation of reform and opening policy in the late 1970s, vocational education has made tremendous achievements. A Modern Vocational Education System Has Been Set Up China’s vocational education system is made up two parts: vocational school education and vocational training. Vocational school education includes junior, secondary, and higher vocational education. Secondary vocational schools include regular specialized secondary schools, vocational high schools, skilled worker training schools, and secondary vocational schools for adults. Vocational training includes prejob training, training for transferring to civilian work, apprentice training, in-service training, and other kinds of vocational training. The trainees include employed workers, rural surplus workers, farmers, demobilized soldiers, and unemployed urban workers.

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The emphasis of vocational education has shifted from one-time work-oriented education to lifelong education that stresses sustainable human resources development. Both secondary vocational education and higher vocational education are emphasized. Different kinds of vocational education are connected to each other. The emphasis of vocational education shifted from academic credentials education to a combination of both academic credentials education and professional training. The plan-driving and subject-leading model of education has been transformed to a model that is need-driving and employmentorientated. Governments are no longer the only ones supplying vocational education. Nongovernmental organizations are also encouraged to participate in vocational education. In short, “China has basically established a modern vocational education system that fits the socialist market-oriented economic system and closely relates to the demands of markets. The new vocational education system is well-structured, flexible, open, and stylistic, and is developing independently.”1 The vocational education system is becoming an important part of the national education system and national lifelong education system. Scales of Vocational Education Increase Continuously The scale of vocational education continues to increase. According to the Ministry of Education, there were only 564 secondary vocational schools with 77,095 students enrolled before the new China was founded in 1949. By 1978, the number of secondary vocational schools increased to 4,474. These secondary vocational schools admitted 714,900 students in 1978. In 2007, the number of secondary vocational school increased to 14,832, an increase of 3.32 times compared to 1978. About 8,100,200 students were admitted into secondary vocational schools in the same year, an increase of 11.33 times compared to 1978. In 2007, secondary vocational schools enrolled 19,870,100 students in total. There were 1,015 higher vocational schools with a total enrollment of 8.6 million students. On average 3 million students were admitted every year. The number of students admitted by secondary and higher vocational schools represents nearly half of the total secondary and post-secondary students. The ratio of ordinary recruitment to vocational education recruitment was nearly 1:1. China has the largest vocational education system in the world.

1 Yu Zuguang, Exploration of Reforms of Vocational Education (Beijing: People’s Education Publishing House, 2007), 17.

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Vocational Education Meets the Needs of Social Development Better and Better Vocational education is service- and employment-oriented. This practice has proved effective in training high-quality vocational workers to meet the social and economic development needs of China. In the past three decades, more than 70 million students have received some form of vocational education. Vocational schools at all levels have trained 1.4 billion urban and rural workers and millions of quality workers and specialized technicians, which greatly promoted the social and economic development of China. Since secondary vocational education is the nucleus and focus of the vocational education system in China, in the following discussions, we use secondary vocational education as an example to examine the evolutions of vocational education in China during the past thirty years. 5.1.2. An Overview of Secondary Vocational Education over the Past Thirty Years Three Stages of Development of Secondary Vocational Education over the Past Thirty Years2 There are four types of secondary vocational education in China: specialized secondary schools,3 skilled worker schools, vocational schools,4 and specialized secondary schools for adults. The aim of vocational education is to cultivate intellectuals who possess special techniques and who can meet the needs of society and work in the frontline of production and service. It is the type of education that is most likely to be affected by society and markets. In the past three decades, secondary vocational education experienced three stages of development: recovery, downslide, and growth. By the time the Cultural Revolution ended, many vocational schools 2 Unless there is special explanation, the data of secondary vocational education hereinafter include the data of specialized secondary schools, skilled worker schools, vocational schools, and specialized secondary schools for adults. 3 In order to differentiate from specialized secondary schools for adults, specialized secondary schools are usually called ordinary specialized secondary schools, which are divided into specialized secondary schools and teacher training schools. The former includes industry schools, agriculture schools, forestry schools, health schools, finance and economics schools, politics and law schools, physical schools, art schools, and others. The latter includes preprimary teacher training schools. Unless there is special explanation, secondary vocational schools include specialized secondary schools and teacher training schools. 4 Secondary vocational schools include junior vocational schools and senior vocational schools. For the purpose of this research, only senior vocational schools are included. In addition, vocational schools were named as Agricultural & Vocational Schools in the statistics prior to 1990, therefore the data might be slightly different from the statistics after 1990 (including 1990). However this discrepancy would not affect the overall comparison.

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were suspended or damaged. There were only a few secondary specialized schools and skilled worker schools. The ratio of general high school students to secondary vocational school students was 93.9:6.1 in 1976. Secondary vocational education resumed its development since the early 1980s. Both enrollment and the number of secondary vocational schools grew at a fast speed. By the end of 1990, the ratio of general high school students to secondary vocational school students was nearly 1:1. There were only 3,069 specialized secondary schools in China in 1980. The number, however, increased to 3,557 in 1985 and 3,982 in 1990. In other words, from 1980 to 1990, the number of secondary vocational schools almost increased by one-third. The momentum of growth continued from 1990 to 1997. The growth of secondary vocational schools slowed down between 1997 and 2002. A number of factors are responsible for this downturn, including reforms in vocational schools’ training plans that started in 1995, deepening of enterprise reforms after 1997, and increased enrollment in colleges and universities since 1999. During this period, the number of secondary vocational schools dropped greatly. After 2002, the state policies to support vocational schools began to take effect. Both admission and enrollment rates have greatly increased. Since then, the number of vocational schools has maintained at a steady level. Main Achievements Both total enrollment and annual enrollment resumed an increasing trend after the 1997–2002 downturns. It is worthwhile to mention that although the number of secondary vocational schools has been decreasing since 2000, both total enrollment and annual enrollment of secondary vocational schools started increasing after 2002. By 2006, there were 18,098,900 students enrolled at secondary vocational schools. During the same year 7,478,200 students were admitted to secondary vocational schools. Both the quantity and the quality of teachers have increased. The quality of teachers is an important measure of the conditions for running schools. By the late 1990s, the number of professional vocational school teachers increased greatly. In 1999, there were 850,800 professional vocational school teachers, 3.8 times as many as in 1980. The number of professional teachers, which decreased continuously during the period of downslide, began to increase again after 2003. By 2006, the number of professional vocational school teachers increased to 772,600, but was still less than that in 1999 as shown in fig. 5.2. The quality of teachers improved as well. From 2004 to 2006 the number of teachers with junior or senior titles increased steadily.

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90 ten thousand people

80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 1980 1985 1990 1993 1995 1997 1999 2000 2003 2004 2005 2006 Data source: “Development and Planning Section of Ministry of Education,” in Statistical Year Book of China’s Education, (Beijing: People’s Education Publishing House).

Fig. 5.2. Numbers of professional vocational school teachers, 1980–2006.

Professional teachers who only graduated from high school decreased. Practice-guiding teachers increased steadily year by year as shown in fig. 5.3. The increase of practice-guiding teachers was very important to improve students’ practical ability. As shown in fig. 5.4, per capita budgetary spending on secondary vocational education remained stable from 1996 to 2004.5 It reached its highest level (RMB 4,100.48) in 2001 and then dropped to RMB 3,466.34 in 2004 due to a decline in enrollment. Tuition and fees

5 A separate taxation system has been enforced in China since 1994. The negative effect of it (gaps between financial investments of different areas) has enlarged, which has been obvious in secondary vocational education. As vocational schools have been neglected for a long time, its proportion of educational investments has been low. In the provinces where a separate taxation system has been enforced, the pressures have made the investments even lower, which made relevant vocational schools receive much less financial funding. This imbalance further lowers the general level of funding of the whole country. At the same time, Opinions on the Reform and Development of Secondary Vocational Education (not including teacher schools) (关于普通中等专业教育（不含中师） 改革与发展的意见) issued by the State Education Committee in May of 1995 clearly pointed out: “Secondary schools should change the situation in that schools only rely on the state finance. While the state finance should be the major source of funds, funds from other channels should also be raised to conduct education. Schools should run industries, which should be combined with education, to promote schools to develop.” The document widened the ways for vocational schools’ pluralistic development. However, it weakened the government’s role to conduct secondary vocational education and financial investments. The result was that the level of financial investment per capita in education did not rise from 1996 to 1998 (see fig. 5.4).

an overview of studies in vocational education policy Junior or Senior Titles

High School Graduate and Below

261

Practice Guiding Teachers

120000

Number of people

100000 80000 60000 40000 20000 0 2005

2004

2006

Data source: National Bureau of Statistics.

Fig. 5.3. Titles and levels of educational attainment of vocational school teachers, 2004–2006.

Governmental Subsidies tuition per person Tuition and fee per person 4500 4000 3500 ???

3000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 Data source: National Bureau of Statistics.6

Fig. 5.4. Incomes and expenditures of vocational schools (including skilled worker schools), 1996–2004. 6 To simplify, the calculation of financial education investment in secondary vocational education is based on the numbers of students at vocational schools and skilled worker schools on the net of the State Statistics Bureau.

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continue to decrease due to governmental subsidies. The state also increased its financial support to students from poor families and rural areas. In 2008, the government allocated RMB 18 billion to secondary vocational schools. All students from rural areas and 90% of students from low-income families are expected to receive some form of financial support. About 20% of vocational college students will receive financial support from the state.6 The support and service system of vocational education took shape. The support and service system includes scientific research, teachers training, publishing, and the production of practical training equipments. In the spring of 1998, Germany funded two vocational education research institutes in Shanghai and Shenyang. Later some provinces and universities established their own vocational education research institutes. Some universities set up master and doctor programs in vocational education. The Higher Education Publishing House set up vocational education publishing houses. The manufacturing industry that is engaged in the production of practical training equipments made great development. So far the Ministry of Education has established sixty-four teachers training bases, which have trained three million person-times.7 International vocational education cooperation and exchanges have gained rapid development. There are several types of international vocational education cooperation. Vocational education institutions have established cooperation with international organizations, foreign governments, and nongovernmental organizations and schools. Scholars and students are sent to developed countries to visit, research, and study. UNESCO, International Workers’ Organization and the World Bank are the primary international organizations that have established close cooperative relationship with China. Germany, Australia, Canada, the UK, the USA and Japan are the major foreign countries that have established long-term cooperative relationships with China. Germany and Australia are the two most important cooperators. The German dual vocational education model and the Australian TAFE

6

7 Wang Mingda, “Key Speech” (lecture at the seminar of Research and Compilation of Important Issues of Vocational Education in China from 1979 to 2008).

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vocational education model had important influence on the development of vocational education in China. 5.1.3. The Problem of Fairness The status of vocational education in the national education system involves the problem of fairness. In China most vocational school students are from low- and middle-income families. If these students cannot have equal access to educational opportunities and resources, then they cannot overcome the negative effects of their disadvantaged family backgrounds on upward mobility. In that case, social inequality will be passed on from one generation to the next. Conversely, if vocational school students have equal access to education opportunities and resources, social equality will be promoted. The problem of fairness lies in the status of vocational education. In China vocational education is treated as second-class education. The conditions for running vocational schools are second-class with respect to the quantity and the quality of vocational schools, government financial support, quality of teachers, available resources, and the students-to-teacher ratio. Vocational school students are treated as second-class students. Consequently, selection of students for secondary vocational schools or ordinary high schools is increasingly dependent on their parents’ occupations and economic incomes, while the roles of academic abilities, specialties and interest become less important. Trends in Secondary Vocational Schools and General High Schools The number of vocational schools decreased from 1997 to 2003. There were 22,229 vocational schools in China in 1997. In 2003 the number dropped to 14,787, a decrease of 7,442 (or at an annual rate of 29% of ) schools compared to 1997. The numbers of ordinary specialized secondary schools, senior vocational middle schools, and skilled worker schools were 4,143, 8,578, and 4,395 in 1997, respectively. In 1999, the corresponding numbers were 3,962, 8,317, and 4,098, respectively. In 2003, the numbers dropped to 3,065, 5,824, and 3,075, respectively, as shown in fig. 5.5. The numbers of vocational schools relative to ordinary high schools continue to decrease. For example, the number of vocational schools was 1.32 times as many as ordinary high schools in 1990 and 1.6 times in 1997. However, due to the decline in the number of vocational

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Ordinary High Schools

24000

Number of School

22000 20000 18000 16000 14000 12000 1990 1993 1995 1997 1999 2000 2003 2004 2005 2006 Data Source: “Development and Planning Section of Ministry of Education,” in Statistics Year Book of Education in China (Beijing: People’s Education Publishing House).

Fig. 5.5. Number of vocational schools and ordinary high schools, 1990–2006.

schools and an increase in the number of ordinary high schools, the number of ordinary high schools exceeds that of vocational schools after 2003. Students have only a limited number of vocational schools to choose from after they graduate from middle schools. Trends in Student Enrollment Across Different Types of Secondary Schools Fig. 5.6 describes the trends in student enrollment across different types of secondary schools between 1980 and 2006. The number of students enrolled at secondary vocational schools decreased dramatically from the late 1990s to the early 2000s. The number of students enrolled at ordinary high schools, on the contrary, increased sharply during the same time period and reached 12,012,600 in 2000, which was almost the same as the number of students enrolled at secondary vocational schools (that number was 12,134,400). Annual enrollment shows a similar pattern. For example, the number of students admitted by ordinary high schools exceeded that admitted by vocational schools in 2000. After that, although the number of students admitted by secondary vocational schools resumes its growth at an average annual rate of 14% from 2003 to 2006, it never surpassed the number of students admitted by ordinary high schools.

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Enrollment for Secondary Vocational School Students Admitted for Secondary Vocational School Enrollment for Ordinary High School Students Admitted for Ordinary High School

3000

ten thousand people

2500 2000 1500 1000 500 0 1980 1985 1990 1993 1995 1997 1999 2000 2003 2004 2005 2006

Data Source: “Development and Planning Section of Ministry of Education” in Statistic Year Book of Education in China (Beijing: People’s Education Publishing House).

Fig. 5.6. Numbers of students admitted and numbers of total enrollment, by types of secondary schools, 1980–2006.

Figure 5.7 shows a longer time trend of the changes in the number of high school students enrolled in ordinary high schools relative to that enrolled in secondary vocational schools. It better reveals the course of development of vocational education and ordinary education in China. In the 1990s, only a few students enrolled in general higher education in China. Most junior middle school graduates attended secondary vocational schools to prepare themselves to participate in agricultural and industrial productions. During this time period, about four-fifths of secondary school students were enrolled in secondary vocational schools. Vocational education, which was severely damaged during the Cultural Revolution, resumed its development in 1976. By 1980, the number of students enrolled in secondary vocational schools accounted for 40% of all secondary school students. Over the next twenty years, the proportion of secondary school students that were enrolled in secondary vocational schools remained at about 40%.

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Secondary Vocational School

100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 1965 1980 1985 1990 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 Data Source: Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China. Note: The fig. does not include adult high school students.

Fig. 5.7. The relative numbers of secondary school students enrolled in secondary vocational schools as opposed to ordinary high schools, 1965– 2006.

The Quantity and Quality of Full-Time Secondary Vocational School Teachers There are not enough vocational school teachers. For example, the student-to-teacher ratio in ordinary specialized secondary schools and vocational schools has not improved for many years (see fig. 5.8). The ratio has actually improved since 1997 and reached 31.67 in 2006 in ordinary specialized secondary schools. The situation is more serious when the student-to-teacher ratio in ordinary specialized secondary schools is compared to the student-to-teacher ratio in ordinary high schools. As shown in fig. 5.8, differences in the student-to-teacher ratio between secondary vocational schools and ordinary high schools increased from 1992 to 2006. In 2006, a specialized secondary school teacher taught 14 more students than an ordinary high school teacher. In other words, the workload of a specialized secondary school teacher is 1.7 times as heavy as that of his counterparts at ordinary high schools. The quality of vocational school teachers is also not desirable. The proportions of secondary vocational school teachers who have an accredited academic degrees were 31.2% in 1996 and 33.86% in 1997,

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Regular Specialized Secondary Schools Vocational High School Ordinary High School 35

30

25

20

15

10

92 993 994 995 996 997 998 999 000 001 002 003 004 005 006 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2

19

Data Source: Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China.

Fig. 5.8. The student-to-teacher ratios by type of secondary schools, 1992– 2006.

respectively.8 The proportion of secondary vocational school teachers who can teach professional courses is also low. Their levels of professional skills are low. Most secondary vocational school teachers lack practice-oriented teaching experiences. There are not enough young and middle-aged backbone teachers. Only 52% of professional teachers can teach professional courses or supervise students’ practice. Less than 10% of teachers under age 45 have senior professional titles.9 Public Investments in Vocational Education and Tuition Fees The proportion of education budgets used for secondary vocational education decreased from 1996 to 2004 (see fig. 5.9). The proportion of education budget used on secondary vocational education dropped

Yang Jintu, “Education Justice and Vocational Education,” Education and Employment 7 (2004). 9 http://www.hinews.cn/news/system/2006/03/10/000092692.shtml. 8

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Ordinary High Schools

35% 30% 25% 20% 15% 10% 5% 0% 1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

Data Source: Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China.

Fig. 5.9. Proportions of education budget on secondary vocational schools and ordinary high schools, 1996–2004.

from 11% in 1996 to less than 4.3% in 2004.10 From 1995 to 2000, education budgets increased from RMB 102.8 billion to RMB 208.6 billion, an increase of 102.9%. During the same time period, government spending on postsecondary education increased by 155.8%, and government spending on ordinary high schools increased by 123.9%. However, government spending on secondary vocational schools only increased by 55.8%. In 2005, governments at all levels spent more than RMB 46 billion on ordinary high schools, but less than RMB 25 billion on secondary vocational schools. Consequently, government spending on each vocational school student decreased from RMB 246.77 in 1997 to RMB 214.9 in 2000.11 In contrast, the experiences from developed countries, which have been very successful in running vocational schools, show that the costs of vocational education are usually 3 times the costs of ordinary education. In addition, tuitions and fees for vocational education are higher than that of ordinary education (see fig. 5.10). In 2004, an average vocational school student spent RMB 2,086 per academic year for http://www.hinews.cn/news/system/2006/03/10/000092692.shtml. Ministry of Education, Statistical Report of Expenditure of the County’s Education Funds, 1997–2002. 10 11

an overview of studies in vocational education policy Secondary Vocational Schools

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Ordinary High Schools

2500 2000

???

1500 1000 500 0 1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

Data Source: Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China.

Fig. 5.10. Tuition per academic year, secondary vocational schools, and ordinary high schools, 1996–2004.

tuition, while a student from an ordinary high school paid RMB 1,055 per academic year for tuition. In 2005, tuition for secondary vocational schools was RMB 2,089 per academic year, while tuition for ordinary high schools was RMB 1,150 per academic year. Vocational schools charge more administrative fees than do ordinary middle schools; this not only hinders junior middle-school graduates to choose to study at a vocational school but also increases their difficulties in completing their studies (see fig. 5.10). The Scale of Vocational Education in Rural China Declines Yearly The development of vocational education in rural areas has always lagged behind urban areas. From 1991 to 2000, there have always been 2,000 more vocational schools in urban areas than in rural areas, despite the fact that more people live in rural areas and rural areas are several times larger in landmass than urban areas. Since 1992, vocational education in rural areas started declining at a faster speed. There is a serious shortage of vocational education in rural areas.12

12 Chen Hongyan, “Analysis of Policies on Vocational Education in Rural Areas in New China,” (master’s thesis, Shaanxi Normal University, 2006).

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Lower Salaries and Fewer Job Prospects Most vocational school graduates find jobs in industries and occupations that require fewer technical skills. They receive a lower salary, and the working conditions are poor, as well. Their jobs have fewer career prospects. The only way for vocational school graduates to advance their career is by passing the entrance exams for vocational and technical colleges. Few of them, however, take the national entrance exams to colleges and universities, where they would compete with students from ordinary senior high schools. There is one serious problem with the development of vocational education in China. Although there is an urgent demand for skilled workers, vocational education does not receive enough attention. This situation is partly attributed to the value orientation of public policies. Because the government did not give enough attention to the development of vocational education, vocational schools suffered from capital shortage, affecting the quality of teaching. There is still plenty of room for government to improve vocational education though policy initiations. 5.2. A Review of Vocational Education Policies over the Past Thirty Years In the past thirty years, the Chinese government has been faced with the following problems: Should vocational education be developed in China, or not? What kinds of vocational education should be developed in China? How should vocational education be developed in China? The history of vocational education policies in the past thirty years has been the process of continuous exploration of the questions above. 5.2.1. The Phase of Recovery, 1978–1984 In this phase, the emphasis of vocational education policies is reforming the structure of secondary education and establishing a system of vocational education. Adjustment in Education Structure During the Cultural Revolution, the system of vocational education was destroyed. Secondary education lacked diversity. By 1976, specialized secondary schools and skilled worker schools were the two main types of vocational schools. There were 3,710 vocational schools (including teacher schools) with about

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910,000 enrolled students. The proportion of secondary school students that are enrolled in secondary vocational schools decreased from 52.6% in 1965 to 6.1% in 1976. In other words, among 100 students that are engaged in secondary education, about 94 are enrolled in ordinary high schools, while only 6 are enrolled in secondary vocational schools.13 The late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping pointed out at the National Conference on Education in 1978 that there is an urgent need to increase the proportions of agricultural secondary vocational schools, specialized secondary schools, and skilled worker schools. The issues of adjusting the structure of secondary education and developing vocational education were put on the agenda of policy formulation. In 1980, the Ministry of Education and the State Bureau of Labor issued the Report of the Reforms of the Structure of Secondary Education (关于 中等教育结构改革的报告). It put forward a series of favorable policies to promote the development of secondary vocational education. A number of ordinary high schools were transformed into vocational (technical ) schools, secondary vocational schools, or agricultural secondary schools, which increased the number of special technical secondary schools and other technical schools. In addition, vocational high schools, a new type of secondary vocational education institutions that was transformed from ordinary middle schools, emerged. In 1983 the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Labor and Personnel, the Ministry of Finance, and the State Planning Commission jointly issued Opinions on Reforms of the Structure of Secondary Education in Urban Areas and Development of Vocational and Technical Education (关于改 革城市中等教育结构、发展职业技术教育的意见). It further clarified ways to reform the structure of secondary education mentioned in the Report of 1980. It was decided that the government would appropriate an additional amount of RMB 50 million every year for secondary vocational schools sponsored by the educational departments. Restrictions for Running Vocational Schools are Removed Nongovernmental sectors are allowed to run vocational schools.

13 Vocational and Technical Education Section of State Education Committee, Brief History of Vocational and Technical Education in China (Beijing: Beijing Normal University Publishing House, 1994), 1–151.

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It is worthwhile mentioning that the 1980 Report of the Reforms of the Structure of Secondary Education (关于中等教育结构改革的报告) stressed that nongovernmental sectors (such as individuals and collective organizations) are permitted to run all kinds of vocational (technical ) schools. This policy initiation had a profound impact on the development of vocational education in China. Vocational education developed immensely in the following years. By 1985, the number of students enrolled at specialized secondary schools, skilled worker schools, and agricultural senior middle schools increased by 26.4%, 9.1%, and 4.8%, respectively. The total number of secondary vocational school students reached 4,156,000. In contrast, the number of students at ordinary high schools decreased by 24.6% and totaled 7,411,000. About 35.9% students who were engaged in secondary education were enrolled at secondary vocational schools, an increase of 17.2% compared to 1980.14 5.2.2. The Phase of Development, 1985–1996 In this phrase, the development of vocational education was primarily driven by the government and other external forces. The priority of vocational education policies was to increase the scales of vocational education. The Decisions of the Central Committee of CPC on Reforms of Education System (中共中央关于教育体制改革的决定), published in 1985, greatly promoted the development of vocational education. After a period of recovery and policies accumulation, Decision of the Central Committee of CPC on Reforms of Education System was published in 1985. Vocational education entered a new phase of development. Decision systemized the orientation, development routes and favorable policies in the Report of the Reforms of the Structure of Secondary Education (关于中等教育结构改革 的报告) (1980) and Opinions on Reforms of the Structure of Secondary Education in Urban Areas and Development of Vocational and Technical Education (关于改革城市中等教育结构、发展职业技术教育的意见) (1983). Decision put forward the principle to “adjust the structure of secondary education and develop vocational education greatly.” It suggested that employers, when hiring, give priority to vocational school graduates.

14 Science and Technique Daily, November 3, 2005, http://www.stdaily.com/gb/ education/2005-11/03/content_450379.htm.

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It was decided that educational stratification started from junior middle school.15 Decision also stated that in addition to individuals and collective organizations, other nongovernmental organizations are also encouraged to run vocational schools. Decision served as the foundation for managing vocational schools. It made it possible for market forces to run vocational schools. The policies that were made public in the form of decisions made by the Central Committee of CPC were very important and authoritative, setting the tone for development of vocational education in the new era. Thanks to these policies, vocational education gained unprecedented development during this phase. In 1980, there were only 3,069 specialized secondary schools. In 1990, the number rose to 3,092, an increase by one-third in 10 years. The number of students admitted by secondary vocational schools at all levels ties that admitted by ordinary high schools. By the end of 1990, the number of vocational schools increased to 16,000 and the total enrollment of vocational schools reached 6 million.16 There were more than 2,100 employment training centers, which trained more than 900,000 unemployed people every year. The number of vocational schools increased steadily between 1990 and 1997. In 1996, both annual enrollment and total enrollment at vocational schools peaked. Funds for vocational education increased from RMB 60,300,000 in 1987 to RMB 1,421,000,000 in 1992 at an annual rate of 18.7%. The ratio of the funds for vocational education to local governmental expenditure on education increased from 3.05% to 3.65%. The Decisions on the Development of Vocational and Technical Education (关于大力发展职业技术教育的决定) issued by the State Council in 1991 enriched the intentions of vocational education policies. After

15 The Decision says: “. . . Workers employed should be selected from graduates from vocational and technical schools . . . young people in China diverge at middle schools: some junior middle school graduates go to ordinary senior middle schools. Some receive vocational education at senior middle schools. Some graduates from senior middle schools go to ordinary universities. Some receive higher vocational and technical education. Graduates from primary schools can be employed after receiving vocational and technical education in junior middle schools. They can also continue their studies. Those who do not go to ordinary senior middle schools, ordinary universities or vocational and technical schools can be employed after a short period of vocational and technical training . . . to change the unreasonable current situation of the structure of secondary education.” 16 Wang Liang and Liang Qing, “Ideas and Historical Contribution of 2nd Generation of Leading Collective of CPC about Vocational Education,” Vocational and Technical Education 34 (2007).

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a decade of recovery and development, in 1991, the State Council published the Decision on the Development of Vocational and Technical Education, which clarified the government’s opinions on the following several important issues of the development of vocational education: (1) The Decision stated that vocational education should gain development through internal development. The potentials of current vocational schools should be explored. The scale of enrollment, especially the scale of the enrollment of secondary vocational schools, should be enlarged so that total enrollment at vocational schools exceeds that of ordinary high schools in the near future. In 1996, the number of students enrolled at secondary vocational schools peaked. The number of students admitted by secondary vocational schools surpassed that of ordinary high schools for the first time. (2) The Decision pointed out that backbone schools and model schools should be promoted in a planned manner. From 1991 to 1994, all vocational schools were evaluated. After the first round of evaluation, 249 national key specialized secondary vocational schools, 296 national key vocational schools, 196 national key skilled worker schools, and many provincial key vocational schools were selected. The establishment of an evaluation system for vocational schools promoted the administrative department’s investment in vocational schools. (3) According to the Decision, vocational school graduates should be given priority consideration in employment. Employers should assign their jobs to vocational school graduates according to their vocational training. (4) The construction of vocational school teachers was put on the agenda. The Decision pointed out that it is necessary to specify the minimum requirements for teaching in vocational and technical schools and to improve the evaluation and employment systems. All vocational school teachers are required to have teachers’ qualification certificates in order to be employed. Measures should be taken to gradually improve the living conditions of vocational school teachers. Furthermore, in 1995, the State Education Committee and the Ministry of Finance issued the Notification on Treating Students of Teachers’ Classes of Vocational Education Schools the Same as Students of Teacher Schools

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(关于职教师资班学生享受师范生待遇的通知), which stipulated that students in teachers’ training classes at vocational schools should be treated the same as students in teachers’ training schools and should be exempted from tuitions. Scholarship should be established to reward distinguished vocational school students. The objective of these measures was to guarantee a stable supply of vocational school teachers. In 1991, a system of continuing education for vocational school graduates was established. Notification on Relevant Problems in Recommending Graduates from Vocational Schools to Take College Entrance Exams (关于推 荐应届职业高中毕业生参加高考的有关问题的通知), issued by the State Education Committee in 1991, stated that “secondary vocational school students who are recommended to take the national entrance exams should be treated the same as ordinary high school students for college admission.” This policy helped build a link between vocational education and ordinary higher education, which has important implications. The Outlines of the Reforms and Development of Education in China (中国教育改革和发展纲要), issued in 1993, further clarified the status of vocational education. The 14th National Congress of CPC held in 1992 clearly stated that education should be placed on the development agenda as a strategic priority. Deng Xiaoping’s Southern Tour Speeches suggested that the pace of economic reforms be sped up. Against this background, the Outlines of Reforms and Development of Education in China (中国教育改革和发展纲要) was issued in 1993. The Outlines (纲要) stressed the importance of vocational education. It required that vocational education be developed in diversified forms and at various levels. Graduates who are unable to receive higher schooling should receive vocational and technical training. Vocational schools should be run by industries, enterprises, institutions and other sectors of society. Production and education should be combined. All workers should receive some form of professional training before they are employed. The Outlines stated: “At the current stage of development, local and central governments should be the main providers of basic education. For higher education, in addition to local and central governments, nongovernmental organizations are also encouraged to be involved. Industries, enterprises, institutions, and social sectors should work jointly to provide vocational and technical education.” In other words, according to the new educational policy, nongovernmental organizations will gradually replace governments and become the primary sponsors of vocational and technical education. The

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sponsorship systems of ordinary education and vocational education began to separate. Although ordinary schools are still conducted by the state, vocational education is mainly conducted by nongovernmental organizations. Former governmental restrictions on students’ admission and job placement gradually are lifted. Governmental influences on facilities and specialties of vocational schools are reduced, as well. Vocational Education Law of the People’s Republic of China (中华人民共和 国职业教育法) was enacted in 1996. The enactment of the Vocational Education Law of the People’s Republic of China in 1996 was a momentous event in vocational education policies. It established the legal status of vocational education; stipulated the rights and the duties of the government, society, enterprises, schools, and individuals in vocational education; defined the fundamental tasks of vocational education, the system of running vocational schools, and the administration system of vocational education; put forth the methods of developing vocational education; and defined the standards and the requirements for running vocational schools. There are more articles in the Vocational Education Law that are related to the issue of funding for vocational education. Even though the Vocational Education Law of the People’s Republic of China was enacted in the form of a declaration, it was based on more than ten years’ experience of vocational education in the new era. It stipulated the responsibility of the government in developing vocational education17 and upgraded relevant policies to law, the highest level of policies. The enactment of the Vocational Education Law symbolized that vocational education development was placed on a legal track. Vocational education was protected by the laws of the country.18 In short, vocational education made great progress between 1985 and 1996. Three factors are responsible for this achievement: First, in the planned economy, all vocational school students are guaranteed a job after they graduate. Many good junior middle-school graduates prefer to choose specialized secondary schools and skilled worker schools. Second, the service industries developed rapidly in urban areas,

17 Li Lanqing, Deputy Premier of the State Council then, started the establishment of vocational education laws after investigating and researching the experience of the development of establishing vocational education laws in countries such as Germany and the United States. 18 Li Lanqing, Record of Interview with Li Lanqing (Beijing: People’s Education Publishing House, 2004), 414.

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which increased labor-market demands for vocational school students. Third, a series of policies that are favorable to the development of vocational education were enacted, including increasing the scales of vocational education, constructing key model schools, encouraging communication between ordinary and vocational education, assigning jobs according to one’s vocational training, and enacting vocational education law and other relevant policies to protect the development of vocational education. In this phase, the development of vocational education is mainly driven by external factors. It masked the problems that are inherent in vocational education. 5.2.3. The Declining Phase, 1997–2001 During this transition phase, the market economy system was introduced into vocational education. Vocational education was beset with both internal and external difficulties. Secondary vocational education was in a dire crisis. Problems Emerged Since the late 1990s, vocational education has faced serious difficulties. Although annual enrollment of vocational schools continued to increase after 1997, the proportion of junior middle school students enrolled in secondary vocational schools decreased. In addition, the rate of growth of annual enrollment of vocational schools slowed down since 1998. The annual enrollment of secondary vocational schools declined from 5,260,000 in 1998 to 4,000,000 in 2001. Total enrollment declined from 14,670,000 in 1998 to 11,650,000 in 2001. In 2001, secondary vocational schools, ordinary specialized vocational schools, and skilled worker schools enrolled 3,378,300 students in total, compared to 5,579,800 students enrolled in ordinary high schools. Reasons for the Downturn First, economic restructuring increases employment difficulties of vocational school students, decreasing the incentives of junior middle-school graduates to enroll in vocational schools. During the Ninth Five-Year Plan (1995–2000), with the deepening of socialist-market economic reforms, the economy was restructured, the enterprise systems were changed, and more and more enterprises were closed, suspended, merged, or switched to other lines of production, resulting in a number of workers losing their jobs. The number of

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employers hiring secondary vocational school students declined. Previous modes of training vocational school students, an outcome of the socialist planned economy, proved increasingly inappropriate in the face of economic restructuring. Second, vocational education reforms lagged behind the steps of economic development. The curriculum, which was designed to fit the socialist planned economy, did not change in a timely manner in response to the changes in the social and economic basis of vocational education. Both the programs and the curriculum were not strongly related to employment. Most vocational school students lacked practical abilities and were unable to meet the needs of labor markets. Third, the government reduced investment in vocational education19 and gradually withdrew other types of support toward vocational education. Many preferential policies for specialized secondary schools and skilled worker schools were abolished, including governmental assistance in recruiting students, transferring students’ place of residence to the place where they attend vocational schools, financial assistance to vocational school students, and assistance in finding students jobs. From 1995, specialized secondary schools required students to pay tuition. Specialized secondary school students also needed to find jobs by themselves. A survey showed that due to these policy changes onethird of specialized secondary schools lost their attraction to junior middle school graduates.20 Fourth, in response to the expansion of college enrollments, an increasing number of junior middle-school students choose to enroll in ordinary high schools. As a result, the total enrollment in ordinary high schools increased by 14% from 1996 to 1997, but the total enrollment of secondary vocational schools declined during the same time period.

19 Since 1977, exploration has been made in some provinces to separate finances to give some financial rights and obligations to local governments. The result was that taxes collected by the government decreased from 31% of the GDP in 1978 to 12.3% of the GDP in 1993, which was much lower than that in developed countries of high social welfare and even much lower than in developing countries. The proportion of central financial incomes also decreased sharply. To solve the above problems, reforms of separate taxations started in 1994, which mainly separated taxes collected by the central government and local governments to increase the proportion of central financial incomes. 20 Decision to Deepen Reforms of Education and Promote Quality Education, issued by Central Committee of CPC and the State Council, 1999.

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Fifth, the messages transmitted in the policies were inconsistent. In this phase, policies sent out uncertain messages on the future development of secondary vocational education. For example, a leader from the Ministry of Education said at a meeting in October of 1998, that “by the beginning of the twentieth-first century, the focus of secondary vocational education will be shifted from building more secondary vocational schools to consolidating and improving the results gained.”21 However, according to the Decision to Deepen the Reforms of Education and Push Forward the Overall Development of Quality Education (中共中央国务院 关于深化教育改革全面推进素质教育的决定) issued by the Central Committee of the CPC and the State Council issued the following year, “higher vocational education is an important part of higher education; more efforts should be devoted to further develop higher vocational education.” “Measures should be taken to actively develop secondary education, including ordinary high school education and secondary vocational school education.” Because of these inconsistent messages, vocational schools are not certain about their routes of development in the future. Although the expansion of college education has led universities and higher vocational schools to receive more attention, secondary vocational education, on the contrary, received less and less attention. Moreover, in response to an increase in attention to higher vocational schools, some secondary vocational schools were upgraded to higher vocational schools. Sixth, international organizations misled the development of secondary vocational education in China. In this phase, the World Bank changed its policies towards Chinese vocational education. In Strategic Aims of the Development of China’s Education in the Twenty-First Century, the World Bank suggested that China should reduce the scale of vocational education. The number of secondary vocational school students should account for less than 60% of the total secondary school students. In the following twenty years, the number of pure vocational schools should be reduced according to local conditions. Two-year postsecondary educational institutions should replace pure vocational schools.22 The propositions from the World Bank greatly influenced

Wen Youxin and Yang Jinmei, History of Vocational Education (Haikou: Hainan Publishing House, 2000), 356. 22 World Bank, Human Development Sector Unit, East Asia and Pacific Region, Strategic Goals for Chinese Education in the 21st Century (November 30, 1999), 37–41. 21

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the development of secondary vocational education in China. However, the propositions proved infeasible in China. For various kinds of reasons mentioned above, the annual enrollment of vocational schools decreased from 5,207,777 in 1997 to 3,976,300 in 2001. The ratio of the annual enrollment of secondary vocational schools to the annual enrollment of ordinary high schools dropped from 62.15:37.85 in 1997 to 41.58:58.42 in 2001. Trials of Reforms In the late 1990s, the government started reforming specialized secondary schools and skilled workers schools. The goals of the reforms were “to establish an education system in accordance with the socialist market economy and the internal development rules of education, and establish communications and connections between different types of education.”23 In order to slow down the pace of development of ordinary high schools, the office of the State Council transmitted Opinion on Promoting the Preparatory Labor System and Improving Laborers’ Qualities More Quickly (关 于推进劳动预备制度、加快提高劳动者素质的意见) in June 1999. It stipulated that from 1999 the preparatory labor system should be promoted in all cities and towns in China. The Ministry of Education published Some Opinions on Actively Pushing Forward Education Development in the Phase of Senior Middle Schools (关于积极推进高中阶段教育事业发 展的若干意见) in August 1999. The document maintained that there are five types of relationships that need to be properly dealt with. The fifth type of relationship referred to “the relationship between the development of ordinary high school education and the development of secondary vocational education, . . . to promote the harmonious development of both types of secondary education.” However, these documents did not stop vocational education from declining. 5.2.4. Thriving Development, 2002–2008 During this phase of development, the important role of vocational education in the education system was acknowledged, and the development of vocational education was considered a strategic priority. The government requested to reevaluate the importance of vocational education. At the same time the government started exploring and

23 Decision to Deepen Reforms of Education and Promote Quality Education Issued by the Central Committee of CPC and the State Council, 1999.

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developing the route to the development of vocational education with Chinese characteristics. Three Conferences on Vocational Education Held by the State Council Between 2002 and 2005, the State Council held three national conferences on vocational education. Three documents were issued following the conferences: Decisions to Forcefully Promote Reforms and Development of Vocational Education (关于大力推进职业教育改革与发展的决定) issued by the State Council in 2002, Some Opinions on Further Strengthening Vocational Education (关于进一步加强职业教育工作的若干意见) issued by seven ministries and committees of the State Council in 2004, and Decisions to Forcefully Develop Vocational Education (关于大力发展职业教育的决定) issued by the State Council in 2005. Both the level of importance and the frequency of the conferences were unprecedentedly high in the history of vocational education in China, reflecting the determination of the central government to develop vocational education. These three documents defined and detailed the rules, aims, and measures for the development of vocational education. Decisions to Forcefully Develop Vocational Education was issued in 2005. It defined the objectives of secondary vocational education. By 2010, the annual enrollment of secondary vocational school is estimated to reach 8 million. The scale of secondary vocational education should be comparable to ordinary high school education by that time. The annual enrollment of higher vocational schools is expected to be at least half of the annual enrollment of general higher education institutes. The ideology of a learning society was introduced into vocational education. Vocational education should fit people’s demand for lifelong learning and be employment-oriented. Enterprises are encouraged to participate in educating vocational school students. Work and study should be combined. The goal of vocational education is to establish a vocational education system with Chinese characteristics. Vocational Education Follows Three Lines of Development Vocational education follows three lines of development. The development of vocational education manifests four characteristics after 2002: (1) Expand the scale of vocational education and increase the chances of studying at vocational schools. It is expected that there will be an annual net increase of one million students in the annual enrollment of vocational schools in three consecutive years from 2005 to 2007.

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(2) Increase governments’ investments in vocational education, solidify the basis for the development of vocational education, guarantee the availability of equipments that are necessary for vocational teaching, improve the quality of teaching, and promote equality in access to vocational education. The State Council decided to invest RMB 10 billion in building practice training bases for vocational education and purchasing teaching equipment during the Eleventh FiveYear Plan (2005–2010). Government investment will mainly be used on four large projects and four plans. The four large projects are the skilled talents cultivation project, the rural surplus workers training project, the rural practical talents cultivation project, and the adult continued education and reemployment training project. The first plan is to construct two thousand practice training bases. The second plan is to construct one thousand vocational education centers in counties. The third plan is to construct one thousand model secondary vocational schools and one hundred model vocational colleges. The fourth plan is to improve the overall quality of vocational school teachers. These four plans are comparable to the 211 projects. They will greatly improve the overall quality of vocational education in China. (3) The mode of running vocational schools should be reformed. The reform covers fours aspects of the mode of running vocational schools. First, the ideology of running vocational schools should be transformed. Market forces should gradually replace the administrative forces and become the main factors underlying the development of vocational education. Governments’ roles in vocational education should be changed from direct administration to guidance through macroeconomic policies. The development of vocational education Column 5.1 According to the Law of Promoting Civilian-run Education (民办教育促进法) issued in 2002, “the sponsors of private schools are entitled to claim some part of the profits from running private schools, after deducting the costs of running schools, reserving funds for school development, and drawing necessary expenditures according to the regulations made by the state. Detailed ways to get reasonable requitals shall be made by the State Council.” The limit on market capitals to enter vocational education was thus removed. Besides, sponsors can register at industry and commerce administrative departments to conduct profitable education institutions. Private schools are completely market-oriented. Market forces’ participation in vocational education was thus institutionalized.

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Column 5.2 The Act of the People’s Republic of China on Chinese-Foreign Cooperation in Running Schools, issued in 2003, included articles that encourage the introduction of high-quality vocational education resources from abroad. According to Article 3 and Article 4, “The state encourages Chinese-foreign cooperation to run higher education institutes and vocational schools.” Compared to the Outlines issued in 1993, the Decision opened more channels for nongovernmental organizations and international organizations to participate in the running of vocational schools in China. It stressed the dominant role of government in vocational education.

should be oriented toward society and markets. Both the governmental and nongovernmental sectors are encouraged to participate in running vocational schools. The private sector is especially encouraged to run vocational schools. Chinese vocational schools are encouraged to communicate with foreign vocational schools and import good experiences. Second, approaches to vocational education and teaching should be further reformed. The cultivation of students’ practical abilities and vocational skills should be strengthened in vocational colleges and schools. Third, the modes of cultivating talents should be promoted, including establishing cooperative relationships between industries and schools and between schools and enterprises, and combining work with study. The goals of introducing these new modes of running schools are to increase the chances of students from low-income families to access vocational education. The cooperation between enterprises and vocational schools also give enterprises more opportunities to locate potential employees with sought-after technical specialties.24 Fourth, vocational schools located in western and eastern China, in rural areas and urban areas, should cooperate with each other in student admissions and exchange experiences in running vocational schools. The above four reforms show that vocational education has gradually shed influences from general education and formed its own principles and ideas in regard to running schools. (4) The system of aiding students from poor families was established in secondary vocational schools. Compared to students from 24 Ma Siyuan and Zhang Baomin, “Seminar on Combination of Work and Study in Vocational Education Held by Ministry of Education,” China Education Newspaper, August 20, 2005.

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general high schools, a disproportionately large number of secondary vocational school students are from poor families. They urgently need financial support. At the national conference on vocational education held in 2005, the State Council took the initiative and decided to set up a system to provide financial support to poor secondary vocational school students. This idea was written into a subsequent document. In 2006 the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Education issued Some Opinions on Improving Support Systems for Secondary Vocational School Students from Poor Families (关于完善中等职业教育贫困家庭学生资助 体系的若干意见). To support poor students to finish their studies, Opinions (意见) established student scholarships and tuition remission. Poor students can also apply for student loans and defer tuition fees. The tuition remission or reduction program was established. Opinions requires every vocational school to establish a tuition remission or reduction program. The tuition remission or reduction program applies to all poor students (especially orphaned or disabled students), students from poor single-parent families, students whose parents have lost their work abilities, minority students, children of revolutionary martyrs, students whose families receive townsman’s lowest life treatment, and students whose families are in poverty due to sudden incidents. Vocational schools should set aside at least 5% of its annual undertaking revenues to the finance tuition remission or reduction program. Poor students can borrow loans. Students can also defer paying tuition fees. Opinions suggested that financial institutions should be encouraged and guided to offer small loans to poor secondary vocational school students. The government should help students pay the interests. In addition, given that some vocational school students are too young to bear civil liability, the loans can be provided to their families. Schools that are in a good financial situation can borrow loans for their students first and then negotiate with students’ parents to determine the deadline for paying off the loans. The goal is to attract more students to enroll in vocational schools. Scholarships are available to poor students. Opinions stipulated that the central government appropriated RMB 800 million to fund eight hundred thousand poor vocational school students in 2006. In May of 2007, the number of secondary vocational school students funded by the central government increased to 16 million. In short, the availability of financial assistance to poor secondary vocational school students has enabled an increasing number of stu-

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dents to attend vocational schools to learn modern marketable skills, and improve their abilities to contribute to and share the wealth of society. The Chinese secondary vocational education, after a short period of downturn from 1997 to 2002, eventually took on a healthy road of development. 5.3. An Evaluation and Analysis of Vocational Education Policies Generally speaking, the driving forces that underlie the development of vocational education in China vary from one time period to another. Overall the development of vocational education has become increasingly market-oriented in China. 5.3.1. Features of Vocational Education during the Past Thirty Years From Economic Orientation to People Orientation: A Shift in the Impetus for the Development of Vocational Education From the early 1980s to the end of the twentieth century, the impetus for the development of vocational education was to meet the needs of economic development. In the early 2000s, the impetus for the development of vocational education was to solve social problems. This shift in the impetus reflects a fundamental change in the development of vocational education, which becomes more people-oriented. People’s needs rather than government’s needs are increasingly valued. From Plans to Markets: Vocational Education’s Trials and the Crisis to Seek Market Mechanisms One obvious feature that characterized the development of vocational education in China is that market forces and social forces play an increasingly important role in the development of vocational education. Vocational education is defined by policymakers as a form of education which is different from ordinary education. From the government’s point of view, vocational education is more closely linked to markets. Market principles should be adopted to guide its development. Market mechanisms were introduced into the operation of vocational education. The Central Committee of CPC’s Decision on Reforming the Education Systems (中共中央关于教育体制改革的决定), issued in 1985, stated, “The enthusiasms of enterprises, government institutions

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and business units should be mobilized to develop vocational education. Collectives, individuals, and other social sectors are encouraged to participate in vocational education.” Outlines of Reforms and Development of Education in China (中国教育改革与发展纲要), issued in 1993, more clearly stated, “The development of vocational education relies on the collaboration between industries, enterprises, government institutions, and other social sectors.” In order to put an end to the 1997–2002 downturns, the central government published the State Council’s Decision to Forcefully Promote the Reforms and Development of Vocational Education (国务院关于大力推进 职业教育改革与发展的决定) in 2002. The Decision stressed that the development of vocational education should be determined by market forces. It repeatedly stressed that the development of vocational and technical education mainly relies on collaborations between industries, enterprises, government institutions, and other social sectors. Private individuals and enterprises were encouraged and supported to run vocational education independently, or in collaboration with public vocational schools. The government’s responsibilities to conduct vocational education were strengthened. The purpose was to seek a balance between market operation and government intervention. In the same year, the Law of Private Education Promotion (民办教育促 进法) was enacted, which made it legal for market sectors to participate in vocational education. Due to various reasons, market mechanisms cannot solve the many problems confronting the development of vocational education in China. Moreover, many new problems emerged due to market failures.25 First, market mechanisms cannot lead vocational education on the track of self-development. Instead, the best way for vocational education to develop on its own is to use factories (plants) to support schools. However, because vocational schools have limited management abilities, the impact of factories (plants) on the development of vocational education cannot be fully realized without additional governmental investment. Second, market mechanisms cannot optimize the allocation of public resources. Third, market mechanisms cannot bring about effective collaborations between vocational education institutes and other social organizations, especially industries and

25 Qin Zhuangcai, “Market Orientation and Its Crisis: Analysis of Basic Direction of Development of Vocational Education Policies in China in the Past 20 Years,” Comparative Education Research 11 (2003).

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enterprises. On the contrary, if the operation of vocational schools solely relies on market mechanisms, monopolization and short-sighted behaviors will emerge. Fourth, market mechanisms cannot stop the government from investing heavily in vocational education. Fifth, market mechanisms cannot optimize the internal operation of vocational schools. The internal management of vocational schools involves the benefits of several interest groups. Without establishing a cooperative relationship among them, interest conflicts can hardly be solved. Nor can market mechanisms effectively solve the problems of equality in vocational education. The introduction of market-oriented policies did not help vocational education extricate itself from a difficult position. 5.3.2. Problems in the Implementation of Vocational Education Policies Many Policies Lose Their Effectiveness Many vocational education policies lack policy implementation power and are less effective, making it difficult to realize the goals set in the policies. For example, although a number of vocational educational policies set goals on annual enrollment and total enrollment, these targets are barely achieved. In fact, the number of students enrolled in vocational schools declined. For example, despite the fact that the proportion of secondary school students enrolled in secondary vocational schools was expected to reach 60% by 2000, this number actually declined to 46.9%, lower than that in 1991. Although most secondary vocational schools planned to increase enrollment, the annual enrollment actually declined. Vocational Education is Still Marginalized Vocational education is still marginalized in the education system and not highly respected in society. From 2001 to 2006, despite that vocational education received the most attention, governmental investment in vocational education actually declined. For example, from 2001 to 2006, the proportion of the fiscal education budget spent on vocational education decreased from 8% to 5.5%. Management Problems There are many problems with the management systems of vocational education. First, it is difficult to establish communication between vocational education and ordinary education. Although the Decision on Reforms of Education System (关于教育体制改革 的决定), enacted in 1985, requested that “vocational education and school education communicate with each other,” it remains difficult

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to establish a communicative relationship between them. Channels that enable students to transition from vocational education to general education over the course of their education are still lacking. At present, once a student chooses vocational education, it is difficult to transition to general education in the future. Second, the administrative system is inefficient. The administration of vocational education involves many departments, such as educational departments, labor departments, and many other departments. There are many problems with this management system, such as multifarious administrations, overlapping responsibilities, lacking coordination among different departments, and lack of a system of integrating recourse. Vocational schools are therefore not operated efficiently. Third, nongovernmental sectors still play a marginal role in vocational education. Government is no longer the sole runner of vocational schools. Nongovernmental sectors and market mechanisms started playing a more important role in vocational education. However, the influences of nongovernmental sectors in vocational education are still small. 5.3.3. Reasons for Problems that Emerged in the Implementation of Vocational Education Policies Conflicts over Value Orientations of Education Policies26 Each educational policy needs to seek a point of balance between equality and efficiency, and between long-term benefits and short-term benefits. Three types of values of policy-makers consider three types of values in the process of policy making: fundamental values, invisible values, and visible values. In the policy-making process, policy makers need to resolve the conflicts among these values. The development of vocational education should undoubtedly follow the government’s values and express the pursuit of fundamental values. To manifest the visible values of policy makers, the government attaches great importance to vocational education, holds a series of conferences, and publishes a number of important policies. However, the invisible values of some governmental departments require optimization of economic benefits, achievements, and the use of current funds within a short period of time. The development of vocational education is therefore caught in a two-way squeeze. On one hand, costs for vocational education are high, and a 26 Zhang Shezi, “Analysis of Efficiency of Policies on Vocational Education in China,” Education and Vocations 32 (2006).

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longer time is required to collect the returns to vocational education. Most students enrolled in vocational schools are from a disadvantaged social group. Thus, when resources are limited, the government tends to be biased in favor of its invisible values rather than the interests of the disadvantaged social groups. On the other hand, the proportions of students that are admitted to key secondary schools and key universities have become important measures of educational success and the public’s satisfaction with the government. Developing vocational education is against the invisible values of policy makers. Therefore, there is often a lack of policy instruments. When the development of vocational education involves more profound and complicated problems, such as investments, constructions of bases, establishment of a certificate system, and employment policies, different departments tend to avoid taking responsibilities rather than directly confronting the problems that emerge in the development of vocational education. Fundamental values and visible values are distorted under the impacts of invisible values. It can be seen that there is a lack of consensus on the development of vocational education. The difficulties and complications that confronted the development of vocational education are unprecedented. Policies Are Inconsistent The contents of policies are often inconsistent. In most cases, implementation of policies deviates from the original goals set in the policies. For example, the policies on the development of higher vocational education issued in the 1990s were meant to promote secondary vocational education. The development of higher vocational education is believed to be conducive to the development of secondary vocational education and the establishment of a vocational education system. But during policy implementation, students were asked to pay most of the costs for vocational education. Government subsidies only cover a small proportion of the costs. Vocational school students are not guaranteed a job after graduation. The Employment and Assignment Certificate that applies to ordinary college graduates does not apply to vocational school graduates. There is no uniform vocational school certificate. In other words, the deviation between motives and effects exists when the policies were just brought forth. In the policies that were aimed to develop higher vocational education, there were inherent obstacles to the development of higher vocational education. For instance, although most vocational school students are from low-income families, they were affected the most by the introduction of market mechanisms into the education system.

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Insufficient Incentives and Weak Enforcement People engaged in vocational education have been very devoted to the development of vocational education in China. But due to fact that many vocational schools did not receive the funds promised by the government, there was a lack of professional vocational school teachers and a lack of incentives; vocational education policies are not implemented appropriately and are not effective at promoting the development of vocational education in China. Complementary Systems of Policies Are Inadequate First, the relevant systems of laws and regulations are imperfect. For example, according to the Law of Vocational Education (职业教育法), educational units have the responsibilities of promoting the development of vocational education. But in reality educational units have only limited abilities of affecting the development of vocational education. In fact, overall planning, specialty setup, enrollment, and teacher training are subject to the influences of local economies and the labor markets demands for vocational school students. In addition, labor-market information systems, intermediary service organizations, and research institutions are less well-developed in China. Industries and enterprises are not as actively involved in the cultivation of the talents of vocational education as they should be. Without these complementary systems, it is difficult for educational units to shoulder the responsibility of promoting vocational education. Moreover, mechanisms that supervise the implementation of vocational education policies have a lot of room for improvement. In short, great achievements have been made in the development of vocational education policies in the past thirty years. But there are still a number of problems with respect to the quality of the policies, policy instruments, and policy enforcements. 5.4. An Assessment of the Policy on Financial Assistance to Poor Secondary Vocational School Students, 2007 The living conditions of secondary vocational school students are not as good as other students, and have been ignored by the public for a long time. This situation changed greatly with the enactment of the policy on the financial assistance to secondary vocational school students from poor families in September 2007. This policy is considered the most generous policy and covers the largest population since the

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Column 5.3. On Establishing a Support System for Secondary Vocational School Students from Poor Families, 2007 On May 9, 2007, the State Council’s Opinions on Setting Up and Improving the Support System for Poor Students from Ordinary Colleges, Vocational Colleges, and Secondary Vocational Schools (国务院关于建立健全普通本科高校、高等职 业学校和中等职业学校家庭经济困难学生资助政策体系的意见) was discussed and passed at the 176th routine meeting of the State Council. Opinions decided that a support system for poor students from ordinary colleges, vocational colleges, and vocational schools would be set up in the fall of 2007. It stated, “The state scholarship system should be established and perfected. The central government and local governments should jointly set up state scholarships to support poor students from ordinary colleges, universities, and vocational colleges, as well as rural vocational school students and poor vocational school students from urban areas. The amount of support was RMB 1,500 per year. The support lasts two years. The third year is for work-integrated learning and internship.” On May 16th the State Council organized a national meeting to mobilize the government at all levels to enforce the policy. In September 2007, the policy was officially implemented across the country.

founding of the the new China in 1949. It reflects the government’s determination to promote equality in the access to education. 5.4.1. Background of Vocational Education Policy Making Social Background The formulation of a policy was closely related to contemporary political and economic situations. Income inequalities have continuously increased in the past thirty years. Widening income inequalities are reflected in nearly every aspect of income distribution. Income inequalities widened within both rural areas and urban areas, between rural and urban areas, and in nearly every part of the wage structure.27 The Gini coefficient was 0.46 in 2002.28 Data show that educational expenditure is a major source of family expenditure. Many families have difficulty paying their children’s educational fees. In rural areas, the rate of increase in families’ expenditure Li Shi, Shi Taili, and Bieyong Gusitafuson, Incomes and Distribution of Residents in China III (Beijing: Beijing Normal University Publishing House, 2008), introduction of chap. 1, p. 3. 28 Ibid., 16. 27

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on their children’s education far exceeds the rate of increase in family income.29 Secondary vocational school students have very similar family backgrounds. About 93.65% of secondary vocational students’ family incomes are below the median.30 More than 90% of secondary vocational school students are from either rural areas or urban lowincome families. About 63% of secondary vocational school students are from rural areas, and educational fees are a big financial burden for their families.31 Each year there are many junior middle school graduates who cannot attend vocational schools because their families cannot afford the costs of education. Some vocational school students dropped their studies due to economic reasons. In order to complete their studies, many vocational school students have to work part-time and live very poor lives. Economic inequality has become an important factor hindering equal access to education. In October 2003, the concept of scientific development was put forward at the third session of the sixteenth CPC Committee. In October 2006, the Decision of the CPC Committee on Some Momentous Problems of Constructing a Socialist Harmonious Society (中共中央关于构建社会主义 和谐社会若干重大问题的决定) was passed at the 6th session of the sixteenth CPC Committee. Both the concept of scientific development and the construction of a harmonious society put people first. Documents issued by the Central Party Committee also repeatedly stressed that priority should be placed on people’s lives and equality in education and social justice should be promoted. These documents provided the political prerequisites for formulating policies to support students studying in vocational schools.

29 Xu Yuebin, Lie Fengqin, and Zhang Xiulan, “Review of Poverty-Elimination Policies in Rural Areas in China,” Chinese Social Science 3 (2007). 30 Investigation and Research Group of the China’s Conditions from China Social Science Academy, “Vocational Education in China: Development and Challenges; Report from China Social Science Academy,” Vocational and Technical Education 21 (2007): 30. 31 There is no unified tuition standard in China. Usually they are from RMB 1,000 to RMB 5,000 while the average annual incomes of a resident in rural areas were RMB 3,587 in 2006. In other words, the annual income of a family in rural areas is not enough to pay the cost of a vocational school student. Poor families in urban areas cannot pay that cost either.

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Column 5.4. Poverty among Secondary Vocational School Students Becomes an Issue of Public Concern At the end of 1999, the magazine Vocational and Technical Education planned to publish a special issue on poverty among secondary vocational school students. Reporters visited nearly one hundred vocational schools and wrote reports of about two hundred thousand words.32 The collection of the reports was published in a special issued titled “Tearless Cry.” A few days after the publication of the reports, the magazine received a number of phone calls and letters. Public response to the reports was much stronger than expected. It was so moving that many people wrote to the magazine and offered to help the poor students described in the reports.33 Huwei Yao, Chief Editor of the reports, told us that the Ministry of Education attached great importance to Tearless Cry. Zhan Wang, then Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Education, asked the leaders of the section of Vocational and Adult Education to inquire the writers for more information. He highly praised the reports and warmly encouraged the reporters. Later, based on the reports and other related information, the governments increased investment in vocational education in western areas from RMB 200 million to RMB 400 million. Regarding the application for educational aid in promoting education in western China, the reports were included as an important supplementary material and were sent to an international foundation located in Hong Kong.

Social justice and equality in education have always been the center of public concerns. The public gave even more attention to these two issues and to the disadvantaged after the concept of scientific development was put forward in 2003. The living conditions of secondary vocational school students attracted the attention of Vocational and Technical Education, a magazine located in the city of Changchun. In October of 2000, the magazine published a collection of reports entitled “Tearless Cry.” These reports revealed the difficulties that secondary vocational school students have encountered in education, employment, and other aspects of lives. The publication of “Tearless Cry” aroused a nationwide response. The issue of secondary vocational education changed from an issue that was ignored to a social issue of public concern. Policymakers started to consider formulating policies to improve the living conditions of secondary vocational school students. 32 Yao Shuwei and Zhang Hua, Tearless Cry: Special Report of Poor Students at Vocational Schools (Changchun: North-East Normal University Publishing House, 2007). 33 Ibid.

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Educational Background The development of vocational education lags behind the development of other types of education. This situation results from problems with the structure of the Chinese education system. This situation, however, has significantly changed since 2002. The development of vocational education manifests a number of new characteristics. First, educational policies prioritize vocational education. The central government reformed vocational education policies in 2002. Aggressively developing vocational education forcefully and developing vocational education with Chinese characteristics have become the future directions of the development of vocational education. The governments prioritized vocational education and considerably increased investments in vocational education. It was decided at the national conference on vocational education held in 2005 that the central government will appropriate RMB 100 million during the Eleventh FiveYear Plan to promote the development of vocational education. In addition, for three consecutive years from 2005 to 2007, vocational schools plan to increase annual enrollment by 1 million. Second, developing secondary vocational education is considered essential to popularizing secondary education in China. It is gradually recognized in the education field that both academic education and skill education are important parts of secondary education. The development of general secondary education should keep an appropriate pace. The priority of developing secondary education, however, should be given to secondary vocational education. There are two development goals. The first is to increase the total enrollment of vocational school students. The annual enrollment of secondary vocational school students is expected to increase to 8 million by 2010. The second goal is to increase the relative number of students that are enrolled in vocational schools. Students from rural areas and low-income urban families are particularly encouraged to enroll in vocational schools. Third, formulation of the policy of Two Exemptions and One Subsidy (“两免一补”) in the phase of compulsory education promotes the formulation of the policy to support secondary vocational school students. In recent years, the state has increased its financial support for poor students. For example, in 2005 the state issued the policy of Two Exemptions and One Subsidy, according to which poor rural secondary school students qualified for tuition waivers and financial subsidies from the government.34 Since the 1980s, the state gradually established 34 In February of 2005, the office of the State Council transmitted Opinions to Fasten “Two Exemptions and One Subsidy” in Key Counties of the State’s Poverty Elimination Projects

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a financial support system that combines several types of financial assistance for secondary school students, such as scholarships, student loans, assistantships, and tuition waivers.35 It is urgent to set up and perfect the financial support system for poor secondary vocational school students. The Foundation of Previous Policies First, the Law of Vocational Education of the People’s Republic of China (中华人民共和国职业教育法) was passed on May 15, 1996. This law contains contents on financial support to students with economic difficulties. The law clearly stipulated that the state encourages enterprises, government institutions, social institutions, other social organizations, and citizens to set up scholarships and student loans to reward academically outstanding students and to provide financial support to students with economic difficulties. Second, before this policy was formulated, the state established assistantships for secondary vocational school students. The experiences accumulated in providing assistantships to secondary vocational school students laid a solid foundation for the subsequent establishment of a financial support system to vocational school students. The national conference on vocational education hosted by the State Council in 2002 clearly put forward that the state would provide financial support for poor students to receive vocational education. In 2005, the new administration held another national conference on vocational education and passed the State Council’s Decision to Develop Vocational Education Forcefully (国务院关于大力发展职业教育的决定). Article 27 of the State Council’s Decision to Develop Vocational Education Forcefully stated that the government would establish a financial support system to poor students so they can receive vocational education. In 2006, the Decision of Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Education to Establish and Perfect Support Systems for Secondary Vocational School Students from Poor Families stated that the central government will appropriate RMB 800 million every year

(关于加快国家扶贫开发工作重点县“两免一补”实施步伐有关工作意见) issued by the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Education. The document stated that free textbooks should be given to students of compulsory education from poor families in the counties of the State’s Poverty Elimination Projects. Local governments should exempt the students from tuitions and gradually give students at boarding schools living subsidies. “Two Exemptions and One Subsidy” means the exemptions of tuitions and administrative fees and living subsidies at boarding schools. 35 In the late 1980s, higher education was no longer free. The change of tuition system of higher education deepened the reforms of support systems of higher education. Since the Notification on Supports to Poor Students of Higher Education (关于对高等学校生 活特别困难学生进行资助的通知) was issued in 1993, “scholarships, loans, supports, subsidies and exemptions” have been implemented and improved gradually.

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during the Eleventh Five-Year Plan to finance poor students to receive secondary vocational education. In total RMB 4 billion will be used to support poor students to receive vocational education during the five-year period. Starting in 2006, the state established assistantships to support poor secondary vocational school students. Each qualified student will receive up to RMB 1,000 per year. About 800,000 students were funded every year, which represented 6% of Grade 1 and Grade 2 students in vocational schools. Students supported by state scholarships were full-time students currently enrolled at vocational schools (including public and private ordinary specialized secondary schools, specialized secondary schools for adults, vocational schools, and skilled worker schools) and were from families with economic difficulties. Priority was given to orphans, disabled students, students whose parents lost working abilities, poor minority students, children of martyrs, students from poor singleparent families, students from very poor families in rural areas and low-income families, students from families that receive minimum life support in urban areas, and students from families with economic difficulties caused by sudden incidents. Nevertheless, only about 6% of qualified students received state assistantship. The level of assistantship is low. In May 2007 the state published the Opinions of the State Council to Set Up and Perfect Support Systems for Students of Ordinary Higher Education, Vocational Colleges, and Vocational Schools from Families with Economic Difficulties (国务院关于建立健 全普通本科高校、高等职业学校和中等职业学校家庭经济困难学 生资助政策体系的意见), which greatly increased financial support for poor students. It is also an important document in promoting the justice of education. 5.4.2. The Process of Policy Making The publication of Opinions in 2007 symbolized that new policies to support secondary vocational school students began to take shape. Before formulating the policies, the departments involved in the process of policy making conducted a nationwide survey on the financial circumstances of the families of secondary vocational school students, schooling fees, and vocational career development. The collected data became the direct basis for policy makers to formulate the policies to support poor secondary vocational school students.

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Column 5.5. A National Survey on the Current Situation of Secondary Vocational School Students In a national survey on family economic conditions, schooling fees, and development of vocational careers of secondary vocational school students, about four thousand students enrolled in special secondary schools, technical schools, vocational high schools, and technical secondary schools for adults were surveyed in 2005. These students lived in nine provinces. Some students were interviewed again in follow-up surveys. The survey data revealed that: (1) About 83.3% of vocational school students were from county-level cities or rural areas. About 62.46% were from rural areas. (2) Most of the parents (or 70.68%) of vocational school students were peasants, workers, or individuals of industrial or commercial households. About 1.41% of the parents were teachers, doctors, or civil servants. A small portion was jobless. (3) Most vocational school students were from lower-middle-income families. Only 10% had annual per capita income greater than RMB 2,000. One-third of the families had monthly per capita income less than RMB 500. About 56.02% of the students were from families having more than one child. About 16.45% of secondary vocational students have ever received scholarships and assistantships. (4) In 2005, tuition for vocational schools was RMB 1,855, which was 2.31 times as much as tuition for ordinary high schools.

5.4.3. An Analysis of the Content of Policies Opinions issued in May 2007 has two important characteristics. First, compared to state assistantships established in 2006, qualified students receive more financial support from the government under the new policies. The amount of support increased from RMB 1,000 to RMB 1,500 per student per year. The proportion of students who qualify for funding increased from 6% to 90% of total students currently enrolled in vocational schools. In the second half of 2008, the central and local government appropriated RMB 8.2 billion to establish state scholarships in vocational schools, representing half of the funds that are used to establish state scholarships (which totaled RMB 15.4 billion). The second characteristic is that a comprehensive and workable financial support system for secondary vocational school students was established. The system included several types of financial assistantships, such as state assistantships, excellent student scholarships, assistantships to support combining work and study, student loans,

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tuition waivers, tuition deferring, and other kinds of financial assistances. Nongovernmental organizations are also encouraged to participate in the establishment of a financial support system to vocational school students.36 The following contents are worth mentioning: (1) The aim of the policies is to increase government support to vocational education and change the system that prevented poor students from accessing higher education, so that vocational education can maintain healthy developments and educational equality can be upheld. (2) Various policy tools are used to make sure the aim of the policies is fulfilled. For instance, governments increased their financial support to vocational schools. More types of financial assistance are available to students that are in financial trouble. Students are also encouraged to both work and study. (3) The basic principle of the policies is to increase government investment in vocational education and costs are shared between local and central governments. In addition, nongovernmental organizations are also encouraged to invest in vocational education to diversify the sources of funding. Each party’s responsibilities are clearly defined. (4) The policies define the qualifications for state scholarships. All students from rural areas and families with economic difficulties in urban areas qualify to receive state scholarships. The scope of coverage is bigger than before. The new policies cover nearly all public and private ordinary specialized secondary schools, specialized secondary schools for adults, secondary vocational schools, skilled worker training schools, and specialized secondary schools attached to vocational and technical colleges. State scholarships support all first-grade and second-grade fulltime secondary vocational school students who are from rural areas and townships, or who are from families with economic difficulties in urban areas. The proportion of students who qualify to receive the state scholarships increased to 90%. In other words, state scholarships 36 Generally speaking, major support decided by the vocational education system included the following: Poor students’ tuitions were exempted. Vocational education scholarships and loans were set up. Financial institutions provided students from poor families with student loans. Poor communities and children were helped to receive vocational education and training. Industries and enterprises, social organizations, and individuals were encouraged to give donations to students. Poor students were provided with opportunities of part work, part study and part-time jobs.

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cover nearly all students from rural areas and students from families with economic difficulties in urban areas.37 The amount of support increased from RMB 1,000 per student per year to RMB 1,500 per student per year. (5) According to Opinions, the central government and local governments share the responsibilities of financing the state scholarships. The relative proportions are determined by local economic situations and the financial circumstances of the families of vocational school students. For example, in western China where the economy is underdeveloped and most peasants have difficulty paying their children’s education fees, the central government is therefore responsible for raising 80% of the funds for state scholarships, and local governments are responsible for the other 20%.38 This relative proportion is not affected by the financial circumstances of families of vocational school students. (6) The central government, local governments and schools are the three implementers of policies. Each party has different responsibilities. The central government is the policymaker, and determines fiscal budgets and supervises policy implementation. Local governments determine local fiscal budgets, and are responsible for policy implementation, administration, and evaluation. Headmasters are responsible for distributing scholarships in schools, collecting information, and providing feedback. Qualified students are required to submit their applications for state assistantships every academic year. The length of the support is ten months for each academic year. Each month qualified students receive RMB 150. (7) The Ministry of Education is suggested to establish a nationwide unified information management subsystem within the system

37 Students were supported for two years and the state scholarships were not paid in the third year as students at vocational schools could get certain economic allowances when they went to practice work in the third year. 38 In the central areas, if students were from western areas, the central government and local governments shared the costs at a proportion of 8:2. If students were from other areas, the proportion was 6:4. In the eastern areas, if students were from western or central areas, the proportion was 8:2 or 6:4. If students were from the eastern areas, the proportion was decided according to the financial and family factors of the students by provinces. All support funds for students from poor families of minority nationalities with small populations were from the central government. Local governments were encouraged to increase support. The proportions of sharing of local governments lower than provinces (regions and cities) were decided according to the principles made by the central government. Provincial governments should improve the systems to transfer funds to governments on lower levels.

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of scholarship and subsidies for secondary vocational school students. Other educational departments at lower levels should also establish their own information management subsystems to guarantee the free flow of information and strengthen the supervision of the policy implementation. To strengthen the supervision of implementation of state assistantships, files should be established for all students who have ever received state assistantships. These files must be kept for three years for the purpose of checking. Auditing of receipts and expenditures is strict. The implementation of state assistantships is also subject to the supervision of mass media and the whole society. For example, the names of funded students and informants’ hotline telephone are made available to the public for supervision. (8) Education fees should be regulated. Schools are not permitted to collect unwarranted fees or raise educational fees without the permission of the government. In the following five years, tuition fees and accommodation fees cannot exceed the standards of that in the fall of 2006. Reward and punishment systems should be established and improved. Any fraud or cheating behaviors, misappropriation, diversion or detention of the funds that are used for state assistantships should be published. The implementation of state assistantships is an important part of the appraisal system of vocational schools. It is used to assess and appoint administrators of vocational schools, and evaluate the levels of running schools and the performance of the schools. 5.4.4. The Effects of Policy Implementation All Scholarships Have Been Distributed 39 By September 2007, the end of the first term since the implementation of policies, all scholarships were distributed to students who have difficulties in paying their education fees. Every province was very cooperative and actively implemented the policies. Meanwhile they formulated their own policies to support the development of secondary vocational education. These policies involved the following three aspects: (1) increasing financial support; (2) establishing local mechanisms for raising funds; and (3) reforming the systems of supervision and administration. 39 Second News Conference of Policies on the State’s Supports to Students from Poor Families, http://www.moe.edu.cn/edoas/website18/info36346.htm.

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The Positive Effects of the Policies The financial support system was very effective. The survey on a specialized secondary vocational school located in the capital city of a central province showed that a student’s daily meal cost RMB 6 to 7. In other words, the basic cost of living was about RMB 200 a month. State assistantship gave a student RMB 150 per month and therefore covered a substantial proportion of the cost of living for a secondary vocational school student. The establishment of state assistantships promoted the development of secondary vocational education. In the fall of 2007, a historical high of more than eight million students were admitted to secondary vocational schools. Students’ enthusiasms for studying at secondary vocational schools were greatly aroused. There are several reasons for the establishment of state assistantship for secondary vocational school students, such as the loss of attractiveness of secondary vocational schools, difficulties that secondary vocational schools encountered in recruiting students, and economic difficulties that secondary vocational school students have in paying their education fees. The formulation of other relevant policies also has multiple goals, such as expanding the scale of enrollment for secondary vocational education, improving the quality of vocational education, and promoting equality in education. 5.4.5. Policy Evaluations Policy Tools Are Diverse It defines the rules that regulate the behaviors of each responsible party in implementing the policies. The policy is workable. The establishment of the financial support system for vocational school students demonstrates that the central government has greatly improved its policy-making abilities. Financial Aid Greatly Promotes Equality in Education The most disadvantaged demographic groups and the most underdeveloped areas are the targets of policy intervention. They are given favorable treatments in the distribution of state assistantships. The goals of the policy are to reduce existing income gaps and weaken the effects of social backgrounds on the access of educational opportunities so that children of all social backgrounds have equal opportunities to receive secondary education. In addition, financial resources are equally distributed among qualified students. Both poor students from rural areas and

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urban areas have equal chances to receive state assistantships, and the amount of financial support is the same. Secondary Vocational Education is Considered an Effective Way to Prepare Students for Future Employment It is a common belief among most people in society that the best choice is to attend university. Many students go to vocational schools simply because their families are poor. They probably have to continue to live a poor life after graduating from vocational schools because vocational school students are not well-paid in the labor markets. These beliefs greatly depress students’ enthusiasm to enroll in vocational schools. Many chose not to complete their studies. Many vocational school students feel marginalized because of the low status of vocational schools in the society. The formulation of the new student support system greatly changed the situation. It not only provides poor students economic resources but also confirms the value of secondary vocational education. The new student support system therefore greatly aroused students’ enthusiasm to attend secondary vocational schools, which has profound and long-term implications for the development of vocational education. Many surveyed secondary vocational school students told us that they were encouraged by the policy and understood that the government cares about them. They become increasingly identified with their schools and firmly believe that they made the right choice in their career development. They are very confident with their future. Regarding Information Supervision More efforts are needed to improve information supervision. A national information system on vocational school students should be established to avoid students being registered in two schools or false claims of assistantship in the names of students who have quitted vocational schools. Some vocational schools are registered under more than one name, which is particularly likely to a student claiming more than one assistantship. To avoid these problems, more efforts need to be made to strengthen and perfect the information supervision system. The Policy Failed to Attract More Students to Study at Key and Model Vocational Schools There are many vocational schools in the country. However, the quality of teaching and administration varies greatly. If the policy to support poor students can prioritize key and model vocational schools, more students will be attracted to study at key and model

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vocational schools where the quality of teaching and other educational resources are better. However, the current policy has not been designed to address this issue. 5.4.6. Further Considerations The Financial Aid Policy Does Not Solve the Study-Weariness Problem of Some Junior Middle School Graduates Our survey of a few local junior middle schools shows that nearly half of the junior middle school graduates did not attend ordinary high schools or secondary vocational schools. Rather, they entered the labor market. The real reason is because they are weary of studying. For a long time Chinese higher education was aimed at cultivating elites. Only a small proportion of high school students have the chance to attend colleges and universities. The low acceptance rate frustrates mediocre students and they choose to enter the labor market once they finish high school. This situation not only leads to the loss of human resources but also causes many social problems. To develop vocational education, it is therefore necessary to reform other aspects of education systems. The Policy to Support Poor Secondary Vocational Students Cannot Solve All of the Problems in the Development of Vocational Education On the surface, the problem that hinders the development of secondary vocational education is due to a lack of students who are interested in enrolling in secondary vocational schools. But in reality there are also many hidden problems that prevent the development of secondary vocational education, such as traditional ideology, state employment systems, the quality of teaching and school administration, and prospects of employment.40 The development of vocational education is therefore a systematic project, and cannot be achieved through the formulation of a single policy.

40 In the mid-1990s, students paid as much tuition as now while general incomes were not as much as they are at present. However, there were still many applicants of secondary vocational education. Yu Xinglong, deputy director of Yangpu District of Shanghai says: “Only when the status of blue collars is raised, will parents willingly send their children to vocational schools.” “How to Solve the Contrast between Heating and Gaps of Development of Secondary Vocational Education,” Wenhui Newspaper, April 15, 2008.

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5.5. The Effects of Vocational Education Policies on Promoting Educational Equality: International Experiences In western society occupation affects one’s social status. However, in some industries, blue-collar jobs pay better than white-collar jobs. Some less prestigious occupations are also respected in society. Vocational education is an independent system, but it is connected to ordinary education. Students can easily transition from vocational education to ordinary education. Students have plenty of opportunities to choose their type of education according to their conditions and interest. Western governments play an irreplaceable role in maintaining a balance between different types of education. In the following, we will discuss international experiences in promoting educational equality via formulating vocational education policies. Topics covered in the discussion include government responsibilities for vocational education (especially government loans to vocational school students) and the mechanism linking vocational education and general education. 5.5.1. Governments’ Responsibilities for Vocational Education UNESCO maintains that governments have major responsibilities for vocational education. Governments should provide the legal framework for the development of vocational education. Government is also the sponsor for any cooperative relationships between different parities in vocational education. In addition to providing vocational education, the government also has the responsibilities of leading, supervising, and promoting the development of vocational education, and coordinating different parties and establishing the quality control system to guarantee that vocational education severs the purpose of social and economic development. In most EU countries, the development of vocational education is centered on secondary vocational education. In twenty-five EU countries, the proportions of secondary school students that are enrolled in secondary vocational schools and general high schools are 62.7% and 37.3%, respectively. Forty-two EU countries raise the status of vocational education through offering tuition waivers and student loans, which in turn increases the demand for secondary vocational education. Secondary Vocational Education is Free in Some Countries Secondary vocational education is free in 22 EU countries. In Germany and some

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other countries, secondary vocational education is part of compulsory education. Although secondary education is not compulsory in most EU countries, secondary education (including secondary vocational education) is free. Higher vocational education is also free in such EU countries as Lithuania, Ireland, and Finland. Some Governments Subsidize Secondary Vocational School Students Some countries provide all sorts of subsidies to vocational school students, such as free textbooks, free transportation, free meals, and free accommodation. Some countries also buy unforeseen accident insurance for vocational school students. Details of subsidies vary across countries. For example, textbooks and other course materials are free in Sweden. According to Swedish laws, if the distance between the student’s house and the school exceeds six kilometers, the government will pay the traveling expense, either by issuing students monthly bus tickets or reimbursing the costs of travels if they take certain routes. Governments Subsidize Vocational School Students’ Families Secondary education is offered for free in some countries. Governments also use financial subsidies to attract students to enroll in vocational schools. In Latvia, for example, secondary school students’ families are subsidized. There are additional subsidies for vocational school students. In public vocational schools, full-time students will receive monthly scholarships and travel allowance. The amount of scholarship is not less than family subsidies. The German Federal Law of Support for Training (联邦培训 资助法) stipulates that vocational school students who do not live with their parents or whose schools are far from their homes can receive monthly subsidies from 192 to 562 Euro from state governments. In France, if students go to schools according to regulations, their families enjoy family subsidies until the students turn eighteen. If students take part in apprentice training, families enjoy subsidies until the students turn twenty. Poor Students Receive Preferential Treatment There are also student support policies in countries where vocational education is not free. In Portugal, students from low-income families are exempted from tuition. Students receive subsidies for training and are eligible for some welfare benefits.

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5.5.2. The Relationship between Ordinary Education and Vocational Education Education is a lifelong process in the West. The relationship between ordinary education and vocational education has become the hotspot of discussions in vocational education in developed countries. UNESCO’s opinions reflect the opinions of most countries. UNESCO maintains that vocational and technical education should be built on a broad basis. Vocational and technical education is not only a means for employment, but also one part of ordinary education. Every phase of specialized vocational and technical education should include ordinary education. A new type of relationship between education, vocations, and society should be set up. The obstacles between education levels and types, between education and vocations, and between schools and society should be removed. To reach these goals, the following should be done: (1) technical, vocational and ordinary education at different levels should be combined reasonably; (2) a flexible and open education structure should be created; and (3) internships should be a part of vocational education. UNESCO proposes that vocational and technical education should be designed as “all kinds of specialized education or training provided for everyone inside or outside the system of normal education; after finishing the minimum amount of basic education required by the state, everyone is allowed to freely transition between education, vocations, and jobs.” Internal connections between different kinds of education should be established, so that learners can freely transition between different types of education according to their own abilities and requirements. Various kinds of education can still keep their own characteristics. However, at the “border” of one’s education, passports and visas issued by other types of education should be recognized. France In 1945, the Lanngevin-Wallon Education Reform Proposal (郎之 万——瓦隆教育改革方案) was presented to the public. It became one of the guiding principles of education reform in France after World War II. According to the Proposal, every job and every academic subject have the same values in society. A law that guides the development of technical education was enacted in France in 1971, which regulated that diplomas from senior technical schools are equivalent to diplomas from ordinary high schools, and ordinary education certificates are equivalent to technical education certificates. In France, vocational education is led by the government and conducted in schools. Vocational education is made up of two parts:

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secondary vocational education and higher vocational education. Secondary vocational education is divided into vocational education and technical education. Students make their choices either before or after they graduate from middle schools. In 1996, 54% of young people received secondary vocational education. There is no entrance exam for higher vocational education in France. Everyone with a diploma from an ordinary high school, senior technical school or senior vocational school is qualified to attend vocational colleges. In other words, diplomas from senior technical schools and diplomas from senior vocational schools are equivalent to diplomas from ordinary high schools. There are remedial classes to prepare secondary vocational school students to take high-school certificate exams. If secondary vocational school students pass the exam, they are qualified to take the college entrance exam. In France, secondary vocational education is mainly conducted in senior vocational schools with the aim of cultivating skilled workers. Secondary vocational school graduates are awarded two levels of certificates: The first level includes two types of degrees and the second level includes three types of degrees, i.e., a one-year supplementary ability certificate, a two- or three-year vocational certificate and a two-year senior vocational high school certificate. The third type of certificate is equivalent to an ordinary high school diploma and has the characteristics of both an ordinary high school certificate and a vocational technician certificate. Graduates with the third type of certificate are qualified to continue their education at universities. Technical education is conducted in technical classes in ordinary and technical high schools. The aim of technical education is to cultivate technicians. It enrolls junior middle-school graduates and the length of study is three years. Graduates are awarded two kinds of certificates (both belong to the fourth level ). One is the technician certificate (BT), which is being gradually cancelled, and the other is the technical high school certificate, which is equivalent to the general high school certificate. Graduates with a technical high school certificate qualify to continue their education at colleges. The UK UK reforms its education system to establish connections between ordinary education and vocational education and the equivalence between general education and vocational education. In the 1980s, the secondary vocational school certificate was made equivalent to the general high school diploma. In 1992, the UK established the Common National Vocational Qualifications (CNVQ) curriculum and

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awarded three levels of certificates. Students who received the highest level of certificate can apply to study at universities. The Common National Vocational Qualifications (CNVQ) curriculum is a transitional curriculum. It lies between the academic curriculum and the vocational curriculum. The Common National Vocational Qualifications (CNVQ) curriculum was collaboratively designed by the national vocational exam committee and the middle school exam committee to ensure that vocational degrees and high school degrees have equal status. Later, the UK established a system that allows vocational school students to transfer their course credits. For example, full-time and part-time vocational school students who have nationally recognized certificates can transfer their vocational course credits to other educational institutions if the vocational courses are at or above level three. Their educational certificate is also recognized by other educational institutions. Germany In Germany, the connection between academic degrees and vocational certificates is built on the belief that general high school education and secondary vocational education have equal status. It also reflects that education is a lifelong process in Germany, and vocational education is used to serve the development of society, vocations, and individuals. For a long time, secondary vocational education and general high school education were separated from each other. In order to promote equality in education and increase the attractiveness of the dual education system, many states established the rules that students who have received secondary vocational certificates or continuing vocational training certificates can apply to universities. In other words, secondary vocational school students and general high school students have the same academic qualifications to apply for universities. Secondary vocational school students are therefore provided multiple opportunities to further their education. Vocational school students can use their knowledge and technical skills to find a job or continue their vocational education at higher levels of vocational schools in order to find a better job in the future. The state and society provide each secondary vocational school student equal opportunities to compete with other students as well as multiple channels to further their education. In the preemployment phase, this is reflected in that (1) vocational education is combined with academic education, and (2) vocational education is equivalent to academic education. In the postemployment phase, this is reflected in that the continuing

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vocational education certificate is regarded as equivalent to the general education certificate with respect to employment and education opportunities.41 Revelations of International Experiences First, the experiences of these developed countries at promoting equality between general education and vocational education and in improving the status of vocational education have many implications for the development of vocational education in China. These international experiences show that governments play an important role in promoting equality between vocational education and general education. Government policies also play an irreplaceable role in keeping a balance between different types of education. Second, in these Western countries vocational education is either a part of compulsory education or offered for free. In addition, most of these countries formulated effective policies on financial assistance to vocational school students. 5.6. Implications for Chinese Vocational Education These foreign experiences have several implications for the development of vocational education in China. 5.6.1. Improving the Status and Conditions of Skilled Workers The status and conditions of skilled workers are external factors affecting the long-term development of vocational education. Vocational education policies should focus on improving workers’ working conditions and employment stability, improving workers training system, and narrowing class divides. 5.6.2. Improving the Internal Impetus for the Development of Vocational Education The impetus that underlies the development of vocational education has experienced several changes in the past thirty years. Economic

41 Wu Quanquan, “Analysis of Integrated Model of ‘Dual Certificates’ Led by LifeLong Education in Germany,” Vocational and Technical Education in China 17 (2005).

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factors are initially the factors underlying the development of vocational education. Later social problems replace economic factors and become the driving forces for the development of vocational education. Currently the development of vocational education is primarily motivated to meet technical needs. The future development of vocational education depends on the establishment of an effective internal impetus system. 5.6.3. The Government Should Take the Major Responsibilities for the Development of Vocational Education To promote educational equality, governmental policies on vocational education should cover at least the following four aspects. First, it is necessary to establish a vocational-education and training network that covers both urban and rural areas. The scales of vocational education and training should be enlarged so that more people have opportunities to receive vocational education and training. Second, student support systems should be improved to enable all poor students to receive vocational education. Public funds should be used to support all disadvantaged communities to receive appropriate vocational training. Third, government should improve the qualities of vocational education and training and ensure that vocational school students not only have equal educational opportunities but also receive quality vocational education and training. Vocational education should stress technical training and develop students’ abilities of participating in the technical progress in various fields. Fourth, the relationship between vocational education/training and employment should be strengthened. Employment systems and vocational certificate systems should be improved to ensure equality in labor market opportunities. More efforts should be devoted to improve the labor market positions of secondary vocational school students, such as job stability, security, and continuity. To improve the labor market positions of vocational school students, the government should adjust its macroeconomic policies because labor market demands for vocational school students determine the development of vocational education. Labor market reforms should include establishing an employment system allowing technical workers to freely move between different geographical regions. The state should also encourage the establishment and development of smallscale enterprises. In particular, the government should support the development of small-scale enterprises in central and western China

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Column 5.6. The Internal Impetus for Vocational Education The core of the mechanism of the internal impetus for vocational education is a satisfactory and balanced relationship between the teaching and learning of vocational skills and the needs for skills of the economy and people. The development of vocational schools should be based on improvements of their own levels and qualities of running schools, the reputations of their graduates, and the ability to serve society. In other words, the development of vocational education should not only rely on external promoting factors. The foundations of the mechanism are that: (1) vocational education is a type of education rather than a level of education; (2) vocational education has its own rules of development and characteristics, which must be respected; (3) students should choose vocational education according to their abilities, interest, and career plans (the choice is voluntary rather than passive and helpless); and (4) society respects each ordinary laborer and recognizes their values. This should be reflected in the construction of relevant systems. Every employer should protect the rights and benefits of each ordinary laborer and provide them the opportunities to develop their vocational careers. The establishment of internal mechanisms needs desirable external conditions. Basic education should be reformed as much as necessary. In addition to protecting the interests of one-third of the students who enroll in general higher-education institutes, basic education should also serve the interests of two-thirds of the students who left schools or went to vocational schools to study. Vocational education should be given the due status it deserves. Raising the status of vocational education does not necessarily mean lowering the status of ordinary education. Both vocational education and general education should be prioritized. Vocational education should be conducted as an irreplaceable education of high quality. Vocational education should better serve the labor-market demands for labors. Vocational education should be able to satisfy an individual’s demand for education and protect an individual’s interests in the long run.

and encourage these enterprises to absorb more secondary vocational school students. To promote the employment of secondary vocational school students, the government should also establish funds to support vocational school students to start their own enterprises. Therefore vocational school students from rural areas can shift from farming to other trades without having to leaving their hometown. Promoting the development of vocational education with Chinese characteristics is one of the three strategic priorities defined in current vocational education policies. Although the development of vocational

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Our survey shows that some secondary vocational school students from central and western China take an internship at school-run enterprises at the end of the second year of their study. For those who cannot take an internship at school-run enterprises or local enterprises, their schools will help them find an internship in economically developed areas, such as the Yangtze River Delta Area and the Pearl River Delta Area. Some secondary vocational school students find jobs in local areas, and others leave their hometowns and find jobs in economically developed areas. These students are known as “migrant workers” and are geographically mobile. They frequently change jobs and occupations. It is difficult for these mobile workers to accumulate work experiences. Most enterprises use an extensive mode of employment of workers. The employment rights of these migrant workers are hardly protected. The students also suffer from homesickness. After years of working away from their hometowns, many migrant workers choose to return to their hometowns to start from scratch.

education is on the right track, there are still a number of things to do in order to further the development of vocational education. First, the government should increase their investment in vocational education and have a clear goal with respect to the amount and the proportion of the investment in vocational education. The experiences of developed countries show that the costs for vocational education are three times as high as the costs for general education. Second, in addition to financial support, the governments should also change the disadvantaged positions of vocational school students in the society. Third, the government should take the leading role in promoting the development of vocational education. Government promotion, however, should be connected with market management so that a balanced relationship between government and markets will develop. In other words, it is too risky if the development of vocational education is completely determined by the markets. Conversely, too much government control is also harmful. Government controls over the enrollment and the relative proportion of vocational school students should be reduced. Fourth, secondary vocational education should be the core and priority of development of vocational education in China. Compared to

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higher education and general education, vocational education lacks social support. The development of vocational education therefore should be the priority of the central government. Many people mistakenly believe that higher vocational education should be the focus of the development of vocational education in the future. In reality, however, there is a high demand for secondary vocational school graduates. This situation is determined not only by the demographic characteristics of the current labor force but also by the state of the development of Chinese enterprises. Data show that the overall quality of the labor force is still low. In particular, there is a serious shortage of technical workers. By 2020, the Chinese labor force will increase from 900 million to about 1 billion, and the number of jobs will increase from 750 million to 800 million, which is 370 million more than the total number of jobs that is currently provided by Western countries. Compared to their western counterparts, the production of Chinese enterprises has a lower level of technical input. Many jobs require few or no technical skills. In other words, workers require less training to enter the labor market. To raise the levels of technical input of production, in the upcoming decades the Chinese government will face enormous pressures to train numerous unskilled workers before they enter the labor markets. Increasing Government Investments in Vocational Education The government should further increase its investments in vocational education. The government should set up a clear target on the amount of investments in vocational education and the ratio of government investments in vocational education to government investments in general education. In general government investments should represent at least 60% of the cost for vocational education.42 The tuition system should also be reformed according to payment abilities of the families of most students and the cost of vocational education. The goal of the reform is to reduce families’ financial burdens to send their children to vocational schools. The tuition of vocational schools should be less than that of ordinary high schools. In order to solve the funding issue, it is advisable to set up multiple channels to raise funds. To reduce families’ financial burdens,

42 Xu Liping, “Analysis of Sharing of Costs of Vocational Education in China: Analysis Based on Theories, Proofs and Policies,” Education Science 6 (2007).

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the government should establish a financial-subsidies system, forbid overcharges, and set the minimum amount of financial subsidies. In order to increase the efficiency of using the funds, it is advisable to give schools more powers in distributing the funds to students. The student support system should be enlarged to ensure that all poor students have the opportunities of receiving vocational education. Public funds should be used to support all disadvantaged communities to receive appropriate vocational training. A free vocational education system should be gradually established for students from rural areas. Establishing a Balanced Relationship between the Markets and the Government While increasing government investments, it is also necessary to mobilize industries’ and enterprises’ enthusiasm to participate in vocational education. It is important to establish a balanced relationship between markets and the government. Government should treat industries and enterprises as collaborators in vocational education, and include them in the management and coordination system of vocational education. The government should devote itself to helping establish a cooperative relationship between vocational schools and enterprises. Although each region is encouraged to develop vocational education on its own, it is necessary to establish a national standard to ease the assessment of the development of vocational education across different regions. A sharing mechanism should be established, allowing various kinds of enterprises to invest in vocational education and participate in vocational training. To arouse the enthusiasm of industries and enterprises, the key is to clearly define the responsibilities and rights of each party in vocational education so that enterprises have the right to speak, the right to decide, and the right to manage their funds for vocational education. Industry associations and guilds are entitled to determine the standards of vocational abilities and are the examiners of vocational qualifications and the sponsors of cooperation between schools and enterprises. Human resource administrative departments are the organizers and authenticators of the state vocational ability standards, the establishers and supervisors of the national system of vocational qualifications, and the providers of lifelong vocational satisfaction for all the people. Industries and enterprises should participate in school administration and teaching. Strengthening the Cooperation between Educational Departments and Employment Departments It is necessary to establish an interactive mechanism

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between vocational education and employment, which would strengthen the relationship between vocational training and employment. Currently, there is an urgent need to formulate and enact policies in five fields. First, vocational education should be conducive to preparing students to receive vocational qualification certificates. The standards of vocational education should be consistent with the standards of vocational qualification. The procedure for vocational school students to get certificates should be simplified. Second, the enrollment and employment of vocational school students should be included in local plans of employment to coordinate labor supplies and labor demands. Third, the system of employment permission should be enforced to guarantee that qualified vocational school graduates are given priority in employment. Fourth, high-quality education resources of vocational colleges and schools should be fully used to provide training services to the society. Fifth, the vocational school students should be provided with employment information. The relevance between vocational education and employment training should be strengthened. The employment system and vocational certificate system should be improved. Policies should be completed to improve the construction of the labor markets for secondary vocational school students. Reforming the Administrative Systems A coordinate system to strengthen the connection between vocational education, vocational qualification, and employment should be established. The government should speed up and promote running vocational schools in groups. The plans, policies, information, and mechanisms on regional cooperation in vocational education should be promoted. Mutual recognition of vocational-qualification certificates should be promoted in order to facilitate geographic mobility. The cooperation with foreign vocational education institutes should be expanded and deepened. Maintaining the Scales of Vocational Education Policies should be implemented to keep the proportion between the enrollment of secondary vocational education and ordinary senior middle schools at about one-to-one. The enrollment of higher vocational education and ordinary higher education should be kept at one-to-one. These proportions of vocational education should be maintained in the next 10 to 20 years. A vocational-education and training network covering both urban and rural areas should be set up. Priorities should be given to increasing

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the numbers of vocational-education and training institutions in rural areas and western areas. The enrollment of vocational education and training should be increased to enable students to receive vocational education and training conveniently and flexibly. References Ji, Zhou. “The Promotion of Education Justice Should Be Basic Education Policies of the Country.” Shanghai Education 11A (2007). “Promoting the Administration of State Scholarships of Secondary Vocational Schools in Qinghai Province.” http://www.xszz.cee.edu.cn/show_news.jsp?id=1470. “Research Group of Case Study of Important Education Policies in China in the Transmission Phase: Narrowing Gaps; Important Topics of Education Policies in China.” Beijing: People’s Education Publishing House, 2005. Quanquan, Wu. “Instructions of the Experience of Vocational Education in Developed Countries.” Vocational and Technical Education 28 (2004). Yanpeng, Zuo. “Theories and Practice of Seeking Equal Vocational and Ordinary Educations.” Study of Foreign Educations 5 (2003).

CHAPTER SIX

CHINESE HIGHER EDUCATION DURING THE PAST THIRTY YEARS: THE TRANSFORMATION OF PUBLIC POLICY Yang Dongping 6.1. The Achievement of Chinese Higher Education since 1978 Beginning with a restarting of the national college entrance examination, Chinese higher education has obtained great achievement since the reform era, nurturing lots of advanced specialized talents for economic development and modernization construction and improving the levels of teaching and research. At present, higher education has gradually developed into a multilevel, multiform, and multidisciplinary system suitable to the national economy and social development. 6.1.1. The Scale and Nurturing Capacity of Higher Education Increase Rapidly Chinese higher education has developed rapidly. In 2006, enrolled students in ordinary universities, institutes, colleges, and junior colleges numbered 5,460,500, five times of the number in 1998, 1,083,600; the number of universities was 1,867, three times of the number in 1978, 598. Chinese higher education has had leaping development since 1999, and the gross enrollment ratio of higher education (the percentage of enrolled college students in their peer population from the ages of 18 to 21) increased from 9.8% in 1998 to 15% in 2002, and China has entered an era of popularized higher education. In 2006, enrolled students in all kinds of higher education were more than 25,000,000, and the gross enrollment ratio of higher education was 22%, which constituted higher education with the largest scale in the world.1

1 Ministry of Education of China, The Statistic Communiqué of the 2006 National Education Development, http://www.moe.edu.cn/edoas/website18/52/info29052.htm.

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Table 6.1. Enrollment Expansion of Universities since the 1990s (10,000 Persons/Unit) 1990 Enrolled undergraduates and junior college students Percentage increased than the last year (%) Enrolled postgraduates Percentage increased than the last year (%) Gross enrollment rate of higher education (%)

1995

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003 2004 2005

60.89 92.59 108.36 159.68 220.61 268.28 320.50 382.17 420 475

2.01

2.9

8.3

47.4

31.45

21.61

19.46

19.24 9.9

3.0

5.11

7.25

9.2

12.85

16.52

20.26

26.89 32.63 37

3.45

0.39

13.82

21.38

39.32

28.56

22.65

32.7 21.35 15

3.5

7.2

9.8

10.5

11.5

13.3

15

17

19

8

21

Source: Ministry of Education of China, Educational Statistics Yearbook of China, (Beijing: People’s Education Publishing House, each year).

In 1980, the fifth CPC National Congress passed Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Academic Degrees (中华人民共和国学位条例), which was implemented on January 1, 1981. Regulations classified academic degrees in China into three categories: bachelor’s, master’s, and doctorate. In 1981, there were 229 institutions with the ability to grant master’s degrees, and 8,665 persons were granted master’s degrees for the first time in the whole nation. From 1982 to 1983, eight academic institutions, such as the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the University of Science and Technology of China, Fudan University, etc., were pilot universities able to grant doctorate degrees and 18 persons were awarded PhDs. This was the start of nurturing our own doctoral students for the nation.

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From 1978 to 2006, Chinese-enrolled postgraduates increased from 10,934 to 1,104,653, nearly 100 times that of 30 years ago. This was a huge breakthrough in terms of scale and capacity. By the end of 2007, 240,000 PhDs and 1,800,000 master’s graduates were nurtured in total, which established a network of important human resources for modernization in China. 6.1.2. Formulating a Multilevel, Multiform, and Multidisciplinary Higher Education System After many years of development, especially within the recent 20 years, China has developed a multilevel, multiform, and multidisciplinary system of higher education. Higher education includes diploma education and non-diploma education; diploma education is classified into junior college education, undergraduate education, and postgraduate education. China has implemented the academic degree system, which includes bachelor’s, master’s, and doctorate degrees. Higher education adopts two teaching modes: full-time and part-time. Besides full-time higher education, there is higher education for adults. In 2006, Chinese higher education, including universities and junior colleges, recruited 5,460,500 students, and the number of enrolled students was 17,388,400; higher education for adults, including universities and junior colleges, recruited 1,844,400 students, and the number of enrolled students was 5,248,800. The scale of higher education for adults is one-fourth of higher education.2 Moreover, China has a special self-taught examination system in higher education. Between the years 1981 to 2005, the years of establishment, there were 43,000,000 persons who entered the examinations and 6,250,000 of them graduated. This system nurtured local talents who would stay local and were useful, relieved the pressure of higher education, and established a wonderful platform to construct learning society and lifelong education.3 Also, China had some longdistance higher education through different modes such as broadcasting,

Ministry of Education of China, The Statistic Communiqué. Pu Qinghua, The Six Achievements of Self-Taught Examination System, an interview with Dai Jiagan, director of the Center of Examination Center of Ministry of Education, Feb 25, 2006, Beijing Examinations. 2 3

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television, and correspondence. At the same time, universities and other higher-education institutions assumed the work of continuing education. 6.1.3. The Quantity and Scale of Universities Are Increasing During the recent thirty years, there were two climax periods of higher education development. In the mid-1980s, the quantity of universities was increasing rapidly; from 1983 to 1985, 211 universities were established, of which almost [about???] one was established every three days. After that, a steady period came, and at the beginning of the twenty-first century, higher education entered the second climax period. From 1978 to 2006, the quantity of universities increased from 598 to 1,867, and all different types of universities increased to some extents, among which comprehensive universities increased the fastest, then colleges of economics, and the slowest were colleges of science and technology and language colleges. Up to the early 1990s, the scale of universities in China was generally small. In 1992, the average number of enrolled students in a given university was 2,074, and only 15% of universities had more than 5,000 enrolled students. Through university combination and enrollment expansion, the average scale of universities increased rapidly. In 1999, the average number of enrolled students was 3,185, and the number increased to 5,289 in 2000, and 8,148 in 2006, respectively; many universities had more than 10,000 enrolled students in the early twenty-first century. The disciplinary structure of universities has improved and become more comprehensive. 6.1.4. Continuously Improving the Levels of Scientific Research and Disciplinary Establishment in Universities Universities have constantly expanded the functions of talents nurturing, scientific research, and social service. Universities have become an important new force of scientific research; educational scientific research teams have become stronger, and the scientific research level has constantly improved. In 2006, universities had 24,182,200 staff for scientific research and experimental development (R&D), which was 16% within the whole nation. In the same year, there were 404,858 journal articles published on science and technology within the country, among which 243,458 were produced by universities, which

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was 60.14% of the whole. In 2006, the number of published Chinese international journal articles on science and technology ranked second in the world, only after the US, among which 143,725 articles were written by universities, which occupied 83.7% of the whole. Though the number of published articles on science and technology has increased rapidly, and despite that most disciplines have become closer to the international average level, no discipline has achieved an international average level from the index of article times cited. In the past ten years, Chinese article times cited has remained ranked at 13th in the world.4 China has established a series of nurturing postgraduates and scientific research bases with all kinds of disciplines and solid foundation of scientific research. In 1986, 416 key disciplines were selected for major construction. In 1995, China officially approved 33 universities, including Peking University, to establish graduate schools. Moreover, Project 211 (“211 工程”) and Project 985 (“985 工程”) have been gradually implemented, which makes those project universities the main bases of high level scientific research in the nation. Universities are also directly involved in the activities of transforming the results of scientific research into economic benefits. In recent years, universities have played an increasingly active role on decision consulting for the national and local social and economic development. 6.1.5. Reforming the Management System and Operational Mechanism of Universities After the 1990s, the principles of “co-construction, adjustment, collaboration, and combination” were used to reform and combine universities. This round of university and college reforms broke down the outdated management system of piece partition and universities belonging to certain ministries. After the adjustments, among the 1,000 universities and colleges in the nation, 71 were directly under the Ministry of Education, 50 were managed by the central ministries, and all others were managed by local governments. By then, most central ministries were no longer running schools, and power devolution

4 “Published Journal Articles on Science and Technology Increase Rapidly: How to Transform the Scientific Research into Creative Power,” China Education Newspaper (November 28, 2007).

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of university management was a reality. The rights and responsibilities of developing higher vocational education and most junior colleges were transferred to the provincial people’s government. Higher education has almost finished the adjustment of the management system and the distribution structure, and formulated a new system with two-level management from central and provincial government and centered with provincial governmental management. Moreover, reforms on the college enrollment system, the students’ tuition fee system, and the graduates’ self-choosing job system, have all obtained substantive progress. 6.2. Four Developmental Stages of Higher Education Chinese education’s development and reform in the past thirty years can be classified into four stages: from 1977 to 1985, recovering, reorganizing, and rebuilding period; from 1985 to 1989, comprehensive reforming of education system period; from the mid 1990s to 2003, economic period of education development; from 2003 to the present, carrying out scientific development viewpoint, promoting educational equality and fairness, and exploring a new education facing the future. 6.2.1. Recovering and Rebuilding: Going Back to the 1950s After 1976, China strategically shifted toward a new developmental route that focused on the central task of economic construction. In 1977, Deng Xiaoping, who just reassumed his job, came forward to be in charge of science, technology, and education, which directly set right things in the education field. There were two issues that were set right, one was the Peoples’ Daily published article in November 1977 to officially rebut the idea of negation of intellectuals created by Gang of Four and two estimates of the 17 year educational route; the other was to recontinue the university and college entrance examination and enrollment system that was interrupted for 10 years. The significances of recontinuing university and college entrance examination are the following: first, reestablishing the atmosphere of respecting knowledge and paying attention to education in the whole society; second, rebutting the discrimination system of political identity and setting up a criteria of “all are equal before the scores” in order to recruit students

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according to their capacity; third, ensuring the equal rights to education among all the citizens. Deng Xiaoping was the chief designer of Chinese reform and opening, and modernization, and also put forward the guidance of education in the new era and the direction of educational reform. Deng Xiaoping raised the objective of cultivating the youngsters with four virtues, namely, having ideals, morals, knowledge, and discipline, and he emphasized that ideals and discipline were the most important among the four virtues. In 1983, his inscription for Jinshan School, “education will have to face modernization, face the world and face the future,” officially raised the tasks of modern education. Four Virtues and Three Catres constituted the two important dimensions of educational development in the reform era. When it came to ideological and moral education of young students, Four Virtues was emphasized; when it referred to educational reform and nurturing excellent talents, Three Catres was emphasized. To some extent, the two slogans reflected the internal conflict between the political criteria, and education and academia in the new era. At the end of the 1970s and at the beginning of the 1980s, the main content of recovering and rebuilding of the higher education was included. In November 1977, the national university entrance examination was restarted. In November 1977, the central government approved to withdraw the Workers’ Propaganda Team from primary schools, middle schools, and universities. In 1977 and 1978, a series of universities, which was compromised during the Cultural Revolution, such as the Southwest College of Political Science & Law, Renmin University of China, Beijing Agriculture University, etc, was rebuilt. By the end of 1978, 169 universities were recovered or added. In 1978, China started to send college students to study abroad again, and for the first time after the establishment of the PRC a student was sent to America. In 1978, the title assessment system for university teachers was recovered and established. In February 1978, 60 key universities before the Cultural Revolution were regarded as key again, and 28 more were added. In 1980, the fifth CPC National Congress passed Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Academic Degrees (中华人民共和国学位条例), which was implemented January 1, 1981. Regulations classified China’s academic degrees into three categories: bachelor’s, master’s, and doctorate degrees. In 1981, self-sponsored study abroad was allowed, and ever since a large-scale student abroad movement has remained popular. At the beginning of 1979, Jiang

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Nanxiang was nominated by Deng Xiaoping to be minister and party representative of the Ministry of Education. He was the minister of the Ministry of Higher Education in the 1960s, and former president and party representative of Tsinghua University. He regarded education before the Cultural Revolution as the ideal model, and believed that the education system should be recovered and rebuilt according to the education system 17 years ago. In the 1980s, the Ministry of Education issued three regulations with the purpose to rectify and recover the teaching order and school management, including Temporary Work Regulations of Middle Schools (middle school teaching, forty issues) (全日制中 学暂行工作条例), Temporary Work Regulations of Primary School (primary school teaching, thirty issues) (全日制小学暂行工作条例), and Temporary Work Regulations of National Key Universities (higher education, sixty issues) (全 国重点高等学校暂行工作条例), all revised based on similar regulations in the 1960s. When all the above actions were taken, education was essentially rebuilt like that of the 1950s. From this point, the task of ideological liberation and set things right in the education field was only half finished: only recovering respect to knowledge and education, without engendering new thoughts of what was good/ideal education. This is the biggest difference between the field of economy and education. Many problems that emerged in the process of education development, such as examination education, stemmed from here. 6.2.2. The System Reform of Higher Education Management in the 1980s The Decision of the Reform of Education System of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (中共中央关于教育体制改革的决定) promulgated in May 1985 was the real start of education reform since the opening and the reform era. At that time, the central government issued three decisions about the economic system, science and technology system, and education system, which formulated a strong melody of system reform centered in the 1980s and promoted the progress of modernization. The Decision of the Reform of Education System of the Central Committee of the Communist Party raised a new educational principle consistent with the political route centered on economic development, which was that “education should serve the socialist construction, and socialist construction should rely on education.” Obviously, this was a replacement and negation of the 1958 principle that education should serve proletarian politics. The Decision pointed out that though education was

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recovered since the Third Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, “wrong ideas of education, knowledge, and talents still exist, and the left thoughts on education have not been entirely rid of, and the situation where education is not suitable to the socialist modernization construction has not changed.” The Decision highlighted that: changing the situation fundamentally must start with institutional reform of education. Reforming the administrative system must emphasize macromanagement on one side, and streamlining the administration, delegating power to lower levels, and expanding the school-running autonomy on the other side. Adjusting the educational structure, and reforming employment and personnel systems must also occur, as well as revising the educational thoughts, contents, and methods that are not suitable to socialist modernization.

The Decision established the education system reform with main content of expanding the university’s autonomy of running schools and president responsibility system. In April 1988, the National Education Committee distributed Opinions on Implementing the President Responsibility System Gradually in Universities (关于高等学校逐步实行校长负责制的 意见), and promoted the implementation of the system. Along with the political system reform of the separation of the party and government, by the beginning of 1989, more than 100 universities had implemented a president responsibility system and achieved positive outcomes and experiences. Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Wuhan University, and Middle-China College of Science and Technology, and Shenzhen University became pioneering models of higher-education system reform. Another characteristic of the reform during the 1980s was that student movements kept happening on campus. Since 1979, there were 6 large-scale student movements. The conflict, between young students and adult society and systems, and between politics and education, constituted the particular picture of transformation in the era of rapid social reform. It represented the crisis of education and the outbreak of all kinds of social crisis. The political disturbance in 1989 interrupted the process of education system reform, and universities with the experimental president responsibility system gradually reestablished the old system. In the early 1990s, China implemented some policies, such as carrying out military training of college students, reducing the enrollment of universities, adjusting the system of students studying abroad, and starting the education of antipeaceful evolution, etc.;

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therefore the education developed slowly and reentered the route of high politicalization. In 1989, postgraduate enrollment reduced 10.8%, and undergraduates and junior college students’ enrollment reduced to 19.4% compared to that of the previous year.5 Postgraduates in social science and humanities should not recruit from graduates within the same year; postgraduates in science and technology, agriculture, and medicine should not recruit more than 40% of graduates within the same year. Freshmen of Peking University and Fudan University in 1990 had to take military training for a year. From 1989 to 1991, the enrollment of postgraduates and college students was less than 1988. For example, 44,000 enrolled postgraduates in 1985 reduced to 25,000 in 1991, and the decreased rate was up to 42.5%.6 6.2.3. Leaping Development on the Condition of Education Industrialization in the 1990s Since Deng Xiaoping’s “Speeches during the Inspection Tour in the South,” China restarted the process of opening up and reform, but the education reform remained in a logjam. In 1993, The Central Committee of the CPC and National Congress jointly issued the Outline for Reform and Development of Education in China (中国教育改革和发展纲要), and raised the overall objectives of education development at the end of the century. The objectives of higher education are nurturing human resources suitable to the development of the socio-economy and science and technology, centralizing the power to properly run a series of key universities and key disciplines, nurturing high-level specialized talents, deepening higher education reform, mainly coordinating the relationships between the government and universities, central and local, the national education committee and other central governing bodies, and gradually establishing a new system of governmental macromanagement, with schools serving society, and autonomous school running. On the relationship between the government and universities, Outline emphasized that it should follow the principle of the separation of government and institutions, through legislation to make clear the entitlement and responsibility of Jin Tiekuan ed., Education Chronicle of the P. R. China, vol. 3 ( Jinan: Shandong Education Publishing House, 1995), 1946. 6 Xie Tinglong, “China Postgraduate Education in the Past Thirty Years: Process, Achievement, and Experience,” Chinese Higher Education 6 (2008). 5

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higher schools and enable the universities to become corporate entities that serve the society and school running autonomously. On the relationship between the central and local governments, it should further establish the education management system with clear classification of duties between the central and provincial governments. The National People’s Congress passed the Higher Education Law of the P. R. China (高等教育法) in 1998 and raised the principles and objectives of higher education, which declared that “higher education must implement the educational policy of the state, serve socialist modernization, integrate itself with production, and labor to train those educated to be builders and successors of the socialist cause with allaround development of morality, intelligence, and physique.” About the leadership of universities, the Outline regulated that “state owned universities implement the president responsibility system under the leading of the China communist party basic committee of universities,” which negated the president responsibility system created by the CPC’s Decisions on the Education System Reform (中共中央关于教育体制 改革的决定) in 1985. In 1999, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council jointly issued the Decisions of Deepening Education Reform and Advancing Comprehensive Quality Education (中共中央国务院关 于深化教育改革全面推进素质教育的决定), another important document guiding the whole education work. The document highlighted that “higher education should pay attention to nurture college students’ capacity of creativity, practice ability, and entrepreneurial spirit, and generally improve college students’ quality of humanity and science.” It also raised the requirement of system reform, such as, solidly putting into effect and expanding the school-running autonomy of universities, strengthening the supervision and quality evaluation of school running in universities, gradually formulating the social supervision mechanism and evaluation system to the school-running behavior and teaching quality, and perfecting the self-discipline and self-management system of universities. Though the Decisions in the 1990s pointed out some objective of system reform, in general, education lacks substantive progress. Since the 1990s, in the wake of leaping development, higher education has developed rapidly with increasing size and quantity. Education has paved the way to so-called education industrialization for two reasons: nationalism developmental objectives and pursuing the largest interests under the situation of social transition to the market economy

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system. Some scholars have called the route of education industrialization as education reform from the single approach of finance, or an educational reform with an economic route. Education investment was seriously lacking, and governments at all levels sought to use the market system to increase education resources. Thus, schools made profits through educational activities, and education’s main objectives were to expand in scope, increase in size, and become more efficient. The route of education industrialization indeed promoted educational development, and education at all levels increased rapidly from the quantity and nurturing scale, especially large-scale expansion of university enrollment, which has achieved a lot. At the same time, influenced by the developmental idea of efficiency priority, all kinds of marketization reform ruined education’s publicity, equality, and fairness. With the expansion of universities and the rapid progress of ordinary high schools, educational gaps increased between the different city and rural regions, and different classes and stratifications. The simple criteria of score matters were disrupted, and the practice of money for recruit quotation was legalized, and the phenomenon of high tuition fee gradually seriously injured education quality and livelihood. Problems of difficulties to attend school reemerged, and the demands of educational autonomy and human development were blurred and ignored to a great extent. In the end, education became a huge, problematic issue. During this period, the important policy of higher education included: (1) implementing the Action Plan for Vitalizing Education Oriented Towards the Twenty-First Century; (2) Project 211 of establishing key universities and disciplines; (3) Project 985 of constructing a world-class university; (4) combining and reforming the university; (5) changing the system of universities and enrollment expansion; (6) reforming logistics socialization; (7) creating a financial aid and loaning system for poor college students; (8) universities borrowing a lot of money from banks to establish huge campuses and university towns; (9) encouraging independent institutes; and (10) conducting undergraduate teaching evaluation, etc. 6.2.4. The Transition of Educational Public Policy Since 2003 After the sixteenth CPC National Congress raised the tasks of scientific development viewpoint and establishing a harmonious society, the thought of only focusing on the economy was increasingly challenged.

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Centered on dealing with the problem of rural compulsory education, the attention to rural education, compulsory education, and education fairness gradually replaced the pursuit of quantity, scale, and developing speed; and promoting educational fairness gradually became a basic value of educational public policy. The tenth Five-Year Plan of national education issued in 2001 was the first time education fairness value was written into official documents. The plan first regarded educational fairness as the basic thought and principle of educational reform and development, insisting on the principle of fairness and justice of socialist education, paying more attention to disadvantaged people, and working hard to provide residents the chance of lifelong education. However, it was not until after 2003 that this value finally influenced public policy making. In early 2004, the Ministry of Education criticized the industrialization thought of education, and the voice of efficiency first and making profit from education has decreased gradually. A series of new public policies started or was issued and the new development viewpoint has gradually become the mainstream value of educational policy making. In early 2004, the Minister Zhou Ji stated in a press conference that the government would take the major responsibility on developing education: “Education is a lofty social public cause, and industrialization is not an option. We are clearly against this idea.”7 In January 2005, Minister Zhou Ji claimed that the work focus of universities shifted from a focus on scale to an emphasis on quality. After several years of development, some deeper contradictions influencing higher education quality were gradually exposed, and the change of the increasing economic mode and the demand of international competition urgently demanded that universities improve the quality of talent nurturing.8 In October 2005, the national Eleventh Five-Year Plan regulated the three major tasks of education: consolidating and popularizing nineyear compulsory education, greatly developing vocational education, and improving the quality of higher education. It was the first time the saying of improving the quality of higher education was raised.

7 Zhou Ji, talk on press conference of the State Council Information Office, January 6, 2004, http://www.moe.gov.cn/edoas/website18/52/info12852.htm. 8 Zhou Ji, “Using Scientific Development Viewpoint to Guide the Overall Education Work” (talk on the 2005 annual working conference of the Ministry of Education, January 10, 2005), http://news.xinhuanet.com/edu/2005-01/04/content_2424165.htm.

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Due to the unlimited sprawl of universities, the serious risk of loans has pushed the cleaning and controlling of universities’ loans onto the agenda. In 2005, the Ministry of Education started to examine, regulate, and discipline, and required universities directly under the ministry to carry out the scientific development viewpoint, establish correct achievement views, and strictly control the scale and rhythm of bank loans.9 In May 2006, the executive meeting of the state council decided to control the developing scale of higher education and limited the increasing ratio of university enrollment under 5%. In May 2007, the state council issued a document to establish and perfect the financial aid system to poor students in universities, higher vocational institutes, and secondary vocational schools. This was an important action to promote educational fairness after exempting the tuition fee of rural compulsory education. Since autumn of 2007, six normal universities directly under the Ministry of Education implemented free education for normal school students. In early 2007, the Ministry of Education started the Promoting Teaching Quality and Reform of Undergraduates Education, and planned to input 2.5 billion yuan to implement this project. All these have showed that higher education is on the path to development, and its value and objectives are to promote education fairness and improve education quality. 6.3. Policy Analysis on the Enrollment Expansion of Universities In 1973, American scholar Martin Trow raised the theory of massification of higher education. He classified three stages of development of higher education according to the gross enrollment rate (the percentage of enrolled college students among population from 18 to 21): less than 15%, the elite higher education stage; 15% to 50%, the stage of massification of higher education; and more than 50%, the stage of higher education popularization.10 Fifteen percent is the start point of entering the stage of massification of higher education.

Ministry of Education, “Working, planning, and direction of different departments and bureaus,” http://www.ncu.edu.cn/ksljml/gljg/html/biaoti2.htm. 10 Martin Trow, “The Problems in the Transition of Higher Education from Elite to General Public,” trans. Wang Xiangli, Foreign Higher Educational Materials 1 (1999). 9

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Since 1999, universities started to expand their enrollment rates and fulfilling the massification of higher education became a new slogan and goal. In 2002, the gross enrollment rate of higher education reached 15% and entered the stage of massification. The expansion of enrollment in universities rapidly increased the chances of obtaining higher education, which greatly changed the whole education system, and brought out many unexpected complicated problems; this is a typical case of educational policy that is worth deep analysis. 6.3.1. Policy Agendas and the Decision-Making Process In 1998, under the impact of the Asian Financial Crisis, the internal economy market entered a new low. In November 1998, the economist Dr. Tang Min and his wife Zuo Xiaolei, who worked at Asian Development Bank, sent a letter to the leaders of the national congress and raised the proposal of promoting the economy through enrollment expansion in universities. This idea attracted a lot of attention among the public, and many scholars discussed the issue through articles. This idea also gained the attention of policy makers at higher levels. In December 1998, the Ministry of Education promulgated the Action Plan for Promoting Education for the 21st Century (面向 21 世纪教育 振兴行动计划), which was also approved by the National Congress. It raised the idea of gradually and actively developing higher education and promoting the gross enrollment rate of universities from 9.1% in 1997 to 11% in 2000. Facing the particular economic situation, at the beginning of 1999, the Planning Commission of the state raised 12 suggestions to the central government on expanding internal needs and promoting economic increase, among which the enrollment expansion of universities was one of them. In early June 1999, Premier Zhu Rongji supported the idea of enrollment expansion of universities in the state council premier working conference. On June 16, the state council organized the third national education work conference since the reform era, issued the Decisions on Deepening Educational Reform and Promoting Quality-Oriented Education (中共中央国务院关于深化教育改革全面推进素质教育的决定), and pointed out the objectives of the development of higher education, which included expanding the scales of higher education and developing higher education actively through all forms. By 2010, the gross enrollment rate of higher education should increase from 9% to 15%. Premier Zhu Rongji announced the Decisions. Chairman Jiang

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Zemin stated that ivory tower education was not suitable to the needs of the current era, and required that higher education be developed in a variety of forms, especially by establishing community higher vocational education, expanding existing enrollment scales of universities and adult colleges, and satisfying the need of obtaining higher education among the general public.11 Enrollment expansion in universities became an important strategy of making the nation prosperous. At the beginning of 2001, as promulgated in the Tenth Five-Year Plan of Education Development by the central government, the objective of scale and enrollment rate of higher education scheduled to be fulfilled by 2010 was pushed forward by five years, namely by 2005, at which time a 15% gross enrollment rate of higher education was to be achieved. Regarding the incentives of enrollment expansion in universities, the vice-premier Li Lanqing who was in charge of education work at that time said that there were four main reasons: first, there was a great need for high quality talents in order to continue the rapid continuous growth of the economy; second, the general public was eager to see that their sons and daughters have access to higher education and the government had the responsibility to satisfy their wishes; third, the expansion could delay students’ employment, increase educational expenditure, boost domestic demands and therefore facilitate the development of related industries; fourth, in the past, the enrollment rate was low and there were not enough enrolled college students, which made basic education focus on dealing with the difficult examinations and influence the overall implementation of quality-oriented education.12 These reasons all existed. Since the early 1990s, the central government adopted the policy of controlling the scale of higher education; by the end of the 1990s, the situation of higher education lagging behind was extremely prominent, especially in contrast to the rapid development of the economy and society. The nurturing scale of Chinese higher education was behind most developing and Asian countries according either to general statistics or the level of economical development, therefore there were many appeals for speeding up the Liu Zhengying, Liu Siyang, “National Rise and Fall Rests on Education: Developing Education Is People’s Responsibility,” People’s Daily, June 16, 1999. 12 Li Lanqing, The Educational Interview of Li Lanqing (Beijing: Renmin Education Publishing House, 2003), 119. 11

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development of higher education. Influenced by the Asian Financial Crisis, the increasing rate of Chinese economic development declined, and the lack of demands became the major contradiction to economic development. According to the estimates of 1999, laid-off persons in the whole nation increased to 20 million, and the unemployment rate reached 9%. At the same time, 3 million high school graduates created a new pressure on employment. Under the background of the one-child policy, intensive competition in college entrance examinations worsened the atmosphere of basic education, and students and parents’ demand of participation in higher education became stronger and stronger. After the end of the shortage economy, economists discovered the last land of the shortage economy—higher education. Enrollment expansion of higher education had two long-term effects: one was increasing the economy through nurturing talents, the other was delaying people’s entrance to the workforce, by expanding the scale of enrolled high school and college students and developing vocational training. Moreover, paying for higher education also served to increase educational expenditure and stimulate the economy. One thing that deserves attention is that for a long time, suggestions on expanding higher education were ignored by decision makers. Finally the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997 and Tang Min’s proposal on expanding higher education in order to boost domestic demands caused the policy agenda to be rapidly fulfilled. Tang Min’s proposal explained five reasons of enrollment expansion of higher education: first, the quantity of enrolled students in college in China was far lower than that in other developing countries; the gross enrollment rate was only 4% among young people between the ages of 18 and 22, at that time, while Thailand was 37%, and India was 8%. Second, the national enterprise reform in 1998 caused a lot of laid-off workers to reenter the job market; if there were large amounts of young people competing for the same jobs, the employment market would encounter a vicious situation. Third, the state raised the objective of increasing GDP by 8%; therefore it was urgent to boost domestic demands. Education is one of the biggest demands of the general public. By increasing tuition in universities and having students pay for it themselves, enrollment expansion becomes an important strategy to boost domestic demands. Fourth, universities have the capacity to digest enrollment expansion. At that time, the ratio of enrolled college students and full-time teachers was only 7:1, much lower than 33:1

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in Korea, 21:1 in Taiwan, and 15–20:1 in European countries and America.13 If the ratio of college students and teachers increased to 15:1, existing teachers still could satisfy the needs of enrollment expansion. Last, the popularization of higher education is closely related to overall development of Chinese nationality. In the letter, Tan Min and his group recommended to double the enrolled students in universities within 3 to 4 years and establish a national subsidized student loan system and loan money to students with financial problems. Regarding the function of enrollment expansion stimulating the economy, their prediction was that the GDP would increase by 0.5%, or about 100 billion yuan.14 Therefore, the policy of enrollment expansion in universities at the beginning of 1999 has the strong inclination of efficiency first and motivation of boosting domestic demands; in contrast, attention to education fell to a less important position. 6.3.2. The Implementation of Enrollment Expansion In May 1999, the State Council decided to further expand the scale of university enrollment on the basis of the original plan of expansion. In 1998, universities recruited 1,083,600 undergraduates and junior college students, and 72,500 postgraduates. In June 1999, universities recruited 331,000 more students than the previous year, among which universities recruited 227,000 more, and higher vocational schools enrolled 100,000 more. In 1999, the planned number of enrolled students of universities was 1,530,000, and in reality there were 1,597,000 students, an increase of 47% compared to the previous year. Moreover, adult higher education enrolled 100,000 more students, and postgraduates increased by 3,900, including television universities and private universities as other forms of higher education, the actual enrollment was close to 2,700,000. Three-year large-scale enrollment expansion in universities started. The top-down and administration-driven enrollment expansion in universities exceeded their capacities, and at the beginning created a

13 Tang Min, “The emergence of education motivating expenditure,” China Education Review, ed. Yuan Zhengguo (Beijing: Educational Science Publishing House, 2000): 186. 14 Tang Min, “Education Stimulates Expenditure,” Industrial Economy Newspaper, June 4, 1999.

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challenging situation, and universities were passive; however, the situation changed immediately. Because enrollment expansion could bring a lot of quick money, universities could improve their situation by charging a large tuition fee; the government established bigger campuses and university towns through the real estate development mode. The local governments and universities obtained the largest interest in the round of enrollment expansion, and their incentives were highly motivated. The scale, developmental speed, and gross enrollment rate immediately became a new index of local government performance, and different areas started their competition of gross enrollment rate. At the beginning of implementation, some scholars pointed out that higher education needed comprehensive development and must avoid foam-form increase, but this warning did not make any difference. During implementation, universities tried all kinds of methods to recruit more and more students without consideration of their own capacities, higher level administrative departments lacked strict examination and assessment of universities and their assigned enrollment expansion quota did not take resources and capacities of universities into consideration. Therefore a competition of the Big Leap Forward emerged. One of the problems of enrollment expansion of higher education is the mode of enrollment. In order to achieve popularization of higher education, western countries mainly developed two- to three-year community colleges and higher vocational education and nurtured applied talents. While in this round of enrollment expansion, China adopted the method where higher education was not classified into different levels and types; therefore different levels of higher educations and research-oriented universities and local ordinary universities were developed at the same time, which did not bring out ideal outcomes. In comparison of 1998 to 2001, the total numbers of postgraduates increased 97.7% with 194,000 persons within 4 years; undergraduates net increase 105.2% with 275,000; and junior college students net increase 76% with 2,775,000.15 From 1999 to 2004, the average increase rate of postgraduate students’ enrollment was 27.66%, higher than the average increase rate of undergraduates and junior college students (24.8%). This method of focusing on the expansion

15 “Three Year Review on University Expansion in China,” Research in Educational Development 9 (Shanghai: Shanghai Education Science Institute, 2002).

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of four-year universities was expensive and had some sideeffects, such as blurring the nurturing goal and influencing the nurturing quality of research-oriented universities. In retrospect, Tang Min commented that his proposal by 2007, was not properly implemented at least in the following four aspects: First, regarding the scale of expansion, his proposal suggested increase one time within three years, and in the end, it increased five times within six years. Second, financial aid policy, the system of student loans, studentship, and scholarship did not obtain enough attention, thereby causing a serious problems to poor students. Third, at the same time of enrollment expansion, education reform did not follow up, which caused some problems. For example, the unchanged unbalanced disciplinary structure and old teaching content and method caused universities to be unable to nurture talents according to the demands of the society, and therefore caused employment difficulties of graduates. Fourth, regarding the model of expansion, he thought that good universities should expand more and ordinary universities should expand less, but the outcome was not as he expected.16 6.3.3. Policy Outcomes On the aspect of expanding higher education opportunities, increasing the quantity of talents nurturing and high-speed development of universities, the function of enrollment expansion is obvious. However, as to whether enrollment expansion effectively boosted domestic demands, different people have different opinions. The economic interest of educational investment is potential and long-term, and the function of stimulating short-term expenditure is not clear and even has a function of repression. However, university and campus establishment using the real estate development model may have direct contribution to economic development. How to assess the risk and bad assets is another particular issue. Moreover, how enrollment expansion impacts issues, such as nurturing quality, college graduates’ employment, educational fairness, and the influence of vocational education and basic education, needs concrete classification and analysis.

16 Liu Jianyuan, “The Father of University Expansion,” Guangzhou Daily, August 28, 2007.

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Archiving the Goal of Massification of Higher Education Ahead of Time Since 1999, through three continuous enrollment expansions, the number of enrolled students in universities increased from 6,430,000 in 1998 to 12,140,000 in 2001, a net increase of 5,710,000, which almost doubled within four years—a miracle in the world history of higher education.17 The goal of 15% gross enrollment rate was archived 8 years ahead of the scheduled year, 2010. From 1999 to 2001, the average increase rate of universities and junior colleges was 33.5%; From 1999 to 2004, the average rate of increase of universities and junior colleges was as high as 24.8%. In 2004, the rate of increase was 9.9% and gradually inclined to stable. In 2006, the whole nation recruited 5,400,000 college students, five times that of 1998, and gross enrollment escalated to 23%. Enrollment expansion has provided more high-level professionals and talents, satisfied the needs of economical social development, motivated the incentives of privately running schools, delayed the employment of millions of high school graduates, and impacted social development. Guiding by enrollment expansion, the arrangement of universities has extended downward and brought opportunities to the county level. More than 100 universities were established on the county level, which amounted to 50% of new universities in the whole nation. Tuition Increases Sharply and Financial Aid Policy Lags During the process of enrollment expansion, universities reformed the charging system Table 6.2. Enrollment Expansion Undergraduates and junior college students Enrolled students 1998 1999 2000 2001

1083600 1596800 2206100 2682800

Adult students

Postgraduates

Rate of Enrolled increase % students

Rate of increase

Enrolled students

Rate of increase

1001400 1157700 1561500 1959300

15.6% 45.08% 25.48%

72500 92200 128500 165200

21.37% 39.32% 22.2%

47.4% 31.45% 21.61%

Data Source: Education Development Bulletin, the Ministry of Education. 17 “Three Year Review on University Expansion in China,” Research in Educational Development 9 (Shanghai: Shanghai Education Science Institute, 2002).

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according to education cost recovery theory and formulated the circumstance that all students must pay to attend universities. In 1997, tuition was less than 1,000 yuan. In 1999, average university tuition was 2,769 yuan, an increase of 40.3% from the previous year. In 2000, tuition fees increased by 15% more—in some areas, even 20% more, and average tuition was more than 4,000 yuan per year. After that, the criteria of tuition continuously escalated. After 2003, in Beijing, average universities charged students 5,000 yuan per year. Some top universities and hot disciplines even charged 10,000 yuan per year; including accommodation and allowance, four-year college students must spend roughly 60,000 yuan to get their degrees. Even students in average universities must spend 40,000 yuan for their degrees.18 Actual expenditure for one student during the four years was equal to the annual income of one city official/workers or two peasants. For low-income citizens and poor peasants, this is an unbearable financial pressure. In 1999, the Ministry of Education regulated that tuition should not exceed 25% of the individual cultivation cost. At present, the individual cultivation cost for a student in science and technology is between 14,000 to 16,000 yuan, and in the social sciences and humanities, it is between 12,000 to 14,000 yuan. According to the criteria of 5,000 yuan per student tuition fee, students in general share 33% to 38% of the cultivation cost. In 2004, tuition in public universities occupied 32% of total students’ expenditure. Public universities’ tuition in developed countries is usually about 13% to 15% of the cultivation cost. The average tuition for an American four-year public university was 2,689 USD from 1994 to 1995, occupying 12% of the annual income per person.19 High tuition fees resulted in a huge group of poor students in universities. The Ministry of Education estimated that among Chinese universities, 20% of enrolled students have financial difficulties,

18 Wu Xiaobin, “A Probe into the Causes of Tuition Arrear Among the Undergraduates” (master’s thesis, Institute of Higher Education, Beijing University of Science and Technology, January 2004); “Donation Prefers Top University,” New Beijing Daily, January 11, 2005. 19 Beijing University Project, Looking for the Future and Locating in the Reality: Response to the Article by Xu Dianqing, Tang Min, and Zuo Xiaolei (Beijing: Beijing University Education School Education Economy Brief, 1999).

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with 5–10% in especially difficult situations.20 In 2004, the number of enrolled students in universities was 15,280,000, among them 3,000,000 were poor students, and 1,300,000 were especially poor. In some local universities in western China, the percentage of poor students is high—as high as 50% in some universities. The financial aid policy to poor students is not consistent with enrollment expansion, and one of the most distinguished phenomena is that the state-subsidized loan system has fallen behind and lost function after charging high tuition for students. Tuition, along with housing and medical care, have become three hurdles that the general public cannot afford. Theoretically, the state has five ways to help poor students, including scholarship, student loans, work-study programs, tuition fee exemptions, and financial assistance. However, the main method of the state-subsidized loan system has not functioned well since its implementation in 1999, and in 2003, the system encountered the “cold winter” of stopping the loan system. From 1999 to March 2004, 1,886,000 students applied for loans, and only 855,000 received them; total application for money was 14.04 billion yuan, and only 6.95 billion yuan were distributed. Both the number and money did not surpass half of the application.21 2003 was the first year of the peak of paying loans, and the default rate was 20%. At the same time, in some local universities, tuition arrears became serious among college students. The state-subsidized student loan system is operated by commercial banks. Because of high cost and risk, the bank as a provider has low incentives; therefore poor students cannot borrow the money they need. As some researchers commented, in the operation of statesubsidized loan system a phenomenon of market failure exists, partly because of the original defects of the market itself, and partly because of the conflict between policies of state-subsidized student loans and the commercialized mode of operation.22 In 2004, the state issued a new policy on state-subsidized student loans, which included changing the financial discount interest mode (the loan interest during the

20 Ministry of Education, “Policies and Measures for Providing Financial Aids to Poor Students in China,” China Education Newspaper, September 1, 2004. 21 “State-Subsidized Student Loan System Encounters Yellow Light,” Wen Hui Newspaper, May 25, 2004. 22 Li Qinghao and Shen Hong, “State-Subsidized Student Loan System: Plights and Outlet,” Beijing Education 6 (2005).

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period students are in school is paid by the national finance, and the loan interest after graduation is paid by themselves), prolonging loan refunding, carrying out the bidding system among banks to decide the administrating bank, and establishing a risk compensatory payment mechanism. Till now, this system still has many barriers and paperwork to go through. After many revisions, the state council finally issued the document in May 2007 to establish a new financial aid system for poor students based on national finance. When the new aid system and its related policies are all implemented, the state will spend 50 billion each year on financial input on assistantship, student loans, and school grants; therefore 4 million college students (20% of the total ) and 16 million students in 15,000 middle vocational schools will obtain different assistance. The problem will almost be solved. The Impact of Enrollment Expansion on Education Fairness After the chance of obtaining higher education has rapidly increased, whether the situation of educational fairness has been improved and how to distribute the new educational opportunities are issues that have attracted a lot of attention from the society. Educational fairness refers to the equal opportunity of obtaining higher education in terms of the difference between cities and rural areas, classes and stratifications, and gender. Many empirical studies tried to study and answer this question. Yang Dongping and his colleague used the registration number of college entrance examination to assess the city-rural distinction of enrollment opportunities of higher education.23 They found that the city-rural distinction has grown since 1999, the beginning year of enrollment expansion, but a historical transition happened around 2001 where the city-rural distinction alleviated. Since 2002, the absolute accounts and increased amplitude of rural students signing up for college entrance examinations has exceeded city students, and the opportunity of entering university for rural students has increased. According to Professor Hu Ruiwen at the Shanghai Institute of Education Science, in 1998, before the expansion, there were 400,000 rural students who entered universities, which was 37% of the total enrolled students that year, while in 2004 after the expansion, there

23 Since the number of enrollment in some provinces has been kept secret, the number that signed up for college entrance examination is used instead.

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were 2,300,000 rural students who entered universities, which was 51% of the total enrolled students that year. In six years, the number of enrolled rural students increased 4 times and exceeded that of young urban people for the first time.24 In recent years, the city-rural distinction of the opportunities of entering higher education has changed from a superficial, total, and macroimbalance into a hidden and deep imbalance, which is mostly represented in the distribution among different universities. The emerging stratification within the higher education system is as such: in national key universities, urban students with stronger cultural, economical, and social capital and children of a powerful social stratum occupy a greater percentage, and rural students and children of disadvantaged groups gradually decrease. Local universities with less teaching resources and quality have many more rural and poor students. Most students in higher vocational schools and private universities are students from middle and small cities and counties since their tuition fee is high. With the lack of large-range statistics data, we can only use the percentage of rural students since the 1990s in some key universities such as Tsinghua University, Peking University, and Beijing Normal University. As table 6.3 shows, among registered freshmen in the 1990s, the percentage of rural students gradually decreased. The phenomenon where the percentage of rural students decreases in key universities is matched with my own life experience as a university teacher. In recent years, newly added rural students were mainly found in local universities. For example, the percentage of rural students in Hebei Science University increased from 54.7% in 1998 to 60.8% in 2003.25 The survey on enrolled students in three universities in Tangshan City at Hebei Province shows that the percentage of rural students increased from 59.5% in 2000 to 63.6% in 2003; 29% of rural students come from poor counties both at the national and provincial level, and the percentage of students from townships, counties, and cities gradually decreased.26 24 Tan Min, “Is Anything Wrong with the Enrollment Expansion?” Nanfeng Chuan 5 (2006). 25 Wei Hong, “The Empirical Study on Equal Education Opportunities of City and Rural Students” (master’s thesis, School of Education, Beijing Normal University, 2003). 26 Wu Xiaobin, “Studies on Poor Students under the University Charging System” (master’s thesis, School of Humanities, Beijing University of Poly-Technology, 2004).

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Table 6.3. The Percentage of Rural Students in Tsinghua University, Peking University, and Beijing Normal University since the 1990s Tsinghua University

1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2002

Enrolled students

Percentage of rural students

1994 2031 2080 2210 2203 2241 2298 2320 2462 2663 2929

21.7 19.0 18.3 15.9 18.5 20.1 18.8 19.5 20.7 19.0 17.6

Peking University Enrolled students

1810 910 2089 2164 2211 2240 2425

Percentage of rural students 18.8 22.3 18.5 20.1 20.9 19.6 19.0 18.5 16.3

Beijing Normal University Enrolled students

Percentage of rural students

1260 1358 1358 1403 1330 1470 1495 1504 1472 1686 2001 2105

28 40 33 36 35 29 30.9 28.7 22.3

Data Source: Zhang Yulin, Liu Baojun, “Occupation Stratum and Higher Education in China,” Beijing Normal University Journal (social science edition) 3 (2005). Data of Beijing Normal University and Tsinghua University in 2000 come from Wei Hong, “The Empirical Study on Equal Education Opportunities of City and Rural Students,” Master’s dissertation, School of Education at Beijing Normal University (2003).

Some studies pay attention to the distribution and change of family background among university students since the 1990s. In 1998, Xie Weihe did a survey among freshmen (enrolled in 1997) and senior students (enrolled in 1994) in 37 universities all over China with a sample of 69,258 students. Table 6.4 lists out the detailed research results, among which children of professionals, state cadres, and enterprise managers were 32.8% and children of workers and peasants were 20.8% and 31.4%, respectively. Students from different family background are distributed differently in four different types of universities. If putting children of professionals, state cadres, and enterprise managers together, their distribution in four types of universities are 41.1%, 35.9%, 29.9%, and 22.6%, respectively, and if putting children of workers and peasants together, their distribution in four types of universities are 44.9%, 50.3%, 53.2%, and 62.8%, respectively. This study clearly shows that students with better family backgrounds have a greater chance to enter better universities.

12.7 16.4 14.4 12.0 7.1

11.7 14.4

12.6

9.7 9.5

8.2 6.0

8.9

8.4 10.3

Enterprise managers

3.5 5.6

5.0

4.4 3.7

Individual businessmen

23.4 17.2

19.5

20.8 23.1

Worker

29.8 45.6

30.8

31.4 21.8

Peasant

0.8 0.6

0.5

0.7 0.8

Soldiers

12.6 8.4

8.3

9.9 9.5

Others

Data Source: Zeng Manchao edited, The economical analysis of education policy (Beijing, Renmin Education Publishing House, 2000): 268.

Total National key universities Ministry key universities Universities Local universities

State cadres Professionals

Table 6.4. The Distribution of Students’ Social Stratification and Family Backgrounds among 37 Universities (%)

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The School of Education at Xiamen University surveyed 34 universities in Shannxi, Fujian, Zhejiang, Hunan, Guangdong, Guangxi, Anhui, and Shanghai in 2004, including 8 key ministry universities, 8 public universities, 11 public vocational universities, 3 private vocational universities, and 3 independent colleges, and received 7,264 valid questionnaires. With reference to the social stratification study by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, this study classified the enrolled students’ parents’ occupation into ten categories. Table 6.5 lists out the detailed distribution. This study adopts the concept of the stratum enrollment rate to express the opportunity difference of obtaining higher education among children from different social stratifications. The stratum enrollment rate equals the ratio of the percentage of enrolled students of this stratification among all students and the percentage of the population with particular stratification among the whole population, when the rate equals 1, which means that enrolled students of this stratification are equal to their percentage of the demographic structure, which is the fairest situation. The study shows that the stratum enrollment rates of the five advantaged classes, including state cadres, managers, private enterprisers, professionals, and private businessmen, are 2.37 to 5.9, 2 to 6 times the average rate. The stratum enrollment rate of the private enterprisers’ class is the highest at 5.9, and the unemployment personnel in urban and rural areas is the lowest at 0.46. There is 13 times the difference between the highest and lowest stratum enrollment rate, which means that children from a higher class family background have greater chances of obtaining higher education. In key universities directly under the Ministry of Education, the stratum enrollment rates of state cadres and professionals are the highest, at 5.48 and 3.6, respectively, and the maximum difference between stratifications is 17 times, which means that children of cadres have 17 times more opportunities of entering key ministry universities than children with unemployed parents. In public universities, the difference decreased to 7 times, and in public vocational universities, the difference declined to 5 times. These findings demonstrated that, in the public higher education system, the stratum difference is mainly represented by the opportunities within high-level key universities. Although the stratum enrollment rate of private enterprisers is the

8.2 4.0 5.9 12.3 6.0 16.8 5.7 13.3 25.5 2.2

100.0

2.1 1.6 1.0

4.6 7.2 7.1

11.2

17.5

42.9 4.8

100.0

Sample B

100.0

0.59 0.46

0.76

0.51

2.67 0.83 2.37

3.90 2.50 5.90

Stratum enrollment rate B/A

100.0

27.3 1.6

13.4

4.2

16.6 6.7 10.7

11.5 3.8 4.3

Key ministry universities B1

100.0

29.5 2.5

14.7

5.5

11.9 5.5 17.3

6.6 2.9 3.5

Public universities B2

100.0

30.6 2.7

14.9

7.0

10.0 5.2 18.4

5.7 3.5 2.0

Public vocational universities B3

100.0

12.6 3.1

12.4

6.0

11.2 6.2 23.3

9.7 4.8 10.7

100.0

6.3 1.6

9.1

6.1

9.3 8.0 22.0

10.9 8.9 17.7

Private Independent vocational colleges universities B5 B4

Data Source: Wang Weiyi, “The Opportunity Difference of Obtaining Higher Education among Children from Different Social Stratification,” Studies on Private Education 4 (2005).

State-cadres Managers Private enterprisers Professionals Staff Private businessmen Commercial service employees Industry workers Peasants Unemployment personnel in urban and rural areas Total

Social stratification A

Table 6.5. The Distribution of the Stratification of the College Students’ Family Backgrounds among 34 Universities in 2004 (%)

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highest, their children are mostly in private universities and independent colleges with high tuition and low teaching quality.27 Liu Jingmin from the sociology department at Renmin University of China has studied the difference in opportunity of obtaining higher education among students from different social stratifications after enrollment expansion, and established a stratum mode of occupation-education based on the educational level and occupation of the parents’ generation to analyze the class difference of obtaining higher education among the children’s generation after 1978. His study found that the stratum difference obviously increased and expanded. The benefit of children from advantaged stratas of occupation education has been unusually expanded and intensified, while children from the middle class and disadvantaged groups obtained limited benefits, and mainly focused on adult higher education with less value. Statistics show that the opportunity difference between advantaged, middle, and disadvantaged classes remained stable in different periods from 1978 to 2003, which illustrates that in every period after 1978, the unequal opportunity difference of obtaining higher education within different classes remained stable and continued.28 Similarly, after the enrollment expansion of higher education, the number of female students doubled from 1998 to 2002 in ordinary universities, and the percentage increased from 38.31% to 43.95%, an increase of 1% every year.29 In some areas, such as Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Neimenggu, Xinjiang, etc., the quantity of female college students exceeded that of male college students. Female college students are not limited to the traditional “female fields,” and have immersed themselves in all kinds of disciplines. The percentage of female students in all different degrees increased, and female doctoral students increased the most. However, with the system of higher education, in gender stratification, women are still in a disadvantaged position. The basic structure of “man strong, woman weak” in higher education system has not changed with the characteristic that the level of school and higher degrees, and the percentage of women are lower. The

27 Wang Weiyi, “The Opportunity Difference of Obtaining Higher Education Among Children From Different Social Stratification,” Studies on Private Education 4 (2005). 28 Liu Jingmin, “Enrollment Expansion of Higher Education and Opportunity Difference of Entering: From 1978 to 2003,” Society 3 (2006). 29 Department of Development Planning at Ministry of Education, Educational Statistics Yearbook of China (Beijing: Renmin Education Publishing House, 1998 to 2003).

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percentage of female students in key universities is obviously lower than that in local universities; the percentage of female students obtaining bachelor degrees is lower than those enrolled in junior colleges; and women have a greater chance and larger percentage of studying in the lower-level higher education and in informal higher education.30 Education Quality Declines and Teaching Education Lags Whether or not the quality of talent nurturing after enrollment expansion worsened is a topic that has been debated endlessly in educational circles. In May 2006, an executive meeting of the state council decided to control the speed of enrollment expansion of higher education, and 5% of enrollment was increased from the previous year. This percentage is much less than the expectation of people within educational circles, which became a strong signal of turning higher education into connotative development. The national Eleventh Five-year Plan requires improving the quality of higher education and making an authoritative conclusion to the debate. The large-scale enrollment expansion caused the quality of enrolled students to decrease, but at the same time, the quantity of teachers and teaching resources could not increase rapidly; the ratio of students and teachers increased and classes became large. All these are rather obvious reasons. A survey on 24 universities in Beijing showed that the number of students in a university classroom is generally large. According to teachers’ estimates, among the courses they taught, the average number of students in undergraduate courses was 83; in postgraduate courses that number was 35, and in doctoral student courses it was 19. Most teachers are not satisfied with students’ knowledge foundations, and 45% of teacher participants agree that student’s knowledge foundation is poor; in municipal colleges and universities, the percentage is as high as 56.7%. More than half of the teacher participants believe that students have low motivation to study, and in municipal colleges and universities, the problem is extremely prominent.31 A survey among students shows that, more than one-third (35.9%) of the students reported that they have no interest in their own disciplines, and the percentages within key universities, ordinary universities, and Yang Dongping, The Ideal and Reality of Education Fairness in China (Beijing: Beijing University Publishing House) chap. 8. 31 “The Investigation on the Quality of Capital Higher Education in 2007,” Institute of Educational Economy and Institute of Higher Education at Peking University 9 (December 2007). 30

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vocational universities are 32.3%, 39.1%, and 36.9%, respectively. These numbers show that the existing system of teaching management in universities lags in the increase of higher education, which cannot fulfill students’ flexible studying demands.32 The issue of graduates having a difficult time finding employment strongly reflects the social situation and in essence is the representations of the gap between the disciplinary structure of higher education, social needs, and the decreasing quality of nurturing students. Higher Education: Shortage of Funds and in Heavy Debt The shortage of funds among higher education is another significant reason that caused the decline of teaching quality. Local universities are the main body of enrollment expansion; however, provincial finances cannot afford such large-scale higher education, and student’s average budget expenditure in many provinces seriously declined, which makes it difficult to ensure basic educational quality and normal teaching order. Using the statistics in 2001 as an example, student’s average budget expenditure in local universities was 9,791 yuan, and in many provinces was even lower. For example, Guizhou was 3,889 yuan, Qinghai was 6,305 yuan, Xinjiang was 6,509 yuan, Neimenggu was 6,841 yuan, and Anhui was 7,230 yuan; a student’s average educational fund allocated by the government in a local university was 6,816 yuan, and provinces lower than the average were: Guizhou at 2,125 yuan; Xinjiang at 2,162 yuan; Sichuan at 3,180 yuan; Hunan at 3,214 yuan; Henan at 3,284 yuan; Hubei at 3,702 yuan; Anhui at 3,710 yuan; and Jiangxi at 3,829 yuan, etc.33 In recent years, in Shandong Province in eastern China the situation of the budget decrease also emerged, and student’s average budget expenditure is around 1/2 to 1/3 before enrollment. From macrostatistics, the decrease in educational budget has improved after 2006. Since the enrollment expansion has attracted huge interest, many universities have recruited more students than they can accommodate. Using the model of real estate development, universities borrow a lot of money from banks to extend campus and establish university towns. This is a collaboration of banks and universities guided by the

Ibid. Shanghai Institute of Educational Science, “Three-Year Inventory Check of Enrollment Expansion in Universities,” Research of Educational Development 9 (2002). 32 33

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government, and the government acquiesces, encourages, and even forces universities to borrow from national commercial banks. Sometimes the government stimulates the universities to loan from national commercial banks using the mode of subsidies to help universities repay the interest. The establishment of university towns is the biggest black hole of loans. By December of 2003, 54 university towns were established, distributed in 21 provinces and cities, especially in more developed areas, such as Jiangsu, Beijing, Zhejiang, Guangdong, and Shanghai, with more than four university towns. The school-running mode of disorderly expansion, , many campuses, and huge campuses rapidly increased the management cost. Enrollment expansion caused serious financial problems, and many local universities fell into deep debt. For example, by May of 2005, local universities in Shangdong Province have 7.54 billion yuan with 0.43 billion yuan interest in unpaid loans, while the provincial government only increased the investment by 0.1 billion yuan. As stated by an expert in the field, quoted by a journalist, “according to the strict financial accounting system, some universities have bankrupted already.”34 The book 2006: Analysis and Prediction of Chinese Situation published in December of 2005 by the China Academy of Social Science pointed out that, before 2005, public universities borrowed 150 to 200 billion yuan in total from banks. The data has been continuously refreshed. By the end of 2006, according to incomplete statistics, public universities’ loans increased from 450 to 500 billion yuan.35 Many scholars think that university loans promoted the progress of massification of higher education; however, public ordinary universities directly borrowed a large sum of money from commercial banks to run schools and operated in the red, a first in history, which included a lot of risks and drawbacks. Blind borrowing, wasting, lack of management, illegal operation, and moral risk: these problems gradually emerged and corrupted the reputations and quality of the schools. Some banks froze the running costs and teacher’s salaries of universities in order to get repayment, and some universities were criticized by the state auditing administration; in some places a phenomena where provincial universities sold land and

34 He Jianhong, “The Debt of Universities, A Huge Load,” China Finance Newspaper, November 14, 2006. 35 Lin Li, “Several Basic Questions on University’s Loan,” in 2006: The Transition and Development of Chinese Education, ed. Yang Dongping, (Beijing, Social Science and Literatures Publishing House, 2007).

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buildings to pay the loan occurred, and some scandals of enrollment fraud and random fee collection stemmed from the huge amount of the loans—if the issue of borrowed money cannot be properly solved, a crisis in development of higher education will likely occur. The Impact on Education Ecology and the Long-Term Benefit of Nurturing Talents The intention of the basic direction of enrollment expansion is correct and wins support of the general public. But in the process of policy making and implementation, enrollment expansion fell into a traditional mode of administrative-driven and short-term quantity increase. The speed and mode of expansion has not been matched, and the distribution of different disciplines and degrees has not been clearly considered. This large-scale enrollment expansion has a deep and complicated impact on educational structure, teaching values, basic education, and vocational education. Along with enrollment expansion is the combination and reorganization of universities. Many technical secondary schools and junior colleges are promoted and reorganized as universities. Pursuing higher education unilaterally, the secondary teacher education for nurturing rural primary school teachers has been cancelled, which directly influences rural education. This promotion stimulates the atmosphere of blind pursuit of a high-level, large-scale, research-oriented, and comprehensive university, which causes different universities to strive for similar models. This makes it difficult for them to formulate their own characteristics and advantages. Although developing higher vocational education is one of the most important aspects of national enrollment expansion, the general public has less interest in it. Moreover, its charging criteria is even higher than average university education because of lacking financial support, and the “suicidal” policy prevents the normal development of higher vocational education. On the other hand, on the condition of enrollment expansion with limited governmental provision, China should develop private higher education by opening education and allocating educational resources through the market. However, the government adopts a discriminative attitude to private higher education, and this practice later develops into the policy of independent institutions, which means that public universities are encouraged to operate a private secondary institute to expand resources of higher education. These “fake private” independent institutes can endow the bachelor’s degree certificate, while the private university is basically the level of junior college. This unfair competition disrupts the development of real private universities.

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The impact of enrollment expansion to basic education is that the large increase of higher education opportunities has not changed the atmosphere of primary and middle school examination-oriented education, and competition in the university entrance examinations has not been alleviated. The reason is that the expansion, which has focused on four-year universities, has not improved the educational structure of high schools, but has stimulated and motivated the pursuit of higher education in the whole society, which caused the large-scale expansion of high schools and secondary vocational education to be negatively impacted. 6.4. Policy Analysis on Project 211 and Project 985 Since the 1990s, the coordination of the development of China’s higher education on the horizontal level has fulfilled massification of higher education through enrollment expansion, and on the vertical level, it is based on the endeavor of new national rounds of overtaking strategy to enter world competition and establish world-class universities. It started in the form of Project 211, and after 1988, it developed into Project 985. Through analysis of the two consistent policies, we can understand the decision-making process and characteristics of Chinese major educational policy. 6.4.1. From Project 211 to Project 985 The Establishment of Project 211 Since the 1950s, Chinese higher education has shouldered the strong mission of fulfilling industrialization and catching up to developed countries, which was an important field the nation invested in. In the 1980s, the wide spread of the Third Wave, new technology reform and popularity of Systematology, Cybernetics, and Information Theory, showed the new perspectives of the world trend after economic reform, which meant there was an upgrade and revitalization in science and technology on the level of epistemology. This is the macrobackground of Project 211 in the 1990s. In 1991, Li Tieying, the state councilor and the director of the National Education Commission raised the concept of developing 100 key universities, now that China is facing the twenty-first century. The figures “21” and “1” within “211” are from the abbreviation of the twenty-first century and approximately 100 universities respectively.

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Under the advocacy of Li Tieying, in the end of 1990s, the State Education Commission, the State Planning Commission, and the Ministry of Finance wrote a report to ask for instruction. By 1992, the state council principally approved this plan, and the Ministry of Education established an office for Project 211. In November 1992, Zhu Kaixuang, the vice director of the State Education Commission, first publicized the content of the planning. In February of 1993, the Party Central Committee and the State Council issued the Outline for Reform and Development of Education in China (中国 教育改革和发展纲要) and wrote the content of Project 211 into the national document: “In order to welcome the challenge of global new technology reform, the central and local government must integrate the power to run around 100 key universities and key disciplines well and to develop their teaching quality, research, and management into a high level in the world.” The state education commission issued and distributed the document Opinions on Developing a Series of Key Universities and Disciplines (关于重点建设一批高等学校和重点学科点的若干意 见) in July of 1993; Project 211 formally started. Different ministries and local governments evaluated their subordinated universities. The same year, Project 211 established the coordinate group, and its office was set in the Ministry of Education. In November 1995, the state council approved the overall planning of Project 211, and the central government allocated specialized funds to implement Project 211. Project 211, as the only national key construction project in the educational field, was listed into the national Ninth Five-Year Plan.36 During the period of the Ninth Five-Year period, the content of Project 211 included: developing Peking University and Tsinghua University and making them close to or achieve world-class level; improving and perfecting 25 national modeling universities; and strengthening the establishment of 300 key disciplines. According to statistics, during the Ninth Five-Year period, Project 211 actually inputted in total 18.3 billion yuan, among which 6.388 billion was used for the construction of key disciplines, 3.5 billion for public service system construction, 1.006 billion for basic facilities construction, and 7.332 billion for the establishment of supplements.37 The objectives and tasks of the Tenth Zhang Guobin, Chen Xuefei, “The Empirical Study of Project 211: The Characteristics of National Education Policy Process,” Research on Heilongjiang Higher Education 8 (2006). 37 The website of the Ministry of Education, http://www.moe.edu.cn/edoas/ website18/07/info5607.htm. 36

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Five-Year Period are to continue the construction of key disciplines and make some disciplines close to and achieve an advanced level in the world, and establish the comparative rational key disciplines in terms of pattern and structure of higher education. By June 1999, the Ministry of Education approved 99 programs of Project 211. The establishment of Project 211 set the foundation of the emergence of Project 985. The Establishment of Project 985 After the 1990s, China sped up the progress of negotiation on entrance to the WTO, and formally joined it in 2001. Intellectual property has been an important issue of international trade competition. In order to take part in the international competition in the era of ‘Knowledge Economy and Globalization,’ it is urgent for China to rapidly improve its capacity and level of ‘Independent Technical Innovation,’ which becomes a new drive in technology development and establishment of universities. On May 4, 1998, at the Peking University’s 100th anniversary conference, President Jiang Zemin declared, “China must have a number of first-rate universities of international advanced levels in order to realize modernization.” Creating world-class universities was regarded as a project. Project 985 was launched. As a national policy, the emergence of the goal of creating worldclass universities a series of gestation, planning, lobbying, and drafting of the national leader’s speech occurred, and finally the national leader formally announced the policy. Centering on the preparation of the 100th anniversary, the leaders of the state educational commission and the National Education and Science Program visited Peking University successively and suggested that Peking University grasp the wonderful opportunity of prospering the nation and proposed the objective of building a world-class university to the central government with the reference of the experience of the China Academy of Science in order to get more financial support. Peking University adopted the suggestion and collaborated with Tsinghua University and other professionals in the education field in order to influence the highest decision makers of the central government.38

38 Zhang Li, “Divided Educational Function and the Location of Governmental Obligation,” in The Policy Review on Chinese Education, ed. yuan Zhengguo (Beijing: Education Science Publishing House, 2001).

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The knowledge-innovation project of the China Academy of Science has had a huge impact on the policy of building world-class universities. In December 1997, the China Academy of Science submitted a report of Welcoming the Era of Knowledge Economy, and Establishing National Innovation System, and raised the idea of establishing a national innovation system and implementing a knowledge innovation project. Their major objectives were to establish a series of internationally well-known national knowledge innovation bases within public research institutes and teaching-research oriented universities. In February of 1998, the central government approved the China Academy of Science to start the application process of the knowledge-innovation project. The Ministry of Finance approved the allocation of 4.802 billion yuan from 1998 to 2000 and supported the experimental work of the knowledgeinnovation project of the China Academy of Science. Compared to Project 211, the sponsored subjects of the knowledge-innovation project of the China Academy of Science were more focused, had higher objectives, and received more funding. All these practices directly stimulated and pushed Project 985 forward. On February 24, 1998, the State Education Commission and Beijing government conducted a special working conference to hear Peking University’s president report on the preparation work of the 100th-year anniversary. They decided to ask Peking University to invite President Jiang Zemin and other state leaders and requested instruction from the general office of the central committee of the CPC. The general office of the central committee of the CPC immediately approved it. Peking University was in charge of drafting President Jiang Zemin’s speech in the conference. The original version was “China must have a number of first-rate socialist universities of internationally advanced levels in order to realize modernization.” When the draft was sent to President Jiang Zemin for approval, Jiang Zemin changed “first-rate socialist university of internationally advanced levels” into “first-rate universities of internationally advanced levels.” On May 4, 1998, Peking University held its 100th-year anniversary conference in the People’s Great Hall, and President Jiang Zeming gave a speech entitled “Mobilization Order of Prospering the Nation.” He sincerely stated that China must have a number of first-rate socialist universities of internationally advanced levels in order to realize modernization. Such universities will be the cradle of nurturing and establishing high-quality innovative talents; be the frontier of perceiving the unknown world, exploring the truth, and solving the huge

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problems that all human beings face; be the main force of knowledge innovation and promote the outcome of science and technology into actual productivity; and be the bridge between national outstanding cultures and globally advanced civilized achievements.39 On June 25, 1998, the National Educational Affairs in the State Council was officially established; Premier Zhu Rongji acted as the group leader, and the Vice-Premier Li Lanqing was the vice group leader. On October 28, 1998, the National Educational Affairs in the State Council conducted the second working conference, reviewed and approved Action Plan for Promoting Education for 21st Century (面向21世纪教育振兴行动 计划) submitted by the Ministry of Education. In December 1998, the Ministry of Education issued Action Plan for Promoting Education for 21st Century (面向21 世纪教育振兴行动计划), and decided to especially support some key universities in establishing world-class universities and world-class disciplines. Action Plan pointed out that the Ministry of Education (MOE) will concentrate national limited resources, motivate different kinds of initiatives, start from key disciplines, and establish universities and disciplines that are close to or have the possibilities to achieve advanced international levels. In the next 10 to 20 years, China will strive to have many world-class universities and key disciplines.40 The government claimed that Peking University and Tsinghua University will be funded a total amount of 1.8 billion yuan for the university’s development. Project 985 was launched. 6.4.2. Project Content and Implementation Process The Goal and Content of Project 211 The goal of Project 211 has gradually changed during the process of policy making and implementation. First, the objective has changed from “establishing 100 key universities” to “establishing especially the 100 universities.” When Project 211 was first mentioned in 1991, its basic content was about establishing 100 key universities toward the twenty-first century. In February of 1993, the Outline of Reform and Development of Chinese Education (中国教育改革 与发展纲要) pointed out that central and local resources to develop

Jiang Zeming, “Talk on the Conference of Celebrating 100 Years’ Anniversary of Peking University,” Renmin Daily, May 5, 1998. 40 Ministry of Education, http://www.moe.edu.cn/edoas/website18/37/info3337 .htm. 39

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100 key universities and some key disciplines were to be centralized; however, in the Opinions on Especially Developing a Series of Universities and Key Disciplines (关于重点建设一批高等学校和重点学科点的若干 意见), this saying changed into “develop around 100 universities and some key disciplines facing the twenty-first century.” As the biggest key investment project of higher education in the history of the new China, Project 211 has encountered a lot of conflicts in different interests, namely the selection of candidates of key universities. In some places, teachers and students protested the provincial government because their schools were not chosen. The selective principle of Project 211 is “one ministry, one university” and “one province, one university” except high-level, key universities directly attached to the Ministry of Education. At that time, China had 96 key universities. However, removing the word, “key” in the selection criteria is much more convenient for choosing the universities. The change of one single word reflected the consideration of balancing the interests of different universities. The content of Project 211 changed as well, and the key discipline construction within Project 211 was established gradually. According to the Overall Construction Plan of Project 211 (“211 工程”总体建设规划), the establishment of Project 211 includes improving school-running conditions, developing key disciplines, and perfecting the public service system of higher education. During the process of implementation, the contents gradually placed more emphasis on developing key disciplines rather than improving school-running conditions. During the second stage of Project 211, developing key disciplines was listed as the first priority, and improving the overall school-running condition was placed second. This is suitable to the practical situation of disciplinary establishment. This concept has been emphasized later in Project 985. The Implementation of Project 985 and Its Changes The early objective of Project 985 was to establish Peking University and Tsinghua University. Both universities obtained a 1.8 billion yuan construction fund. They improved teachers’ welfare rapidly and hired experts by paying higher salaries than peer universities, which shocked the higher education field and caused complaints from other universities. Many universities applied to join the project one after another. Project 985 gradually added new universities to its list. The Ministry of Education decided to collaborate with the local government and other ministries to especially construct some other universities. From July 1999 to November 1999, the first stage witnessed the inclusion

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of seven universities, including Fudan University, the University of Science and Technology, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Nanjing University, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Zhejiang University, and Ha’erbin University of Technology. Later, the list of universities in Project 985 continuously expanded; the model “2 plus 7” changed into “2 plus X.” By 2003, the first stage of Project 985 had 34 universities in total. In 2006, the second stage of Project 985 added 4 other universities including China Agricultural University, National University of Defense and Technology, Central University for Nationalities, and Northwest Agriculture and Forestry Technology University; currently there are in total 38,985 universities. In regard to the constructive contents, Project 985 further emphasized focusing on national objectives, improving national core competitiveness, solving important issues of national establishment, and contributing to build an overall well-off society. At the same time, Project 985 emphasized the reform and innovation of internal management of operational mechanisms in higher universities and adaption into a new institution suitable to world-class universities. Project 985 raised the concept of platform construction, which required the establishment of a series of science and innovation platforms and innovation bases of humanities and social sciences and the formulation of world-class disciplines. In regard to management, the Ministry of Education, and the Ministry of Finance established a Project 985 leading and working group and had discussions to decide the key guideline policies and overall planning. Some universities established an office to manage the overall planning and implementation of Project 985. The following table (table 6.6) lists the approval time, sponsored fund, and objectives of the Project 985 first stage 34 universities. Table 6.6. Project 985’s 34 First-Stage Universities: Approval Time, Sponsored Funds, and Objectives Universities

Approval time

Sponsored fund

Objectives

Peking University

1998. 12

1.8 billion (MOE)

World-class university

Tsinghua University

1998. 12

1.8 billion (MOE)

World-class university

1.2 billion (MOE)

World-renowned, first-class university mainly focused on humanities and social sciences

Renmin University of China

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Table 6.6 (cont.) Universities

Approval time

Sponsored fund

Objectives

Fudan University

1999. 7

1.2 billion (MOE half and Shanghai City half )

World-class university

Shanghai Jiaotong University

1999. 7

1.2 billion (MOE half and Shanghai City half )

World-class university

Nanjing University

1999. 7

1.2 billion (MOE half and Jiangsu Province half )

Comprehensive, research-oriented, and world-class university

University 1999. 7 of Science and Technology of China

0.9 billion (MOE 1/3, Chinese Academy of Science 1/3, and Guangdong Province 1/3)

World-renowned, high-level, and research-oriented university

Xi’an Jiaotong University

1999. 9

0.9 billion (MOE 2/3 and Shanxi Province 1/3)

World-renowned, high-level university

Zhejiang University

1999. 11

1.4 billion (MOE half and Zhejiang Province half )

Multidisciplinary, advanced modern first-class university

Harbin Institute of Technology

1999. 11

1 billion (MOE 30%, the Commission of Science 30%, and Heilongjiang Province, 40%)

World-renowned high-level university

Beijing Polytechnic University

2000. 9

1 billion (MOE 30%, the Commission of Science 30%, and Beijing city 40%)

National first-class, internationally well-known high-level, researchoriented university

Nankai University

2000. 12

1.4 billion for two schools (MOE half, Tianjin City half )

Comprehensive, research-oriented, opening and international world-class university

Tianjin University

2000. 12

Southeast University

2001. 2

Comprehensive, research-oriented, opening and international world-class university 0.6 Billion (MOE half and Jiangsu Province half )

Nationally and internationally well-known, high-level university, and aims to be world-class university in the mid-twenty-first century

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Table 6.6 (cont.) Universities

Approval time

Sponsored fund

Objectives

Wuhan University

2001. 2

0.8 Billion (MOE half and Hubei Province half )

Nationally and internationally well-known, high-level university

Huazhong University of Science and Technology

2001. 2

0.6 Billion (MOE half and Hubei Province and Wuhan city half with finance and project)

First-class technology, first-class medicine, and high-level sciences and social sciences with characteristics: comprehensive, research-oriented, and opening world-renowned, high-level university

Shandong University

2001. 2

0.8 Billion (MOE 0.3 billion and Shangdong Province 0.5 billion)

Comprehensive, research-oriented, and opening nationally and internationally well-known, high-level university

Ocean University of China

2001. 2

0.3 Billion (MOE, Shangdong Province, China Marine Bureau, Qingdao city)

Comprehensive research-oriented, high-level university with characteristics

Central South 2001. 2 University

0.4 Billion (MOE half and Guangdong Province half )

National first-class, high-level, comprehensive, and research-oriented university with international influence

Xiamen University

2001. 2

0.6 Billion (MOE half, Fujian Province 1/4 and Xiamen City 1/4)

World-renowned, high-level research-oriented university

Jilin University

2001. 2

0.7 Billion (MOE 0.4 billion and Jilin Province 0.3 billion)

Nationally advanced; internationally well-known high-level, research-oriented university

Hunan University

2001. 2

0.4 Billion (MOE half and Hunan Province half )

Comprehensive and research-oriented national first-class university with international influence and strong characteristics, aiming to be a world-renowned, high-level university

Dalian 2001. 8 University of Technology.

0.4 Billion (MOE half World-renowned, high-level, and and Liaoning Province, research-oriented university and Dalian city half )

Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics

0.9 billion (MOE 1/3, the Commission of Science 1/3, and Beijing city 1/3)

2001. 9

Comprehensive, research-oriented national first-class, and internationally well-known university with the characteristic of aeronautics and astronautics

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Table 6.6 (cont.) Universities

Approval time

Sponsored fund

Objectives

Electronic Science and Technology University

2001. 9

0.36 billion (MOE 0.2 billion and Sichuan Province 0.16 billion)

Establishing national first-class, internationally well-known high-level university in 2016, and establishing a world-class university on the field of electronic science in 2036

Sichuan University

2001. 9

0.72 billion (MOE National first-class, internationally 0.4 billion and Sichuan well-known high-level, Province 0.32 billion) research-oriented, and comprehensive university

Chongqing University

2001. 9

0.54 billion (MOE 0.3 billion and Chongqing city 0.24 billion)

National first-class, internationally well-known, research-oriented comprehensive university with own characteristics

Lanzhou University

2001. 12

0.45 billion (MOE 0.3 billion and Gansu Province 0.15 billion and land)

Multidisciplinary, comprehensive, research-oriented, nationally and internationally well-known, high-level university

Northwestern 2002. 1 Polytechnical University.

0.9 billion (MOE 1/3, National first-class, internationally the Commission of well-known high-level, and Science 1/3, Shannxi research-oriented university province and Xian city 1/3 with the form of land)

Northeastern 2002. 1 University

0.4 billion (MOE half, Liaoning Province and Shenyang city 1/4 each)

Multidisciplinary, research-oriented, international, and national first-class, internationally well-known modern university

Tong Ji University

2002. 6

0.6 billion (MOE half, Shanghai city half )

Comprehensive, research-oriented, internationally first-class modern university

Beijing Normal University

2002. 8

1.2 billion (MOE half, Beijing city half )

Comprehensive, research-oriented world-renowned high-level university with characteristics

Data Source: Websites of each university, MOE short for Ministry of Education.

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The Difference between Project 985 and Project 211 Chen Xuefei argues that the major differences between Project 985 and Project 211 are found in the following three aspects: objectives, school selection, and government financial aid.41 The first stage of Project 211 focused on the establishment of key disciplines and construction of the public service system. In the second stage, Project 211 aimed to make many of the 211 universities reach a national advanced position on overall teaching and research—and help them reach or access a world-class level. The objective of Project 985 is even higher than Project 211, which is to establish world-class universities and disciplines. The first stage emphasized the overall construction of school running and the establishment of key disciplines; the tasks of the second stage were to validate the outcome of the first stage, and build the foundation of establishing world-class universities and nationally well-known, high-level, and research-oriented universities and spur some disciplines to approach the international first-rate level. School selection of Project 211 went through a political process and expert evaluation, where some universities were eliminated; the universities of Project 985 were decided through political process instead of open competition. In the Ninth Five-Year period, there were 64, 211 universities with 600 disciplines, in the Tenth Five-Year period, 211 universities reached 99 with 800 disciplines. In contrast, Project 985 is more concentrated, with 34 universities in the first stage and 39 in the second stage. The construction fund of Project 211 adopted the mode of joint fund from the government, ministries, local governments, and universities. In the Ninth Five-Year period, construction funding was 10.894 billon yuan in total, among which the central government allocation was 2.755 billion yuan, the ministries’ supplementary fund was 3.172 billion yuan, the local government supplementary fund was 2.489 billion yuan, 2.63 billion yuan came from university fundraising, and the remaining 0.115 billion yuan stemmed from other channels. Moreover, ministries and local governments also contributed a 7.472 billion match fund.42 The total fund was 18.3 billion. Chen Xuefei, “Ideal-oriented Policy-making: The Policy Process Analysis of Project 985,” Peking University Education Review 4.1 (2006). 42 See the MOE website: http://www.moe.edu.cn/edoas/website18/08/info5608 .htm. 41

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Total funds for Project 985 are much larger than that for Project 211. According to table 6.6, the 34 universities in the first stage obtained in 25.47 billion yuan in total. At the same time, the quantity of 985 universities is much less than 211 universities; therefore Project 985 universities get much more financial invesment. For example, for Peking University the first-stage construction fund of Project 211 was 0.125 billion yuan, while for the first stage of Project 985 it was 1.8 billion yuan. Project 211 wrapped up for the tenth five—year period, and the ongoing third stage of Project 211 has had much more impact than the first stage. The implementation of the first stage of Project 985 and the budget of the second stage of Project 985 have not been announced yet, and actual funds are not clear. In sum, in the recent 10 years, universities have received a lot of financial support from the three stages of Project 211 and the two stages of Project 985. 6.4.3. Policy Assessment The Characteristics of Ideal-Oriented and Inner Input From Project 211 to Project 985, these two policies share the same basic characteristics in terms of values, decision-making processes, and policy implementation. The current key construction projects’ values and ideas can be traced back to the key university system established in the 1950s. Regardless of whether it is Project 211 or Project 985, it was first an outcome of national strategy, objective, and ideals, which stemmed from a strategy of realizing social modernization and taking part in international competition. It was also guided by the development of science and technology and expressed as prospering the nation. Therefore, different from the problem-based policy process focusing on solving concrete problems, the projects were ideal-oriented. As Chen Xuefei said, “moral judgment first, and policy design second; decision making first, and concrete planning second; announcement of macropolicy objectives first, and policy design second.”43 The policy decision-making process has the typical characteristic of inner input, which means that the policy agenda is raised by the political leader and authority elites from the inner system of the 43 Chen Xuefei, “Ideal-Oriented Policy-Making: The Policy Process Analysis of Project 985,” Peking University Education Review 4.1 (2006).

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government. This is input from top to bottom within the system; namely authority elites choose the political requirements that they think are most suitable to the general public’s demands, and input it into public policy.44 Because a social participation is lacking a mechanism among the general public, many important policies are derived from a similar mode. Analyzing from the mechanism of policy making, different from Project 211, Project 985 was raised by Peking University, announced by the national leader and issued in the name of the nation. However, in the existing financial system, Project 985 emerged from the background of competition of national resources between the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Science and Technology; therefore it was caused by external pressures with a strong motivation to gain more national resources between different ministries. Some outsiders label this a process of zuoju (setting up the situation) and quanqian (enclosing money). This is another typical incentive and behavior of decision making in the current society. The above policy characteristics have decided its other characteristics during the decision-making process, for example, paying attention to announcement of macroideas and national images, high administrative operations, lack of participation during the implementation process, and difficulty in measurement and assessment, etc. The Disperse and Transfer of Objectives The objective of Project 211 in the early 1990s was to establish 100 high-level universities at the same time, which obviously was too idealistic and unrealistic. In reality, it “first constructed two universities and made their teaching, research, and nurturing talents close to or at the internationally advanced level.” Later, it “focused on improving about 25 universities’ basic conditions of teaching and research, and made the key disciplines close to or at the internationally advanced level.” However, in practice, key construction gradually became the process of balancing all kinds of different interests, taking care of special universities for national defense and minorities, supporting disadvantaged disciplines such as agriculture, and geology and mining, and

44 Zhang Guobin and Chen Xuefei, “The Inner Input of Our Education Policy Process: An Empirical Study on Project 211,” Heilongjiang Higher Education Studies 8 (2006).

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assisting universities in western China. For most 211 universities, this was limited and superficial support. Invisible resources attached with the name of 211 universities was perhaps the more significant gain for them. In order to highlight key universities, Project 985 took an extreme measure to only construct two universities: Peking University and Tsinghua University. However, in terms of establishing high-level universities in China, both 100 and even 38 maybe be too much, but 2 is definitely too little and unfair. Therefore, Project 985 started to add more and more universities, changing from “2 plus 7” to “2 plus X,” and it seems that more universities will be added in. This is an inevitable outcome of internal decision making focused on the political process. The Impact on the Academic Ecology of Universities The positive effects of Project 211 and Project 985 included rapid improvement to schoolrunning conditions and teachers’ welfare of some outstanding universities and promotion of research capacity and social credit of universities. A large amount of financial input doubled the income of teachers working in 985 universities, formulated the incentive mechanism, and caused many experts to flow to these universities. In the areas of the humanities and the social sciences, the phenomenon is extremely obvious. The universities went out of the ivory tower, interacted with the society, industry and economic departments, and their capacities to respond to social demands and solve practical problems have been intensified. At the same time, the large amount of financial input and intensive competition between universities stimulated the hopes of big achievements in a short period of time. The quantitative management of the academic outcome index formulated the appraisal mechanism of only pursuing quantity, influenced the environment of research, and produced academic fickleness. The evaluation system based on the research fund and quantity of journal articles ignored the difference between the humanities, social sciences, and science and technology, and between basic disciplines and the disciplines of engineering technology, and caused unfair evaluation for these disciplines. These are drawbacks of planning academics and quantitative academics. Difficulty in Evaluating the Effects The construction objectives of Project 211 and Project 985 were abstract, which is currently thought to be

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too high to achieve. For example, in 1993, the Outline of Reform and Development of Chinese Education (中国教育改革和发展纲要) pointed out the objectives of Project 211 as, “in early next century, many universities and disciplines will achieve an internationally high level in terms of teaching quality, research, and management.” In 1997, the China Academy of Science published Confronting the Challenge of a Knowledge Economy and Constructing a National Innovation System (迎接知识经济 时代，建设国家创新体系) and raised the overall objectives of the Knowledge Innovation Project, which was to establish a series of internationally well-known national knowledge innovation bases by 2010 (national research institutions, and education and research universities.) In 1998, in the Plan of Vitalizing Education in the 21st Century (面向 21 世纪教育振兴行动计划), the objectives of Project 985 were listed as to construct several universities and key disciplines into a worldclass level within the next 10 to 20 years. Now, the early twenty-first century has passed, and there are only two years left until 2010. And counting from 1998, Project 985 has been implemented for more than 10 years. However, it is difficult to evaluate whether the objectives of the above three projects has been realized or not. Expressions of achievements from the department in charge and the project universities are usually vertical measurements, for example, the increase of key disciplines, key laboratories, science and technology awards, and journal articles. This progress is inevitably valuable; however, it still unclear how close these universities are to the objectives of obtaining advanced levels and first-class levels in the world. The problem is that the world-class university and world-class level per se are unclear concepts to measure. And till now, there are no publicly recognized standards, and different university rank lists produced by different indexes have huge differences. Therefore, whether the policy objectives of Project 985 can be realized, when, and to what extent, each has different explanations, which makes it extremely difficult to evaluate the real results of this policy.45 Reflections on Improving the Management of Universities Project 211 and Project 985, which have lasted more than 10 years with huge amounts of construction funds, has largely impacted higher education; however, the impact is not always positive. The practices of the two projects

45

Xuefei, “Ideal-Oriented Policy-Making.”

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cause us to reflect on how to improve the management of higher education. Project 211 and Project 985 are both special construction projects directly managed and operated by the Ministry of Education. The direct outcome of this arrangement is to strengthen the administrative power of education departments. Many departments of the Ministry of Education directly control the huge amount of special funds, which therefore strengthens micromanagement of outstanding universities. There is a lot of paper work involved in the application and evaluation of the two projects, and universities and professors must spend a lot of energy on it in order to obtain resources. The highly concentrated planning systems have detailed management on funding expenditure, and although it seems rigorous and accurate, it does not work on many occasions. Too much focus on the project will definitely influence the main functions of the educational administrative department to make macropolicy and offer public service. Many universities believe that the project universities were chosen for a political reason and without competition, and the process was unfair and not scientific. Some scholars suggest cutting the special financial aid, increasing educational investment to all universities, narrowing the school-running conditions between different universities, and changing the political situation of schools. Some scholars suggest referring to the practices of foreign countries, publicly bidding for important research projects in urgent national need among universities, where the government buys the research instead of financially supporting some certain schools and disciplines at all times. The financial aid mode gradually formulates a new class system within universities. The 211 universities and the 985 universities became an identity factor in class, which impacts enrollment, employment, talent introduction, and household registration, etc. Many enterprises and cities make clear that they only recruit graduates from 211 universities. Many universities recruit postgraduate students and teachers only if they received their bachelor’s degrees from 211 and 985 universities. Such practices encourage all different type of universities to unrealistically aim to develop themselves into similar research-oriented universities. For the main benefactors of 211 universities and 985 universities, they have the inclination of paying attention to research rather than teaching because of the existing evaluation system. Moreover, problems in the utility efficiency of the project funds exist; some applied huge interdisciplinary projects across many institutions to turn into

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several small projects in practice. And funds have the vulnerability of individual spending.For those research universities aiming to be world-class research universities, they lack the most institutional innovation. As we all know, active research activities, high-level research results, and the emergence of great masters and outstanding talents are all outcomes of an institutional civilization. Establishing world-class universities cannot only rely on financial input, especially when our universities have not had substantive institutional reform and the modern university system of independent schools and academic autonomy have not been established. 6.5. The Development of Higher Education toward the Needs of the Future 6.5.1. Review and Analysis of Higher Education Policy in the Past Thirty Years The development and transformation of higher education has kept pace with society and has gone through different historical stages in the past 30 years. It was clear that major values of the higher education policy were deeply influenced by mainstream political ideas. Chinese society revalued knowledge and education in the late 1970s, the 1980s saw that institutional reform first paved the way for higher education development, and the 1990s announced scale expansion, quantity increase, and leaping development as the major direction of higher education, and the transition based on new perspective of scientific concept of development in recent years. We can preserve and evaluate higher education from different points of view; there are four dimensions that are very important. The Dimension of Development Efficiency Market reform oriented toward developing and increasing ideals in the past thirty years, especially during and after the 1990s, has achieved a tremendous range of benefits for raising educational resources, enhancing supplements, and fulfilling necessities. The Dimension of Fairness of the Education System Similar to the economic realm, unilateral pursuit of quantity, scale, and speed will ruin the fairness of the education system. Increasing tuition causes a huge burden on the general public; constant social stratification beginning with elementary education and basic education causes students with

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different family backgrounds to be placed in different categories and levels within the higher education system. The Dimension of Educational Quality The pursuit of high-quality education emerges from the general public, as the basic needs of involving in the higher system have been fulfilled. Higher education should be human-oriented, be of high quality, and be suited to social demands, which all depend on the practical process of universitys’ management, evolution of teaching modes, and encouragement of interactions between teachers and students. The efficient-dominant and marketoriented reform causes the general public to pay less attention to educational quality. The Dimension of Educational Management First is the relationship between the government and the market. Whether it should be a monopoly or it should open up educational resources; and whether social forces and nongovernmental resources can be effectively integrated within higher education. Second is the relationship between the government and the universities. Either the government directly, micromanages and interferes with the universities’ business, or the universities can represent themselves as autonomous of administrative management facing society under the law and regulation. Third is the relationship between politics and academics. It is urgent to get rid of the residue of leftist thoughts and establish a modern university system and academic-centered management regarding the universal rules of higher education and academic logic. In the 1990s, in terms of the management of education by the government, universities have become increasingly administrative and official-centered, degenerated obviously from the 1980s. The Analysis of Public Policy of Higher Education over the Past Thirty Years Is Useful to Disclose Its Basic Characteristics and Its Change in the New Social Environment First, both the value of efficiency first and nationalism strategy make the absence of educational issues in the policy-making process, especially in the significant educational decision. The development of higher education is mainly aimed at equaling and surpassing developed countries, paying attention to some macropolicy issues, the education fund, resource allocation, and developing mode, which are all external problems of education. Most of these policy agendas were not results of problems and demands of universities

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and students. Lack of attention to the internal problems of education, though these policies realize macrodeveloping planning, sometimes they bring damage to the education and teaching process. Second, the administrative-oriented policy behavior under the planning system lacks the participation of society and the general public, and lacks supervision, balance, and responsibility; thus policies may become distorted. The decision-making mode centered on insiders and inner input makes the government the only policy maker, and many important policy processes develop without the participation of universities and society, which causes a closed system of inner circulation within the Ministry of Education. Educational decision making is based on bringing about governmental, strategic objectives, sometimes with stronger subjectivity and individual flavor. Therefore, these important policies sometimes lack scientific justification, plans lack operability, and the whole policy process lacks a feedback mechanism; and of course, an accountability system is also missing. The top-down policy process, driven by administration, easily amplifies the policy signal, makes them compete with each other, and makes huge progress in a short time. In the end, enrollment expansion was reasonable with good public base, and in practice, it turned out to be a Great Leap Forward, damaging the quality and complexity of higher education. Third, the policy operation has characteristics of a dual system arrangement as the social environment changes.The division of social structure and diversification of social interest is far different from the institutional environment of highly concentrated planning in the 1950s or 1980s. Kang Ning’s study on the enrollment expansion policy argues that governmental behavior follows the traditional mode of resource allocation; on the other side, it also relies on the marketing mechanism and mode and causes disruption in institutional arrangement. The dual system arrangement causes policy making to be difficult, enlarges the resistance of reform, and increases the reform cost; all these are the main restrains of institutional innovation.46 In fact, each policy process has two or more mechanisms that function together, and many important policies are distorted during the 46 Kang Ning, “Discussion on Education, Decision-making and Institutional Innovation,” China Education Policy Review, ed. Yuan Zhenguo (Beijing: Education Science Publishing House, 2000).

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implementation process, for example, the enclosure movement caused by the combination of universities, the fever of loaning money, and difficulties in implementing the financial aid policy to poor students. All these policies are influenced by different interest entities of business, market, local governments, students, and parents. The interest game has emerged but is not reflected in the legal policy process. In the new social environment and benefit pattern, decision making needs to be more scientific and democratic, and more effective policy tools must be established. Fourth, important policy is possible but not the breakthrough of institutional innovation of higher education yet. Enrollment expansion is a typical example. The core value of Martin Trow’s theory of massification of higher education is that increasing the quantity must improve the quality, causing multiple transitions of educational modes and school management. However, the expansion of China’s higher education has only experienced quantitative change and not qualitative change. For example, Trow thought that increasing the quantity inevitably requires further democratization and complexity and it would be difficult for the government to control the higher education system with a singular form, which all contradict the reality in China. Chinese scholars simplify the theory of massification of higher education into a theory simply increasing quantity. They are only interested in the division of different stages, and pay less attention to changes of educational modes, not only because macropolicies, mentioned before, focus on increase, and ignore education, but also because the subjectivity of school has not been established in the round of education expansion. When the economy becomes active, the reforms of school organization slow down, the administrative power surpasses academic ability, academic ecology gets worse and worse, and then academic freedom becomes eroded. 6.5.2. Improving Educational Governance and Promoting the Democracy of Educational Decision Making We have to notice that the current interest pattern of higher education has deeply changed. Currently, when students pay for school, and do not have guaranteed employment after graduation, they become entities of the educational market without the entitled rights. The human-centered scientific development viewpoint regards education as the important issue of people’s livelihood and raises the slogan of

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running people-satisfied education, which reflects that the basic value of Chinese education has transferred from the traditional position of nationalism to satisfy the demands of the general public and students. Human-centered education should be student- and teacher-centered. This value should be reflected in the educational decision-making process of school management. The government, as the major provider of educational public service, is the major power of public education management. The direction of reform should strengthen the function of the government promoting educational fairness, perfect the institution and mechanism of macroeducational management, change the direct management of school, establish public participation and the mechanism of scientific and democratic decision, expand the opening up of education, and formulate a new pattern of participation from overall society. Establishing the Mechanism of Educational Management with Social Involvement Education is closely related to every family, child, teenager, and young adult, as well as the long-term development of the nation. Educational governance should have the most extensive social participation, and needs institutional social organizations and social participation mechanisms. First is to establish an educational review system at different levels. Education review is a major form of social-participation education management. In general, developed countries all have established an overall educational review system from the central government to the local government. The specialized social intermediary organizations can review and evaluate the educational policy. They also can conduct research and evaluation on related educational questions authorized by the government. Moreover, they can offer educational counseling and suggestions and coordinate the relationship between the government, school, and society. The other important content of reform and innovation of the education management is to establish an education review system suitable to China by referencing the experiences of the developed countries. Establishing Procedures and Institutions of Scientific, Democratic Decision Making Based on the requirement of scientific and democratic policy making, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China issued the Standard of Education Administration Decision Making (教育行政决策规范). The standard has made clear the regulations of decision making. First, important educational decision making should follow the procedure

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of demonstration, counseling, and democratic discussion; establish an administrative decision-making mechanism combining public participation, expert judgment, and governmental decisions; and implement an educational policy-making hearing system. Policy-making issues that are closely related to the general public’s interest should be announced to society. Important educational decision making should have valid arguments and solicit opinions extensively by conducting symposiums, public hearings, and testimonial sessions. Improving the Scientific Nature and Efficiency of the Policy Process Decision making and justification of educational policy must have complex, valid, and reliable information, such as quantitative data. Decision making referring to different interest groups should be based on independent, scientific surveys on public will. The formulation of different policy plans, especially plans of education and teaching reform, must be based on pilot studies and experiments. A policy follow-up feedback and responsibility investigation system should be established, and implementing a questioning and accountability system should be implemented. Nurturing Intermediary Organizations of Education Active and mature third parties of society and intermediary organizations are external conditions of changing the educational administrative capacity and improving the public service of the government. China has set up guidance for perfecting, nurturing, supporting, and legally managing social organizations. Promoting the functions of decision making, assessment, and supervision of the educational intermediary organization will improve the quality of educational policy.

CHAPTER SEVEN

A REVIEW AND ANALYSIS OF ETHNIC MINORITY EDUCATION POLICIES IN CHINA OVER THE PAST THIRTY YEARS Chen Lipeng, Liu Yanqing, Hao Xiaoming, Kong Wei, Ma Ming, and Su Yang 7.1. The Development of Ethnic Minority Education over the Past Thirty Years In this chapter, we use Professor Xing Teng’s definition of the education of ethnic minorities. According to Professor Teng, education of ethnic minorities is multicultural. It refers to education for members of an ethnic group whose population size accounts for a small proportion of the total population in a multiethnic country. The objective of ethnic minority education is twofold: (1) to assist ethnic minorities in enhancing their abilities to adapt to modern mainstream culture and social and economic lifestyle and develop to their full potential; and (2) to carry forward and develop the outstanding cultural heritage of ethnic minorities, enrich human cultures, and contribute to the development of human beings. In a multiethnic country such as China, the education of ethnic minorities is an integral part of national education.1 7.1.1. Achievements in Ethnic Minority Education over the Past Thirty Years China is a multiethnic country with fifty-six ethnic groups. There are fifty-five ethnic minority groups. The total population of ethnic minorities is 106 million, representing 8.41% of the total population.

1 According to Xing Teng, “nationality education can be broadly and narrowly defined. According to the broad definition, nationality education refers to education that assists people from common cultural backgrounds, or minority ethnic groups, to fit into China’s mainstream modern society, to develop their individual potentials, and to share their traditional cultural legacies.” In this chapter, we use the narrow definition of nationality education. Xing Teng, “The New Analysis of the Concept of Nationality Education,” Nationality Research 2 (1998). (Note: In other countries, nationality education is sometimes referred to as plurality education.)

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There are 154 autonomous ethnic areas, including 5 autonomous regions, 30 autonomous prefectures, 119 autonomous counties, and 1,356 autonomous townships. Ethnic minorities cover 63.75% of the total national territory. Nine provinces or autonomous regions border seventeen countries or regions. More than thirty ethnic minorities are cross-border people.2 To enhance the ability of ethnic minorities to recognize and identify themselves as members of the big family of the Chinese nation and to promote common prosperity and development of all ethnic groups, there is a crucial need in China to promote education of ethnic minorities, enhance the quality of ethnic minority workers, cultivate ethnic minority talents at all levels, pass down outstanding ethnic cultures, and construct and develop equal, solid, friendly, and harmonious ethnic relationships. The Chinese government has always adhered to the principle of equality and unity among all ethnic groups, and has attached great importance to the development of education for ethnic minorities since the 1950s. Many special policies and measures have been laid down in accordance with the characteristics of each ethnic minority group and the levels of social and economic development of each ethnic minority area. However, the route to achieving these goals is not so smooth. The education of ethnic minorities was damaged and interrupted during the ten years of turmoil during the Cultural Revolution. It resumed its development starting in the late 1970s. The education policies of ethnic minorities are now proceeding along the right road and have made a number of achievements. Increasing Investment in the Education of Ethnic Minorities A series of new policies have been put forward, which effectively increases educational funds. Both the central government and local governments at all levels have increased their spending on ethnic minority education. Educational funds for compulsory education and illiteracy elimination among young adults increase annually. The central government also allocates special funds for education in impoverished mountainous regions of western China. Local governments at different levels have also allocated funds for the maintenance of school buildings. Given the special nature of ethnic minority education, governments set aside special funds for 2 The tion and Education Education

Nationality Education Section of the Ministry of Education and the EducaScience Section of the State Nationality Committee, ed., China’s Nationality Is on the Road to Success: Materials of the 5th National Conference on Nationality (Beijing: Nationality Publishing House), 26.

a review and analysis of ethnic minority education policies 375 ethnic minority education. Multiple fundraising channels are used to increase the funds for minority education. First, governments at all levels and the broad masses are mobilized to actively participate in the education of ethnic minorities. A combination of state loans for poverty alleviation and self-reliance is used. Second, a portion of the subsidies set aside for minority groups is allocated directly to education. Third, all segments of society are asked to support education, as a lack of funds has long been identified as a big barrier to the development of education in old liberated areas, ethnic minority areas, remote regions, and poor areas. Since 1985, the state has allocated 100 million yuan to subsidize the popularization of primary education. The Early Years of Ethnic Minority Education In the early years after the founding of the People’s Republic of China, ethnic minority education mainly served the purpose of training ethnic minority cadres, especially the rank-and-file political cadres. This ethnic minority education system was largely determined by the need of state construction and the situation of ethnic minority regions. There were no fundamental changes in principles or policies until the Cultural Revolution. The ethnic minority education system suffered a series of setbacks and was nearly completely destroyed during the Cultural Revolution. In the past thirty years, China rebuilt the ethnic minority education system, including preschool education, basic education, vocational and technical education, adult education, and higher education. The scale of ethnic minority education has continued to expand; the quality of education has significantly improved. Increases in the Numbers of Ethnic Minority Students By 2006, there were 21,975,700 ethnic minority students enrolled in educational institutes at all levels. About 1,561,800 minority students were enrolled in higher education, which accounted for 5.79% of all students enrolled in higher education, or a 43.38-fold increase as compared to the 36,000 students enrolled in 1978. About 760,660 ethnic minority students were enrolled in vocational schools, which accounted for 4.92% of all vocational school students, or a 27-fold increase compared to the 28,400 enrolled vocational school students in 1978. There were 6,911,700 ethnic minority students in ordinary middle schools, which accounted for 8.05% of the total regular middle school students, or a 2.8-fold increase compared to the 2,467,500 enrolled middle school students in 1978. In 2006, there were 11,298,500 ethnic minority students enrolled at primary schools, which accounted for 10.11% of all

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primary school students, or a 1.47-fold increase compared to 7,686,000 primary school students enrolled in 1978 (see Figures 7.1–7.3). Increases in the Numbers of Ethnic Minority Teachers By the end of 2005, there were 1,159,400 full-time ethnic minority teachers. About 54,700 taught in higher education institutes, which accounted for 5.67% of the total full-time college teachers, or a 9.3-fold increase compared to the total of 5,900 minority college teachers in 1978. There were 28,800 minority vocational school teachers, which accounted for 3.72% of total vocational school teachers, or a 10.67-fold increase compared to the total of 2,700 minority vocational school teachers in 1978. There were 370,480 minority middle school teachers, which accounted for 6.77% of total middle school teachers, or a 3.34-fold increase, compared to the total of 11,230 minority middle school teachers in 1978. There were 575,148 minority primary school teachers, which accounted for 10.20% of the total primary school teachers, or a 1.85-fold increase compared to the total of 310,020 minority primary school teachers in 1978. Finally, minority-concentrated regions made new achievements in the implementation of the Two Basic Aims program (TBA). By the end of 2005, 543 minority-concentrated regions, or 77.68% of the total minority-concentrated regions, have achieved the goals of the TBA program, that is, popularization of the nine-year compulsory education and elimination of illiteracies among young adults. Figures 7.1–7.3 describe changes over the past thirty years in the proportions of enrolled ethnic minority students in the total number of enrolled students.

Minority nationality students attending school in 1978 Minority nationality students attending school in 2006 1129.85

Number: 10,000

1200.00 1000.00 800.00

691.17

768.60

600.00 400.00

0.00

246.75

156.18

200.00 3.60

Higher Education

2.84

76.66

Middle Vocational Regular Middle Schools Schools Types of Schools

Primary schools

Fig. 7.1. Number of ethnic minority students, by types of school, 1978–2006.

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1400 1200 1000 800 600 400 200 0

19 7 19 8 7 19 9 8 19 0 8 19 1 8 19 2 8 19 3 8 19 4 8 19 5 8 19 6 8 19 7 8 19 8 8 19 9 9 19 0 9 19 1 9 19 2 9 19 3 9 19 4 9 19 5 9 19 6 9 19 7 9 19 8 9 20 9 0 20 0 0 20 1 0 20 2 0 20 3 04

Number 10,000

Minority Nationality Students in Middle Schools Minority Nationality Students in Primary Schools

Year

Fig. 7.2. Enrollment of minority students, middle school, and primary school, 1978–2004.

Percentage of Minority Nationality Students in Middle Schools in China Percentage of Minority Nationality Students in Primary Schools in China 12 10 8 (%) 6 4 2

19 78 19 79 19 80 19 81 19 82 19 83 19 84 19 85 19 86 19 87 19 88 19 89 19 90 19 91 19 92 19 93 19 94 19 95 19 96 19 97 19 98 19 99 20 00 20 01 20 02 20 03

0

Year

Fig. 7.3. Percentage of ethnic minority students in total enrolled students, primary school, and middle school, 1978–2003.

7.1.2. Fairness Problems in the Education of Ethnic Minorities In China most ethnic minorities live in remote or economically underdeveloped areas. The level of educational attainment for ethnic minorities is below the national average. There are many difficulties and challenges in promoting equality in the education of ethnic minorities. In the following discussion, we will examine the fairness problem in ethnic minority education with respect to the opportunity to attend school, access to educational resources, and educational outcomes.

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Opportunities to Access Educational Resources According to the Law of Education of the People’s Republic of China, all Chinese citizens have equal opportunity to receive education regardless of their race and ethnicity, sex, occupation, socioeconomic status, and religion. However, to realize educational equality, we have to make more efforts. The Fifth Census reveals that ethnic minorities are disproportionately concentrated in western China. The population of ethnic minorities represents 8.01% of the total population in China. But nearly 20.34% of the population in western China is ethnic minorities. The school enrollment rate for minority students is 5.8 percentage points lower than that of Han students. Several factors are responsible for the low enrollment rate of minority students. First, ethnic minorities are more likely to live in economically underdeveloped areas. Parents often lack economic resources to send their children to school. Second, most ethnic minority areas do not have educational facilities. Third, ethnic minority education is often conducted in isolation of ethnic minority cultures and ethnic minorities’ special needs. Ethnic minority families are reluctant to send their students to schools because from their perspectives the rate of economic returns to education is low. Formal education also costs their children the opportunity to learn more marketable skills. Fourth, most ethnic minority areas have their own forms of education. For example, minority students receive their education on their own cultures in religious ceremonies. Some parents think traditional forms of education are easier to communicate ideas and more effective in implementation than formal education. Preferential admission policies are adopted by the Chinese government to promote education of ethnic minorities. Preferential admission policies have played an important role in promoting educational equalities. Despite the fact that preferential admission policies are used to promote equality and fairness, unfairness sometimes occurs in policy implementation. First, educational opportunities are not Table 7.1. School Enrollment Rates, Han Students, and Ethnic Minority Students, 2004 Ethnicity Han Ethnic Minorities

School-age children

Ever received any forms of education

School enrollment rates

1,061,196,336 94,862,306

984,125,111 82,456,582

92.7% 86.9%

Data Source: Annual Statistics of China’s Nationalities, 2004.

a review and analysis of ethnic minority education policies 379 evenly distributed among ethnic minority students. Ethnic minority students living in cities have more opportunities to access educational resources than minority students living in remote and impoverished ethnic minority regions. Second, in ethnic minority regions, there is unequal distribution of educational resources between ethnic minority students and Han students. Han students have fewer chances to access educational resources. A lack of preferential admission policies for Han students seems unfair, given that they live in ethnic minority regions and attend the same school as their minority counterparts. Third, polarization within ethnic minorities leads to unequal access to preparatory education. Preparatory educational policies are other preferential policies adopted by the Chinese government to promote the education of ethnic minorities. Preparatory education is for ethnic minority students from western China. The entry score is lower for ethnic minority students. The length of study is one year. Preparatory courses have greatly improved minority students’ basic cultural knowledge and increased their odds of attending college. However, in policy implementation, ethnic minority students of local officials and elite social classes have disproportionately benefited from this policy, which placed minority students of lower social classes in a disadvantaged position. Educational Resource Shortage Ethnic minorities are mainly concentrated in western China where the economy is underdeveloped. Educational institutions often lack financial resources to purchase teaching facilities. In areas where courses are taught in the language of ethnic minorities, there is often a lack of textbooks, complementary materials, and other supporting materials, making it very difficult to promote the education of ethnic minorities. Teachers play a very important role in education. The pass rate for teachers of ethnic minority regions is below the national average. For teachers from ethnic minority areas, for example, the pass rate is 97.3% for primary school teachers, and 87.6% for middle school students, respectively. The average national pass rate for primary school teacher is 98.62% and 95.24% for middle school teachers. The pass rate is even lower for teachers from remote and impoverished ethnic minority areas.3

Collecting qualifications is a problem in teacher training. In some rural schools, teachers only improve their qualifications to meet national targets and their academic 3

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Ethnic minority schools are often conducted in Mandarin. They sometimes copy the teaching philosophies and modes of instruction of schools for Han students, while largely overlooking ethnic and cultural differences. This affects teaching outcomes and jeopardizes the traditional cultures of minority groups, making it even more difficult to inherit and transmit ethnic minority cultures and to develop the education of ethnic minorities. Bilingual education is still in its early stage of development in China. If courses are taught in Mandarin in ethnic minority schools, students will often encounter learning difficulties, making them less competitive in the job market. 7.2. A Review and Analysis of Ethnic Minority Education Policies Over the Past Thirty Years The policies reviewed in this section include ethnic policies, education policies, and ethnic minority education policies.4 7.2.1. Three Development Phases of Ethnic Minority Education Policy The Chinese government has always attached great importance to ethnic minority education. Since the reform and opening-up policies in the late 1970s, a series of new ethnic minority education policies are introduced in response to the emerging problems with ethnic minority education. The development of ethnic minority education policies since the late 1970s can be divided into three phases. The first phase is from 1978 to 1992 during which ethnic minority education policies are restored and some new policies are introduced. The second phase

qualifications do not correspond with the subjects they teach. The quality of their instruction is not improved by taking required courses. Teachers are not proactive about improving their professional training. Often they only attend courses when their schools require it. There is no monitoring or evaluation of the results. As training is becoming simply a matter of collecting qualifications, the quality of education offered in schools is not improving as expected. 4 China’s policy framework for nationality education can be divided into policies focusing on nationality issues and policies focusing on education issues. There are nationality policies on language, religion, culture, and education. Education policies focus on six main areas: nationality education, administration, curriculum, funding for education, teachers, and students. This report mainly focuses on the development of macrolevel policies for nationality education.

a review and analysis of ethnic minority education policies 381 is from 1992 to 2002 during which ethnic minority education policies achieved rapid development. From 2002 onward the development of ethnic minority education enters its third development phase and has gained all-around development. Phase I: Recovery and Development of Ethnic Minority Education Policies (1978– 1992) The development of ethnic minority education and ethnic minority education policies were held in check and reversed during the Cultural Revolution. Nearly all previous rules and principles on ethnic minority education were discarded. Nearly all of the ten state nationality colleges and universities were either abolished or temporarily closed. Many primary and junior ethnic minority schools were also cancelled. A number of cadres and teachers engaged in ethnic minority education were attacked and persecuted. Ethnic minority language teaching and ethnic minority textbook writing were forbidden. Ethnic minority language translation institutes and ethnic minority institutes were severely destroyed. Ethnic minority education administrations were also cancelled. The Third Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee held at the end of 1978 marked the beginning of a new era of reform and an opening up to the outside world. Ethnic minority education received new life and vigor. Many measures were taken to set things right. In January 1980 the Department of Ethnic Minority Education of the Ministry of Education was reinstated. In October 1980, the Ministry of Education and the State Ethnic Affairs Commission released the Opinions on Strengthening Nationality Education (关于加强民族教育工作的 意见), which explicitly put forward principles and policies to restore and develop ethnic minority education. In the following years, much progress was made. Ethnic universities and institutes, ethnic teachers’ training schools, ethnic middle schools, and ethnic primary schools that were closed during the Cultural Revolution were reopened. New ethnic universities and institutes, ethnic middle schools, and ethnic primary schools were established. Ethnic minority education policies that were effective prior to the Cultural Revolution were reinstated, including teaching in minority languages, preferential admission to ethnic minority students, and allocation of places to graduates that gave priority to the needs of ethnic minority areas. In December 1982 the Fifth Session of the Tenth National People’s Congress passed the revised Constitution of the People’s Republic of China (中华人民共和国宪法), which is also known as the new Constitution.

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The new Constitution was the legal base for equality between ethnic groups, ethnic minorities’ political and economic rights, self-governing policies in minority areas, preservation and use of ethnic minority languages, ethnic minority cultural heritages, and administrative divisions in ethnic minority regions. The new Constitution was also the legal basis for ethnic minority policies and ethnic minority education policies. Regulations on use of minority languages laid the groundwork for the implementation of bilingual education. In May 1984, the Law on National Regional Autonomy of the People’s Republic of China (中华人民共和国民族区域自治法) was deliberated and passed at the Second Session of the Sixth National People’s Congress. In the following years, policies on national regional autonomy were restored, enforced, and developed. These policies stipulated that the governments of autonomous regions were entitled to design their own education policies according to the law and national education policies. The governments of autonomous regions were responsible for developing ethnic minority education, eliminating illiteracy, establishing various types of schools, and popularizing nine-year compulsory education and promoting secondary education. They were also expected to establish ethnic teachers’ training schools, ethnic vocational schools, ethnic academy institutes, and train ethnic specialists. The Compulsory Education Law of the People’s Republic of China (中华人 民共和国义务教育法) enacted in 1986 further clarified the responsibilities of the state in developing policies regarding compulsory ethnic minority education and ethnic minority languages. The state took over the responsibility of providing teachers and educational funds, helping ethnic minority regions to popularize nine-year compulsory education. Ethnic minority schools could use ethnic minority languages in their teaching. Law is the highest form of policies. Enactments of these laws greatly promoted ethnic minority education and the restoration and development of ethnic minority education policies. Phase II: Rapid Development of Ethnic Minority Education Policies (1992–2002) In 1992, the late leader Deng Xiaoping made a series of speeches during his tour to the south. That same year, the party’s Fourteenth National Congress put forward the great cause of building a socialist market economy with Chinese characteristics. These two events led China to enter a new phase of reform and an opening up to the outside world. To further emancipate people’s minds and raise ethnic minority education to a new level, on October 20, 1992, the Ministry

a review and analysis of ethnic minority education policies 383 of Education and the State Ethnic Affairs Commission published the Opinions on Strengthening and Improving Ethnic Minority Education (关于加 强民族教育工作若干问题的意见). According to the Opinions (意见), each ethnic minority region has the right to choose their ways of school management, including scales of education, speed of development, and structure and modes of education. Each ethnic minority region also has the right to choose the appropriate mode of running the school according to their levels of economic and educational development. They are also encouraged to expand the scope of communication and exchange experiences. Local government is responsible for basic education, and management and administration, taking into account the actual situation of minority areas. The 1992 Opinions repeated that funds for minority education should be increased through various channels. It also put forward a number of innovative measures, such as establishing ethnic minority teachers’ training schools, introducing vocational education into the ethnic minority education system, and sending a certain number of promising young ethnic minority adults to colleges. The 1992 Opinions put forward these innovative ideas for the first time. The 1992 Opinions was easier to implement than previous policies. One common problem with previous minority education policies was that they only proposed targets, but paid less attention to actually formulating enforceable measures to achieve the targets. The 1992 Opinions included many enforceable policies and measures. For example, the 1980 Opinions explicitly proposed that the central government and local governments should share the responsibility of raising funds for ethnic minority education. The responsibility of each side was clearly defined. In addition, the 1992 Opinions recognized that the pace of development varies among ethnic minority regions. Each ethnic minority region was encouraged to make their own educational policies according to their local circumstances. For example, with respect to basic education, the 1992 Opinions suggested that ethnic minority areas that have real difficulty should give priority to the popularization of nine-year compulsory education so that every family has the opportunity to have a member graduate from primary school. The distribution of schools should be adjusted to make junior middle school education more accessible. In 1995, three years after the 1992 Opinions was issued, the Law of Education of the People’s Republic of China (中华人民共和国教育法) was adopted at the Third Session of the Eighth National People’s Congress.

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The Education Law (教育法) was the fundamental law for education. It prescribed the responsibilities of the state and government at various levels for minority education. The state was required to assist ethnic minority regions in developing education. The State Council and governments at all levels were required to allocate funds to support the development of compulsory education in remote, impoverished minority areas.5 The law stated that in schools or other education institutions that have a majority of minority students, the spoken and written languages commonly used in the area should be used for instruction. The 1995 Education Law provided the essential legal framework for the development of minority education. Phase III: Comprehensive Development of Minority Education Policies (2002–Present) Several major events took place in the late twentieth century and early twenty-first century, which brought new challenges to ethnic minority education. First, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China launched the development of western regions, which, in spite of providing more opportunities for the development of ethnic minority education, brought about new requirements. Second, China’s entry into the WTO brought about sweeping changes in the political and economic environments and education policies. There was an urgent need to revise the ethnic minority education policies to meet the requirements of the new environments. Two hidden problems with ethnic minority education emerged. First, ethnic minority education always had a weak infrastructure. The notion of education appeared rather backward under the new circumstances, which slowed down the progress of education reform in areas concentrated with ethnic minorities.6 Second, national separatism competed with us to win the next generation. They worked with international anti-China forces and engaged in separatist activities, with hopes to recruit the next generation of ethnic minorities to serve their separatist cause. To address these problems, the State Council issued the Decision to Further Reform and Accelerate the Development of Minority Education (国务院

5 Starting in 1990, the Finance Ministry began allocating 20 million yuan each year to subsidize the education in minority nationality areas. 6 Infrastructure problems are reflected in the slow pace of popularizing compulsory education and developing other types of education. Problems include poorly educated teachers, insufficient funding for education, poor school quality, difficulties for students attending school, and poor teaching conditions.

a review and analysis of ethnic minority education policies 385 关于深化改革加快发展民族教育的决定) in July 2002. It made several suggestions about how to emancipate minds, increase support for ethnic minority education, improve the enforceability of policies and use education to promote unity among ethnic groups. First, given the fact that the existing framework for education in minority regions was weak, the 2002 Decision suggested giving priority to TBA.7 TBA was already achieved at a national level, but it was yet to be fully implemented in ethnic minority regions. According to the Decision, during the period of the Eleventh Five-Year Plan (2001–2005), the proportion of ethnic minority autonomous counties that reached the TBA should increase from 51% in 2001 to at least 70% in 2005. Ninety-five percent of the regions are expected to popularize primary compulsory education. In ethnic minority regions where different ethnic groups live together, ethnic minority education should receive at least the same amount of attention that local education received. There should be a noticeable increase in the number of students in high schools. By 2010, the TBA should be completely achieved. Second, given that education of ethnic minorities is still backward in some ethnic minority areas and that the gap is still large between some areas concentrated with ethnic minorities and central and eastern China, the 1992 Decision stipulated that there was an urgent need to rapidly develop ethnic minority education. It was requested that the central finance department give preferential support to the development of education in minority nationality areas, remote rural, grassland areas, high mountainous areas, and less-developed and thinly populated ethnic minority regions. Areas concentrated with ethnic minorities in western China were encouraged to develop remote education so that more people could have the chances to access highquality educational resources. Third, the 1992 Decision created more enforceable policies to support minority education. Previous documents only recommended that the state support education in ethnic minority areas and encouraged social forces to be involved in minority education. The 1992 Decision proposed detailed measures to support the development of minority

7 In 1992, the Two Basic Aims (TBA) plan was put forward at the 14th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party. It states that compulsory education should be universally realized and illiteracy among youth and young adults must be eliminated by the end of the twentieth century. These targets were met by the end of 2000.

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education. For instance, nongovernmental organizations in eastern and central China are encouraged to provide education in western minority regions, or provide education in their own areas. People living in minority areas are encouraged to send their children to study in eastern and central areas at their own expense. The regulations in the 1992 Decision on increasing educational funds through various channels were effective, detailed, and workable. These policies and regulations represented a major ideological shift. Column 7.1 The State Council’s Decision to Further Reform and Accelerate the Development of Minority Education (国务院关于深化改革加快发展民族教育的决定) created comprehensive policies and measures to increase funds for the education of ethnic minorities. The 1992 Decision stated: During the Eleventh Five-Year Plan and before 2010, the National Compulsory Education Project, the National Poverty Elimination Education Project, the Vocational Education Development Project in the West, the Higher Vocational and Technical Education Project, the Educational Information Science Project, the Primary and Middle Schools’ Dangerous Rooms Improvement Project, Scholarships for Poor Students in Primary and Middle Schools, and the Extracurricular Activity Venues Construction Project should give priority to minorities and western areas. In counties covered by the state poverty elimination project and where the goal of popularizing primary compulsory education is yet to be achieved, primary and middle school students should be given free textbooks. Cost-effective textbooks should be used. Special measures for lowering, or exempting administrative fees, textbook fees, boarding fees, and living fees should be adopted to ensure that students from low-income families could attend school.” Low-income minority college students are entitled to receive financial support from the government. No college student should have to drop out of school because of financial difficulties. The central finance department should provide living subsidies to boarding school students in agricultural and pastoral areas, mountainous areas, and border areas. Local government’s investment in education in minority areas and western areas should increase. Minority and western areas should be given priority consideration in allocation of education loans from international nongovernmental organizations and overseas donations, Hong Kong, Macao, or Taiwan. NGOs are encouraged to provide education to minority students. They are also supported and encouraged to participate in educational activities to ‘aid the impoverished.’ Tax payers’ donations to education in minority and western areas are entirely refundable. Land can be allocated to schools for multiple purposes of use, such as public welfare and school construction or expansion. Donators qualify for tax reduction and exemption. Employed

a review and analysis of ethnic minority education policies 387 students, school-owned enterprises, and enterprises that provide welfare services for schools should receive preferential tax treatment. Appropriate financial measures should be taken to support the development of education in minority and western areas.8

The 2002 Decision stressed the importance of adhering to the principle of separating religion from national education. It maintained that atheism and materialism education should be strengthened among teachers and students of all ethnic groups. Education should be built on a scientific foundation. The goal of education is to enhance both students’ and teachers’ abilities to resist the influences of feudal superstitions and illegal cults. The 2002 Decision stressed the need of education to unify ethnic groups. It requested that an equal, united, and friendly relationship between different ethnic groups be maintained and developed, which is an important content of education in patriotism, moral education, and quality education. Minority students and teachers should deepen their understanding of the ‘three nonseparations,’ that is, that minorities are indispensable to Han, Han is indispensable to minorities, and minorities are indispensable to each other. All ethnic groups should conscientiously safeguard national unity and oppose separation. The State Council’s Decision to Further Reform and Accelerate the Development of Minority Education revealed a clear understanding of the problems with China’s nationality education. Its outstanding features included more achievable policies, increased workability, and provision of a better support system for nationality education. The 2002 Decision heralded a new era of comprehensive development of nationality education in China. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education has begun drawing up the Ordinance for Ethnic Minority Education (少数民族教育条例). The drafting and advisory committee is made up of experts from the Nationality Committee of the People’s Congress, the Legal Office of the State Council, the Nationality Education Section and Policy and Regulation Section of the Ministry of Education, the Education Section of Nationality Committee, the People’s University, and the Central Nationality University. A relatively complete draft will be submitted to the State

8 Zhang Hongmei, “Basic Principles and Policies on China’s Nationality Education in the New Era,” China’s Nationality Education 4 (2004).

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Council in a few months. Once adopted, this high-level policy will significantly boost the development of nationality education. Another important event that took place during this time period was the revision and passing of the Compulsory Education Law of the People’s Republic of China (中华人民共和国义务教育法). The revised version of Compulsory Education Law includes many articles about nationality education. It addresses important issues such as equal rights for minority groups, fair allocation of education resources, preferential policies for nationality education, funding, and teachers’ salaries. These issues were written into the law as a series of beneficial and authoritative education policies for China’s minorities. 7.2.2. Problems with the Development of Ethnic Minority Education Policies during the Past Thirty Years The past thirty years have witnessed tremendous progresses in the development of ethnic minority education policies. However, policy development is still in its early stage and cannot meet the need of the development of ethnic minority education. The gap is mainly reflected in the following areas. Many existing ethnic minority education policies are made by institutions at lower levels (such as the functionaries of the Ministry of Education, or other relevant departments), making them less authoritative and enforceable. Current ethnic minority education policies show little respect for cultural diversity and educational quality. Existing ethnic minority education policies focus more on how to protect the educational rights of ethnic minorities, especially the educational rights that enable ethnic minorities to successfully integrate into the mainstream society. The roles of education in preserving and developing ethnic minority cultures are largely overlooked, however. There are few policies on how to preserve and develop ethnic minority cultures. This policy shortcoming is reflected in the evolution of bilingual education policies. In the early years after the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the study and use of minority languages received a great deal of attention. However, today the focus is shifted to Mandarin learning. In primary and middle schools where courses are taught in ethnic minority languages, it is required to offer Mandarin courses from grade one. Regulations on Mandarin teaching and learning are written into the Mandarin Curriculum for Full-Time Middle and Primary

a review and analysis of ethnic minority education policies 389 Ethnic Minority Schools (全日制民族中小学汉语教学大纲) and the Notification on Experimental Mandarin Level Exams for Minority Students in Relevant Provinces and Regions (关于在有关省区试行中国少数民族汉 语水平等级考试的通知). However, there are few rules and regulations on the study and use of minority languages. This situation arises because Mandarin is considered essential to learn in order for ethnic minority students to be integrated into mainstream society and share economic and social prosperity. It is short-sighted, however, to ignore cultural diversity and the preservation of minority languages because languages are the carriers of cultures. Failing to preserve ethnic minority languages will lead to the eventual disappearance of these cultures. Therefore, protecting, preserving, and promoting minority cultures should be the priority of policies. Clear policy direction concerning excellence in education is also lacking. Under current policies ethnic minority students receive favorable treatment in school admissions. Protecting ethnic minority students’ equal rights to education has been the central concern of ethnic minority education policies. However, the support system needs to be more effective. Minority students receive little support once they are admitted to schools. There are few policies that respond to minority students’ needs. This leads to a lower success rate among them. Minority student’s equal rights to education are not being fulfilled. There is therefore an urgent need to introduce the idea of quality education so that minority students can have true equal rights to education. Ethnic Minority Education Policies Often Lack a Detailed and Clear Target, Making Them Less Enforceable There is a big gap between eastern and western China in levels of economic and social development. Ethnic minority groups also differ among themselves in customs, habits, and lifestyles. Ethnic minority policies should take into account these regional differences in economic and social development, differences among ethnic minority groups, and differences among members of the same ethnic minority group that reside in different areas. These differences are hardly considered during policy making. The central government often issues one policy document that applies to the entire country. Local governments are more eager to cater to the central government while overlooking regional differences. As a result, while policies are designed with good intentions, they frequently fall short of the mark. When such policies are implemented across the country, the outcomes often deviate from the original objectives. Consequently,

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existing problems have not been properly addressed while new problems emerge. For example, some of the policies that are meant to popularize compulsory education are inappropriate because they fail to account for the actual situation in minority areas. Blindly following the central government’s regulations will have negative consequences, and the quality of education will not improve as planned. There are no effective scientific mechanisms to supervise the implementation of education policies. Nongovernmental educational organizations, such as education societies, education unions, research institutes and associations, have not been mobilized to actively participate in supervising the implementation of education policies. This problem is most obvious in ethnic minority education. The implementation of ethnic minority education policies is poorly supervised, which results in target deviation. The theories for ethnic minority educational policy making are not visionary, systematic, and instructive, and are unable to provide intellectual support in the choices of effective ethnic minority education policies. 7.3. An Analysis of Bilingual Teaching Policy in the State Council’s Decision to Further Reform and Accelerate the Development of Minority Education (国务院关于深化改革加快发展民族教育的决定) (2002) Bilingual teaching refers to using the languages of ethnic minorities to conduct class in primary and secondary schools, and Mandarin is also taught in class, or conversely, using Mandarin to conduct class but offering minority language courses. Learning the language of one’s own ethnicity helps to preserve the culture of minority groups. Leaning Mandarin enables ethnic minorities to easily integrate into the mainstream society so that they have an equal opportunity to benefit from China’s economic and social development. Bilingual teaching is an important characteristic of ethnic minority education. It is the key to raising the quality of ethnic minority education. For these reasons, the following analysis focuses on bilingual teaching policy. 7.3.1. Policy Background Early Discussions about Bilingual Teaching Policy (1949–1976) The main problem with bilingual teaching is finding the appropriate relationship

a review and analysis of ethnic minority education policies 391 between minority languages and Mandarin. During the thirty years before 1976, bilingual teaching in ethnic minority schools went through ups and downs. In 1951, the State Council approved the Report of the First National Conference on Nationality Education (关于第一次全国民族 教育会议的报告), making ethnic minority languages the priority in conducting class in primary and middle minority schools. It stated that “ethnic minority languages must be used to teach all subjects in primary and secondary schools in cases where there is a commonly used written languages such as Mongolian, Korean, Uighur, Kazak, and Tibetan. Mandarin courses should be taught in accordance with the needs and wishes of the individual ethnic minority group.” After 1957, Leftist opportunism emerged. There was a backlash against minority cultures in China. Nationalist slogans such as the “minority melting pot,” “writing in minority languages is useless,” and “assimilation” peppered speeches given by a variety of people who argued that minority groups should be forced to use Mandarin. Consequently, all ethnic minority schools and ethnic minority language institutes were closed. Classes that taught in minority languages were reduced or even eliminated. After 1959, minority language teaching was briefly restored, but during the ten years of the Cultural Revolution, teaching minority languages was forbidden in any kind of school. The Ideology of Policies on Bilingual Teaching Began to Take Shape After 1978 The Gang of Four was the name given to a leftist political faction composed of four Chinese communist party officials. They came to prominence during the Cultural Revolution (1966–76) and were subsequently charged with a series of treasonous crimes. The members are Jiang Qing, Mao’s last wife and the leading figure of the group, and her close associates Zhang Chunqiao, Yao Wenyuan, and Wang Hongwen. After the ultra Left opportunism of the Gang of Four was reversed in 1978, a system of education was proposed for some areas concentrated with ethnic minorities. Minority languages were suggested to be used for instruction in primary schools through universities. However, this proposal ran counter to the economic interests of minority groups. After a period of introspection, the concept of bilingual education was officially proposed and a policy framework was worked out. The Law on Ethnic Regional Autonomy (民族区域自治法) was issued in 1984. This law was a breakthrough in that it established a legal framework for bilingual education. It stipulated: “When permitted, schools

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run mainly for minority students should use textbooks written in ethnic minority languages. The languages of ethnic minorities should be used in teaching. Mandarin courses should be taught in higher grade levels in primary schools and in secondary schools. Nationwide Putonghua shall be promoted.” Two years later, in 1986, the Compulsory Education Law (义务教育法) was issued which also promoted nationwide Putonghua. Schools run mainly for minority students were allowed to use minority languages in teaching. Both laws clearly stated that bilingual teaching should be conducted in ethnic minority schools. This was a much stronger statement than the Report of the First Nationality Education Conference (第一次民族教育工作会议报告) of 1951, which only requested that Mandarin courses be taught according to the needs and wishes of local minority groups. The 1984 and 1986 laws established clear legal guidelines for bilingual education. Thereafter bilingual teaching embarked on a road of healthy development in China. The Establishment of Bilingual Teaching Principles After 1992 After Deng Xiaoping delivered his speech during his southern tour in 1992, reforms and the opening up of China rapidly began. The economic and social development of ethnic minorities became a high priority. In 1992, the State Education Committee and the State Nationality Committee issued the Opinions on Some Issues on Strengthening Minority Education (关于加强民族教育工作若干问题的意见). This document explicitly stressed the importance of bilingual education for the long-term development of ethnic minorities. Bilingual education not only improves the quality of education, but also encourages scientific and cultural interchange between ethnic minority groups. The 1992 Opinions asserted the need for compiling, translating, publishing, and testing textbooks in ethnic minority languages.9 It regulated that compilation, translation, and publication of textbooks should be supported by financial appropriations from provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions. Any profits should be used to develop textbooks in minority languages by “using textbooks to support textbooks.”10 The 1992 Opinions also 9 The 1992 Opinions stated that textbooks used by more than one province or region should be examined by the National Education Committee. Textbooks used in a single province or region should be examined by the provincial or regional education committee. No textbook could be used without examination. 10 This means using any profits made from publishing textbooks for primary and middle schools to compensate for losses incurred in publishing national language textbooks for primary and middle schools.

a review and analysis of ethnic minority education policies 393 advocated that Han youth should learn minority languages. In stressing the principle of bilingual education, this document reflected the spirit of the times. It emphasized the importance of bilingual education for the development of minority groups. It was a major achievement in the development of bilingual education policies. Nevertheless, the 1992 Opinions merely established the principle of bilingual education. It did not set systematic regulations, or bilingual teaching targets, requirements, measures, and curriculums. Therefore, the policies lacked effectiveness and were difficult to implement, leading to many problems with policy enforcement. More workable policies were needed. The State Council’s 2002 Decision to Further Reform and Accelerate the Development of Minority Education. Between 1992 and 2002, China’s society and economy radically changed. Many new situations and problems emerged: (1) “using textbook profits to finance textbook production” proved ineffective; and (2) even though the 1992 Opinions encouraged Han youth to learn the spoken and written minority languages, few of them took up the challenge. Although the 1992 Opinions was issued by the State Education Committee and the State Nationality Committee, it lacked authority, and it is difficult to enforce. During this time period, the biggest influence on minority education was the introduction of the strategy to develop western China, which provided an opportunity for minority education to develop at an accelerated pace. In July of 2002, the State Council’s Decision to Further Reform and Accelerate the Development of Minority Education was issued. In addition, more achievable and effective regulations were drafted. 7.3.2. An Analysis of Policy Content Clarification of the Bilingual Curriculum The 2002 Decision proposed for the first time that a system for teaching in minority languages should be gradually developed in primary and middle minority schools. There were two types of primary and middle schools. In the first type of schools, Mandarin classes were taught in some grades, while minority languages were used as the primary languages of instruction. In the second type of schools, minority language classes were taught in relevant grades while Mandarin was used as the primary language of instruction.

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Focus on Teachers and Textbooks: Essential Factors of Bilingual Teaching The State Council’s 2002 Decision pointed out that when establishing teachers’ teams in minority and western areas, the focus should be on training bilingual teachers. Mandarin textbooks suitable for ethnic minority students should be compiled. The conditions in primary and middle nationality schools where minority languages were taught should be improved to include the teaching of Mandarin courses from grade one. These methods and measures made the policies more achievable. Create Textbooks: Strengthen the Government’s Responsibilities for Bilingual Teaching The 2002 Decision clarified the responsibility of governments to research bilingual education and publish textbooks in minority languages. It required governments to make the creation of minoritylanguage textbooks a priority in local education development plans. The “using textbooks to support the production of textbooks” scheme from the 1992 Opinions was abandoned. Instead, the state prioritized supporting research for bilingual education, as well as creating and publishing textbooks. The funds needed for creating textbooks in minority languages were part of the education budget. Compiling, translating, reviewing, and publishing textbooks in minority languages must be properly funded to ensure adequate supplies of textbooks in minority languages. 7.3.3. The Enforcement of Policies The policies issued in the State Council’s Decision to Further Reform and Accelerate the Development of Minority Education have been gradually implemented over the past years. Strengthening Bilingual Teaching Research Bilingual education in minority languages was included as a research topic in the Tenth and Eleventh Five-Year Plans. Strengthening the Team of Bilingual Teachers Since the 1990s, the central government has appropriated 10 million yuan to finance the construction of basic facilities in primary and middle schools in minority areas. Since 2007, the state has adjusted the allocation of funds so that all funds are used to train bilingual minority teachers. The state has set specific personnel quotas for bilingual teachers.

a review and analysis of ethnic minority education policies 395 Appropriating Funds for Textbook Production Since 2006, the central and provincial governments decided to cover the extra costs occurred in publishing textbooks in minority languages. About 50 million yuan has been spent on creating minority language teaching materials.11 The state has set up special compiling and translation committees to assist education publishing houses in minority nationality areas to translate textbooks and teaching materials. Strengthening Evaluation of Bilingual Education Since 2002, the state has been experimenting with the Mandarin Competency Level Examinations for Minority Nationals (MHK) in selected provinces and regions. MHK is the standard exam in China to test Mandarin competency. Examinees are ethnic minority students whose first language is not Mandarin and who were taught in minority languages. MHK is also called the National Mandarin Test.12 MHK plays an important role in Mandarin instruction in primary and middle minority schools. 7.3.4. An Evaluation on the Effects of Minority Education Policies Positive Outcomes Since the issuing of the State Council’s Decision to Further Reform and Accelerate the Development of Minority Education in 2002, bilingual education has had rapid development. The State Council’s 2002 Decision advanced bilingual education in the following ways: (1) A curriculum system that combines minority language teaching and Mandarin teaching in minority junior middle schools has been established. In areas where bilingual teaching is already very prevalent (such as Inner Mongolia), a third language was introduced

Because of a lack of funds for technical training, remote education equipment is not used efficiently. Frequently, no one has been trained on how to use the equipment, hence wasting the educational resources. 12 MHK gives a mark out of four. First grade is equivalent to the Mandarin level of primary school graduates. Second graders are required to be able to learn Mandarin in senior nationality-education middle schools or middle vocational schools. Third graders are required to study in ordinary colleges where Mandarin is used as the language of instruction. Fourth grade is equivalent to the Mandarin level for graduates from minority nationality education universities. Examinees receive certificates after passing the test. At the present time, senior middle school graduates do not take the national college entrance exam in Mandarin; instead they take the MHK test. 11

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into the curriculum, turning bilingual education into trilingual education. (2) The 2002 Decision requested local government authorities to produce bilingual textbooks. This policy provides minority students the opportunities to access textbooks written in Mandarin. (3) Most minority elementary and secondary schools offer Mandarin courses. (4) The state provides great financial support for researching and developing bilingual textbooks. About 50 million yuan has been spent on producing teaching materials in minority languages. Since the issuing of the State Council’s Decision in 2002, bilingual education has made great progress. Both the number of people who have received bilingual education and the number of bilingual teachers have rapidly increased. For example, there were 1,516 bilingual primary and secondary school teachers in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region in 1982. However by the end of 2004, this number increased to 14,880.13 Negative Outcomes Although much progress has been made in bilingual education since the Decision in 2002 was issued, a number of problems still remains: (1) As required by the 2002 Decision, in some provinces and autonomous regions, such as Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang, from grade one, minority students are required to learn their own languages as well as Mandarin. In some cases they must also learn English. (2) Most textbooks in minority languages are translated from Mandarin textbooks. Some of the contents are not related to the living circumstances of minority areas. The variety of reference materials is insufficient to meet students’ needs. There are fewer reference materials in minority languages. On average, there are 1.3 reference materials for one textbook in minority languages, whereas there are ten reference materaisl for one textbook in Mandarin. Many students in ethnic minority areas only have textbooks and no reference materials. A textbook cannot cover all areas of

13 He Qun and Hu Wenhua, “Review and Analysis of Bilingual Education for Minority Nationalities in Xinjiang,” Magazine of North-West Nationality University 6 (2005).

a review and analysis of ethnic minority education policies 397 knowledge. A lack of reference materials in minority languages thus impedes instruction and learning. (3) A lack of teaching materials on MHK greatly impedes bilingual education and brings many troubles to teachers and students. (4) Enrollment, Motivation, and Employment. Minority students who want to study in their own minority languages have few options in the choice of schools, college specialization, entrance exams, and enrollment. Most minority nationality students can only choose some areas of specialization offered by local colleges in their own autonomous regions. In most cases, colleges or universities outside their home provinces or regions are closed to them. In general, minority students can only find relevant work in their own regions after graduation. Some cannot find a job at all. The low rate of economic return to schooling greatly affects parents’ and students’ incentives to invest in higher education. (5) A strong team of bilingual teachers is the key to success in bilingual education. There are a number of factors impeding progress: First, bilingual teachers are often young and inexperienced. Only a few bilingual teachers have extensive teaching experience. Second, many bilingual teachers lack proper qualifications. There are not enough qualified bilingual teachers of Chinese, biology, chemistry, music, and art. There is also a shortage of bilingual lecturers in colleges and universities. The third problem is the lack of teachers who are fluent in two languages. For this reason, in some remote areas, courses are taught either in Mandarin or the local minority language, but not both. This limits the development of bilingual education. The fourth challenge is the lack of experts in bilingual education. Only a small number of current teachers have ever received professional training in bilingual education. Many teachers do not have professional qualifications. Those who have received bilingual education in colleges or universities are reluctant to teach in primary and middle minority schools because of poor working conditions and limited opportunities for career advancement. 7.3.5. Policy Continuation and Revision The discussions above revealed a number of problems with the 2002 Decision. First, responsibilities of the government at various levels for bilingual education have not been clearly defined. Second, there are

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not enough supporting measures to advance bilingual education, which undermines the effect of bilingual education policy. Third, there are few measures for protecting minority languages and cultures. To improve the effect of bilingual education policy, we recommend the following. Responsibilities of Government at Various Levels in Bilingual Education Should Be Clearly Defined To improve the effect of bilingual education policy, responsibilities of the government in bilingual education should be clearly defined with respect to funding bilingual education, establishing a bilingual education system (such as bilingual schools, bilingual kindergartens, and bilingual classes), producing bilingual textbooks and reference materials, designing bilingual teaching software and class materials, building a team of bilingual teachers, and conducting research on bilingual teaching. Building Teams of Bilingual Teachers (1) Key normal universities and comprehensive universities are encouraged to participate in the training of bilingual teachers. The responsibilities of universities for training bilingual teachers should be more clearly defined. (2) It is necessary to improve training for current bilingual teachers. (3) The responsibilities of government at various levels should be clearly defined. (4) More efforts should be made to improve the treatment of bilingual teachers and their working conditions. Strengthening the Construction of Bilingual Textbooks and Reference Materials (1) There is an urgent need to strengthen research on developing textbooks and reference materials in minority languages. (2) Textbooks for every subject should be compiled. The textbooks should reflect the teaching requirements of minority elementary and secondary schools rather than simply translating Mandarin textbooks. (3) The government should organize a team to research, develop, compile, test, and republish teaching materials in minority languages, and provide financial support for these activities. (4) Textbooks in Mandarin should be suitable to use in minority elementary and secondary schools. The qualities of the textbooks should be gradually improved. The textbooks should also match the MHK system. Expanding Enrollment and Employment Opportunities for Minority Students The state should create preferential enrollment and employment policies

a review and analysis of ethnic minority education policies 399 for ethnic minority students. Students from elementary and secondary schools where minority languages are used to teach should be granted preferential treatment in college admission so that they can enroll in key nationality, or comprehensive universities. If they have a good command of Mandarin, they should also receive favorable treatment in employment. Promoting the Study and Preservation of Minority Languages and Cultures Special policies should be created to protect minority languages and cultures. Minority students who excel in their studies should receive favorable treatment in enrollment and employment. These measures will help to preserve minority languages and cultures. 7.4. Case Study: Bilingual Education in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region14 Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region was founded on May 1, 1947. It is the first autonomous ethnic-minority region in China. Fifty-five ethnic groups live in Inner Mongolia, including Daurs, Ewenki, Oroqen, and other ethnic groups. Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region is located in northern China, and is adjacent to Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Hebei, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Ningxia, and Gansu. It borders Mongolia and Russia to the north, and the border length is 4,200 kilometers. Inner Mongolia has a total landmass of 1,183,000 square kilometers. In 2005, the population of Inner Mongolia was 23,864,000. About 18%, or a total of 4,211,200, are Mongolian. The population of other ethnic minorities is 946,400, representing 3.97% of the total population in Inner Mongolia. In 2005, in total there are 5,157,600 ethnic minorities living in Inner Mongolia, representing 21.61% of the total population of Inner Mongolia.15 The region has nine cities, three prefectures, and more than one hundred counties, cities, and districts. Nineteen counties are located in border areas, thirty-three counties are located in grassland areas, and twenty-one counties are located in

14 Thanks to the Nationality Education Section of Ministry of Education and the Nationality Education Department of the Inner-Mongolia Education Bureau. 15 Education Bureau of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, ed., Bilingual Education of Minority Nationalities and Construction of Bilingual Textbooks in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (2007).

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semi-grassland areas. Three counties are minority autonomous counties and nineteen townships are minority townships. 7.4.1. An Overview of Bilingual Education in Inner Mongolia Students Most bilingual students are Mongolian. There are two teaching models. In the first model, Mongolian is the language of instruction. Mandarin courses are offered in primary schools starting at the second grade. In the second model, Mandarin is the language of instruction. Mongolian language is offered in primary schools starting at the second grade. In areas where Korean is the dominant minority language, the same two models are used. Foreign languages are taught in secondary minority schools. Foreign languages are also taught in senior grades in some primary minority schools. Schools In Inner Mongolia, there are 175,800 students enrolled in 547 primary schools. Minority languages are used for instruction in 487 primary schools with a total enrollment of 134,000 students. There are 113,400 students enrolled in 188 regular junior middle schools, of which 159 use minority languages to teach their 77,100 students. The region includes 58 regular high schools with a total enrollment of 80,700. Forty-seven regular high schools use minority languages to teach their 54,000 students. There are three vocational junior middle schools with a total enrollment of 800 students. Two vocational junior middle schools use minority languages to teach their 500 students. There are 21 vocational high schools with a total enrollment of 13,700 students. Twenty-one vocational high schools use minority languages to teach their 7,200 students. There are 165 kindergartens and preschools with a total enrollment of 35,500 students. One hundred and thirty-two kindergartens and preschools use minority languages to teach their 26,800 students (see Figure 7.4). There are 33 colleges and universities that offer courses taught in Mongolian. These higher educational institutes also offer preparatory education programs with a total enrollment of 30,000 minority students. Thirty thousand and forty-nine minority students are enrolled in graduate programs offered by local colleges and universities. Full-time Mongolian Language Teachers There are 14,036 primary school teachers who can teach in Mongolian; 99.65% of them have certificates

a review and analysis of ethnic minority education policies 401

Percentage of students taught in minority languages Schools in which minority languages are used to teach 120.00% 100.00%

100% 89.03% 76.22%

80% 75.49%

80.00%

84.57%

81.03% 66.67% 66.91% 62.50%

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(%) 60.00%

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l ni or Sc voc ho at ol ion s a

Se

l io r Sc voc ho at ol ion s a

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rd in Sc ary ho M ol idd s le

O

io Sc r M ho id ol dle s

Ju n

sc ho y ar im Pr

an

d

K i pr nde e- rg sc ar ho d ol ens cla sse s

ol s

0.00%

Data Source: The Education Bureau of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Constructing Nationality Bilingual Teaching and Creating Textbooks in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, (2007).

Fig. 7.4. Percentages of schools and students using minority languages in inner Mongolia autonomous region.

of competency. There are 7,078 regular junior middle school teachers teaching in Mongolian; 96.31% of them have certificates of competency. There are 3,277 full-time junior middle school teachers teaching in Mongolian; about 88% of them have certificates of competency. There are 44 junior vocational school teachers teaching in Mongolian; about 96% of them have certificates of competency. There are 444 secondary vocational school teachers teaching in Mongolian; 75.23% of them have certificates of competency. There are 1,487 kindergartens and preschool teachers teaching Mongolian; 99.8% of them have certificates of competency. Full-time Bilingual Teachers There are 15,220 full-time bilingual primary school teachers teaching in Mongolian. About 98% of them have certificates of competency, and 58 of them have received at least some college education. There are 7,635 full-time bilingual junior middle school teachers, and 91.77% of them have certificates of competency, and 38.57% of them have a college degree or higher. There are 2,762 full-time bilingual teachers high school teachers. About 84% of these bilingual high school teachers have certificates of competency. There are 153 full-time bilingual junior vocational school teachers. About

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92% of these full-time bilingual junior vocational school teachers have certificates of competency. There are 386 full-time bilingual secondary vocational school teachers, and 59.33% of them have certificates of competency. In addition, there are 203 full-time primary school teachers, 117 full-time junior middle school teachers, 73 full-time high school teachers, one full-time junior vocational school teacher, and 39 full-time secondary vocational school teachers teaching in Mongolian (see figure 7.5). Results Based on Questionnaire Surveys This study selected a few primary and junior ethnic minority schools in Huhhot, Erlianhot, and Sunitezuo counties. Fifty questionnaires were distributed to student participants. Thirty questionnaires were sent to teacher participants. Since the sample is not random, the results cannot be used to generalize the whole region. They only serve to provide an initial and exploratory understanding of bilingual education in the Inner Mongolian Autonomous region. Both students and teachers who were surveyed think Mandarin and minority languages are very important languages in the society. Specifically, 91.49% of the students and 73% of the teachers thought that Mandarin and minority languages are equally important. 120.00%

98.23%

100.00%

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92.16% 84.36%

80.00%

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M Or id di dl na e s ry ch oo l O r M din id ar dl y S es e ch nio oo r l Ju n M ior id Vo dl c e s at ch ion oo al l Se ni M or id Vo dl c e s at ch ion oo al l

Pr Sc ima ho ry ol s

0.00%

Data Source: The Education Bureau of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Constructing Nationality Bilingual Education and Textbooks in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, 2007.

Fig. 7.5. Percentages of bilingual teachers having certificates of competency.

a review and analysis of ethnic minority education policies 403 About 61.54% of the teachers and 58.7% of the students think that the importance of Mandarin arises from the fact that it is the most extensively used language in China. About 2.17% of the students and 7.69% of the teachers attributed the importance of Mandarin to the fact that Mandarin is a compulsory course in schools. About 30.77% of the teachers and 34.78% of the students believed Mandarin is important because it facilitates communication among members of different ethnic groups. About 4.35% of the students who were surveyed believed that a good command of Mandarin will help them find a good job after graduation. In short, the survey shows that given that Mandarin is the most popular language in China, Mandarin has become a compulsory course for ethnic minority students. About 72% of students and 77% of teachers think that minority languages were an important part of cultures and should be studied. Twenty-six percent of students and 23% of teachers said that they value ethnic minority languages because they are their mother tongues. They have deep sense of loyalty and devotion to their own ethnic groups. The major problem that Mongolian students encountered in learning Mandarin was the lack of reference books published in Mongolian. More than half of the students felt there are too few reference books, and 21.74% thought that the textbooks were too difficult to understand. Another 2.17% thought that the quality of instruction was poor. Another 4.35% said that they lack interest in Mandarin, and 19.57% cited other types of difficulties.

60.00%

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Low Teacher Quality

Lack of Interest

0.00% Difficult Textbooks

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Other

Fig. 7.6. Types of difficulties encountered in learning Mandarin.

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70.00% 60.00% 50.00% 40.00% 30.00% 20.00% 10.00% 0.00%

60.87% 32.61% 6.52% All subjects should Be taught in Mandarin

Only as a tool of communication

Does not matter

Attitudes towards Mandarin Classes

Fig. 7.7. Mongolian students’ attitudes toward Mandarin classes.

Poor

12%

Medium

64%

Excellent

24%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

Fig. 7.8. The quality of Mongolian textbooks.

The survey revealed that the majority of students and teachers thought that classes should mainly be taught in minority languages, 6.52% thought every course should be taught in Mandarin, and 32.61% said that it did not matter which languages are used in teaching. As shown in figure 7.8 most teachers thought that the quality of textbooks published in minority languages is average. Figure 7.9 shows that 45.83% of teachers thought that the funds for textbooks in minority languages are insufficient, and 37.50% felt that there is an acute lack of funds for textbooks in minority languages. Only 8.33% of teachers who participated in the survey thought that minority language textbooks were very well funded, and another 8.33%

a review and analysis of ethnic minority education policies 405 50.00%

45.83%

45.00%

37.50%

40.00% 35.00% 30.00% (%) 25.00% 20.00% 15.00% 10.00%

8.33%

8.33%

Very adequate

Adequate

5.00% 0.00% Inadequate

Very inadequate

Funding for textbooks

Fig. 7.9. Funds for compiling and translating minority language textbooks, inner Mongolia.

of teachers felt that the funding was just adequate. In general, funding for textbooks in minority languages was considered inadequate. 7.4.2. Inner Mongolian Experiences in Bilingual Education Promoting the Development of Bilingual Education through Laws and Policies In 2005, the Regulations for Work Concerning Spoken and Written Mongolian in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (内蒙古自治区蒙古语言文字工作 条例) was issued at the Twelfth Session of the Standing Committee of the People’s Congress of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. In the following years, another four related documents were issued to improve and enforce rules and regulations in the 2005 Regulations.16

16 In September 2005, the party committee and government of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region issued the Decision to Strengthen Work Related to Ethnic Minorities and Accelerate the Economic and Social Development of Inner Mongolia (自治区党委、政府 关于进一步加强民族工作加快我区经济社会发展的决定). In 2006, the education bureau of Inner Mongolia created and launched the Development Project of Nationality Education in Inner Mongolia (内蒙古自治区民族教育发展工程). In 2007, the Department of Education of the Autonomous Region issued the Implementation Plan of the Project to Develop Nationality Education in Inner Mongolia (内蒙古自治区民 族教育发展工程实施方案) and the government of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region issued Opinion of the People’s Government of the Inner Mongolia to Improve Nationality Education (内蒙古自治区人民政府关于进一步加强民族教育工作的意见).

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Currently, a new document, Nationality Education Regulations for Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (内蒙古自治区民族教育条例), is being drafted. The dissemination and enforcement of regulations and policies at high levels will contribute to the development of ethnic minority education and bilingual education in Inner Mongolia. Innovation of Guidelines, Principles, and Policies17 Three-language (that is, Mongolian, Mandarin, and a foreign language) experimental classes are offered in high schools where Mongolian is the teaching language. Three-language experimental classes are mainly offered by high schools that are attached to Inner Mongolia Normal University, and are open to all high school students who are registered in Inner Mongolia. In three-language experimental classes, foreign languages are the priority, and the requirement for the Mongolian language is relatively low.18 Three-language experimental classes have proved effective at increasing Mongolian students’ chances of entering colleges. Both ethnic minority primary schools and ethnic minority middle schools are public schools. High school students who are taught in Mongolian qualify for 20% reduction in tuition fees. Scholarships and vocational education subsidies are established. Minority students are given priority in funding. For example, junior vocational students who were taught in Mongolian before entering junior vocational schools qualified to receive vocational education subsidies. The Ethnic Minority Education Development Project launched by the Development and Reform Committee of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region plans to invest 15 million yuan every year during the Eleventh Five-Year Plan period to support bilingual education. 17 The principles guiding bilingual education are as follows: to implement with due diligence the education principles and policies of the party and the country; to develop the use of minority languages in the school system as an important task; to encourage mastery of nationality languages as a basic requirement and the ability to use Mandarin as a necessary requirement; to teach students foreign languages; to consider the actual conditions in different regions and give guidance specific to the region; to respect students’ wishes; to strengthen advocacy and guidance; and to cultivate bilingual professionals who are fluent in their minority language as well as Mandarin and who meet the needs of economic and social development of the country and their autonomous region. 18 Students attending experimental classes are exempt from unified exams. One hundred percent of the scores in foreign languages are included in the total score of college entrance exams. The Mongolian exam includes two papers: Students in the experimental classes write Paper B, which is easier than Paper A. Class hours spent studying the Mongolian language are greatly reduced to allow the study of foreign languages. The experimental classes are taught by the best teachers.

a review and analysis of ethnic minority education policies 407 In addition to the national Mandarin Competency Level Examinations for Ethnic Minorities (MHK), Inner Mongolia introduced the Mongolian Language Competency Exam in 2007 to improve minority students’ Mongolian and Mandarin. Kindergarten education is considered an integral part of the overall plan for educational development. Since 2007, a number of public kindergartens and preschools where Mongolian is the teaching language has been established to improve the quality of preschool education in Inner Mongolia and to provide a stable supply of students who will be taught in Mongolian. Since 2007 the government appropriated 20 million yuan every year to subsidize ethnic minority education. This money will be used for the development of Mongolian textbooks, reference materials, and curriculums, and the purchase and maintenance of teaching facilities. An overall plan for bilingual education is worked out. The development of bilingual education is divided into a few phases, where each phase has different priorities. The aim and the principle of bilingual education have been outlined clearly in governmental documents (Document No. 103, 2007).19 Bilingual Education Research Institutes A number of bilingual education research centers are established and manned by specialists. For example, the Teaching Research Office of the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region established a section on ethnic minority education manned by two specialists. The Inner Mongolian Education Research Institute set up a research office dedicated to ethnic minority education research and was manned by two researchers. The Inner Mongolian Audio-Visual Education Service established an office to conduct research on computer-based teaching in ethnic minority schools. The Inner Mongolia Normal University established the Center for Reform and Development of Ethnic Minority Education to research basic ethnic minority education, higher education, bilingual education, and teacher training.

19 Compulsory education students taught in Mongolian mainly learn the spoken and written language. They also learn Mandarin and foreign languages. Senior middle school students focus on Mandarin and foreign languages. Students in primary and middle Mongolian schools who are taught in Mandarin learn spoken and written Mongolian. Senior middle school graduates who learned in Mongolian improve their study of the subjects having been taught in Mongolian and Mandarin when they go to colleges in the region.

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7.4.3. Major Problems with Bilingual Education Heavy Schoolwork Loads Students in ethnic minority schools are overloaded with schoolwork since they are required to study Mongolian, Mandarin, and a foreign language. A heavy schoolwork load, coupled with poor learning environments, has led to a decrease year after year in the number of students who are enrolled in courses taught in Mongolian. Between 2004 and 2005, for example, there was a drop of more than 12,000 students who were enrolled in classes taught in Mongolian in the entire autonomous region.20 Not Enough Bilingual Teachers Mandarin and foreign language teachers are in short supply in schools where minority languages are the teaching languages. In addition, due to the personnel quota, the speed of revitalizing the contingent of teachers is rather slow. For example, there is a large number of part-time teachers in some schools. Many of these temporary teachers graduate from teachers’ colleges, have high levels of educational attainment, and have received professional training. They are eager and quick to acquire new knowledge. However, due to the personnel quota, there are not enough permanent teaching positions. They have to work as temporary teachers and are poorly paid. Inadequate Textbooks and Teaching Materials in Minority Languages Most teachers say that they lack teaching materials in minority languages. There are inadequate supplies of extracurricular books in Mongolian, teaching equipment, and class materials. A shortage of subsidies for textbooks means that students cannot buy all the requested reference materials and textbooks, so schools must spend more money to buy books for them.

In schools where Mongolian is used for instruction, the Autonomous Region mandates that Mandarin should be taught starting from the second grade in primary schools, and foreign languages should be taught starting from first grade in junior middle schools. However, some schools try to attract more students and meet the demands of parents by offering Mandarin and foreign languages ahead of schedule in spite of substandard conditions of the facilities and teachers. In some primary schools, Mandarin and foreign languages are taught from the first grade. The students have to learn three languages and four phonetic symbols at the outset of their school life. Mongolian has two phonetic symbol systems, Mandarin has one, and foreign language also has one. This puts tremendous pressure on students and often results in students failing to master any of the languages. This undermines the quality of education that the students receive. 20

a review and analysis of ethnic minority education policies 409 Mandarin textbooks of elementary and secondary schools do not match MHK exams. Students Taught in Minority Languages Have Limited Opportunities to Enter Higher Education and Find a Job After Graduation Many colleges and universities outside of Inner Mongolia either do not admit students who are taught in minority languages, or admit very few of them. Students taught in minority languages are confined to colleges or universities located within Inner Mongolia. These admission policies and practices have greatly limited the geographic mobility of students who are taught in minority languages. The biggest problem with minority education in Inner Mongolia is insufficient employment opportunities for graduates, which depresses enrollment rates. 7.4.4. Insights Gained from Examining Bilingual Education Policies of Inner Mongolia Policies Should Fit with the Living Conditions Because students who are taught in minority languages have limited choices of schools and limited employment opportunities, the government of Inner Mongolia has established experimental three-language classes to increase their opportunities to access higher education and increase their competitiveness in the market. In response to the decrease in the number of students who are taught in minority languages, the local government decided to appropriate special funds to cover all the expenditures of running Mongolian-language kindergartens. Behind this fiscal policy is the belief that linguistic education should begin at an early age. In short, policies and measures adopted by Inner Mongolia to promote bilingual education are practical and flexible, and have a clear goal. Complementary Measures to Ensure the Implementation of Bilingual Education The government of the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region has issued a series of complementary policies to ensure the implementation of bilingual education policies. These policies include guaranteed funding for teachers, guaranteed supply of teachers, subsidies for students, special subsidies for ethnic minority education, and preferential employment policies for students taught in minority languages. Policies Have Been Gradually Improved During Implementation The Inner Mongolian government continuously adjusts and improves its bilingual education policies. For example, in response to an increasing number of

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minority students who are losing their mother tongues,21 the local government, while actively promoting MHK, introduced the Mongolian Language Competency Exam in 2007. Preferential policies have been enacted to encourage Mongolian students who have lost their mother tongue to enroll in Mongolian language courses so that they can maintain at least a basic level of competency in the Mongolian language. 7.5. International Experiences with Minority Education The ethnic minority issue is an important one for national security. Ethnic identification and national identification are the psychological bases for national security and are important for a harmonious ethnic relationship in a multiethnic country such as China. Every sovereign government hopes that members of its minority groups can find a way to maintain their own cultural identities—that is, maintain their ethnic and national identities at the same time—while continuing to see themselves as part of the larger country. Therefore, the top priority of ethnic minority education in China is to educate the young people of minority areas in such a way to cultivate their ethnic and national identities. In developed countries, education for ethnic minorities and immigrants follows two lines of development. The first line of development is to educate underrepresented groups to identify with their country. Patriotism is emphasized and is placed above ethnic nationalism. In the United States, patriotic education has become very imperative since the September 11 incident. The second line of development is to respect the cultures of ethnic minorities and immigrants, value cultural diversity, and encourage and support ethnic minorities and immigrants to integrate into mainstream society. Cross-cultural education and multicultural education are terms that can be used to summarize the characteristics of the education policies for minority groups and immigrants in multiethnic societies such as the United Kingdom and the United States. China and its Western counterparts face the same tasks and problems in educating 21 Some Mongolian students who are only educated in Mandarin are no longer able to use Mongolian. They are no longer able to use their language for conversations, reading, and writing. This is more common in urban areas.

a review and analysis of ethnic minority education policies 411 their ethnic minorities. On one hand, both the Chinese government and its Western counterparts have the responsibility of protecting the right of minority groups to receive education so that they have an equal opportunity to access higher education and equal employment opportunities, which helps to accelerate their integration into mainstream society. On the other hand, ethnic minority education in China and other multiethnic countries also have the obligation of protecting cultural heritage and cultural diversity. How to resolve these two problems on the basis of effective multiethnic education policies is the challenge faced by all multiethnic countries. Since the 1960s when multiculturalism was first introduced into the field of education, Western governments have been very enthusiastic about multicultural education. A number of policies and measures have been implemented to promote multicultural education. Western governments have accumulated many invaluable experiences in multicultural educational policy making, which are valuable references for China as it creates its own ethnic minority education policies. 7.5.1. Citizenship Education and Multicultural Education Policies in the United Kingdom The United Kingdom is a multiracial country. The dominant ethnic group is English, which accounts for 78.4% of the total population. Ethnic minorities include Scottish, Welsh, Irish, Jewish, Indian, Pakistani, and other ethnic minority groups. Ethnic minorities account for 16% of the total population. There are also immigrants from the West Indies, Africa, and Asia. British multicultural education is built on the premise that all ethnic groups are a part of the country and should be united around the country. On this basis, the British government gradually accepts the concept of multiculturalism in response to an increasing demand for democracy and equal education opportunities. The British government pursues multicultural education policies and issues rules and regulations to guide and regulate multicultural education. Preserving Cultural Diversity while Maintaining One Unified System of Education In a multicultural democracy, it is very important to cultivate a sense of integration because this affects the security of the country. However, attempts to create a sense of integration appear to run counter to the

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desire of creating a multicultural society.22 Political wisdom is therefore required. Immigration and globalization have greatly changed the social fabric of the United Kingdom, turning it into a multicultural society. The UK government has taken a number of measures in order to reach a balance between nationality education and multicultural education. First, the law regulated that nationality courses and citizenship education courses be taught in primary and junior middle schools. The goal of nationality education and citizenship education is to create patriotism among adolescents and young adults. In 1988, the Law on Education was issued. It defined nationality courses, including three core courses (English, mathematics, and sciences) and seven foundation courses (technology, history, geography, arts, music, physical education, and a modern foreign language). The law also defined the academic goals and study plans for the core courses. Every public primary and junior middle school in England and Wales is required to provide extensive and balanced courses (including nationality courses and religious courses) to children between the ages of 5 and 16. The existing examination system is also strengthened after the introduction of nationality courses. The contents of nationality courses are subject to the supervision and evaluation of independent legal entities.23 In short, the promulgation of the Education Law strengthened the central government’s control over schools and increased the rigor of the national exam and its scope of influence. Students’ progress can now be evaluated according to national standards. National education standards have been extended throughout the country. Second, in the late 1990s the Ministry of Education appointed Bernard Crick to head the Citizenship Education and School Democracy Education Consulting Committee to investigate and research citizenship education and to provide policy suggestions. The final results, included in the “Crick’s Report,” were published in 1998. The report elaborated on the necessity, purposes, contents, methods, and priorities of citizenship education.24 The “Crick’s Report” is an important 22 C. Taylor, “The Politics of Recognition,” in Multiculturalism: Examining the Politics of Recognition, ed. A. Gutmann (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994), 25–74. 23 Xue Eryong, “Exploration and Analysis of the Policy Model of the Balanced Development of the Education of Minor Communities,” Research of Foreign Education 8 (2007): 45–49. 24 “Education for Citizenship and the Teaching of Democracy in Schools,” accessed on July 4, 2008, http://www.qca.org.uk/qca_4851.aspx.

a review and analysis of ethnic minority education policies 413 document. It played an important role in strengthening citizenship education in the UK. Before the “Crick’s Report” was published, citizenship education was not an independent course. It was embodied in other courses such as history and geography. After the “Crick’s Report” was published, a new school curriculum was created in September of 2000. It stipulated that starting in August of 2002 citizenship education was a compulsory course for every student in primary and junior middle schools.25 Strengthening citizenship education is a goal shared by all members of the European Union. They understand that citizenship education is an effective way to establish a harmonious relationship between the whole and its parts, which are becoming increasingly diverse. Citizenship education is also considered an important way to deal with the impact of globalization on national unity. At the conference on Raising the Quality of Education for All People, the ministers of education of the member countries of the European Economic Cooperative Organization agreed that the goals of education are not only the transmission of marketable work skills but also the cultivation of the citizen’s modern democracy and social harmony consciousness: “The challenge for education is how to cultivate modern citizens with marketable work skills, democracy awareness and who safeguard social unity.” Defining the qualities of citizenship in a democracy is a political issue, however. In general the definition should include the following elements: “justice, tolerance, cooperation, social values, and public spirit.”26 To strengthen citizenship education, the British government focuses on system construction, which includes passing laws and building institutions. The British government believes that the national education system plays an important role in integrating sub-cultural groups into the mainstream society and ensuring that sub-cultural groups have equal political rights. Equality can only be achieved through educational, economic, and social equalities. Tolerance towards cultural diversity will not impede the progress of political integration, or undermine the status of mainstream cultures. On the contrary, mainstream values and

25 Audrey Osler, and Hugh Starkey, “Education for Democratic Citizenship: A Review of Research, Policy and Practice 1995–2005,” Research Papers in Education 21 (2006): 433–66. 26 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Issues for Discussion at the Meeting of OECD Ministers of Education (Dublin, March 2004): 18–19.

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beliefs can be strengthened through tolerance and respect for minority cultural values and beliefs.27 Based on this understanding, the Education Law regulates that Welsh should be a core course taught in Welsh schools.28 In 1993, the Welsh Language Law was enacted. The Welsh language was considered as important as English. The British government also took a number of active measures to increase the literacy of minority students, as well as language and math skills, in a hope to help them achieve higher grades and pass ordinary education certificate exams so that they can continue on to universities. Education Legislation is Another Feature of the Multicultural Education in the UK The British government emphasizes education legislation. This is reflected in the way that the British government promotes citizenship education. The British government also emphasizes legislation in promoting multicultural education. Many policies are turned into laws to protect the legal rights of ethnic minorities to receive education. Multicultural education legislation covers languages and the right to receive education. The British government enacted the first Welsh Language Law in 1967 and the Welsh Language Law in 1993 to protect the legal status of Welsh in public life. The law maintains that Welsh and English are equally important. To promote the Welsh language, the British government set up the Welsh Language Committee. The Education Reform Law issued in 1988 specifically stipulates that Welsh should be included as a core course in Welsh schools in Wales. The Welsh language is also a basic course in non-Welsh schools in Wales.29 7.5.2. The Affirmative Action Plan in the United States Affirmative action refers to policies and measures adopted by the US government to eliminate racial and sexual discrimination in education and employment and improve the social and economic conditions of women and minority groups. This plan was first put into place in 27 A. Madeleine, Race and Gender: Equal Opportunities Policies in Education (London: Pergamon Press, 1985), 40. 28 Lu Da and Zhou Mansheng, Contemporary Works on Education Reforms in Foreign Countries, vol. 1, (Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 2004). 29 Xue Eryong, “Exploration and Analysis of the Policy Model of the Balanced Development of Education for Minority Communities,” Foreign Education Research 8 (2007) 45–49.

a review and analysis of ethnic minority education policies 415 the 1960s. The civil rights movement was the driving force. In 1961, President Kennedy used the term Affirmative Action Plan for the first time in Executive Order No. 10952. In 1965, President Johnson issued Executive Order No. 11246 which required all government contractors to take affirmative action to ensure that no applicant or employee was discriminated against because of his or her race, religion, skin color, or national origin. This executive order marked that the Affirmative Action Plan was formally established in the United States. The education policies in the Affirmative Action Plan include race as a factor of consideration in school admission and funding. All schools that take contracts from the federal government or are funded by the federal government are required to have a special recruitment plan to increase women’s and minority students’ opportunities to access higher education. The federal government spends large sums of money to reward those schools that take affirmative action.30 Schools that take contracts from the federal government or are funded by the federal government are also required to (1) increase their financial aid to ethnic minorities to help them finish school; (2) increase the supply of supplementary education to disadvantaged students and improve their school performance; and (3) hire minority teachers and female teachers, establish courses on ethnic minority studies and female studies, and improve the study environment for minority students. The Affirmative Action Plan played a positive role in protecting the right of minority students to receive education. It increased minority students’ enrollment rates and their employment opportunities. Statistics show that the plan increased the proportion of disadvantaged social groups (including ethnic minorities and women) who have received and completed higher education. It has also contributed to the increase in achievement rates for African and Spanish American undergraduates and postgraduates.31 In recent years there has been

30 Beverly Lindsay and Manuel J. Justiz. The Quest for Equality in Higher Education (New York: State University of New York Press, 2001), vii. 31 From 1959 to 2003, the college graduation rate of African American youth aged 25 to 29 increased by 4.6% to 17.2%. The college graduation rate of Spanish Americans increased from 5.7% in 1974 to 10% in 2003. After 1976, the number of African American students in law schools doubled, while Spanish American students attending law schools increased sixfold. From 1978 to 2003, African American students in medical schools increased threefold. Spanish students in medical schools increased twofold. See William G. Bowen, Martin A. Kurzweil, and Eugene M. Tobin, Equality and Excellence in American Higher Education (London: University of Virginia Press, 2005), 40.

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a backlash against the Affirmative Action Plan. In some states it has even been abolished. The results are disastrous. In 1998, Washington State abolished the Affirmative Action Plan. In the following year, there was a 41% decrease in African American applicants to the Law School of Washington State University and a 21% decrease in Hispanic applicants.32 The Affirmative Action Plan has effectively improved the social status of disadvantaged groups and reduced class and racial conflicts. An increasing number of nonwhites entered the elite society. Data show that the numbers of African American lawyers, doctors, university professors, engineers, and officials gradually increased from 1940 to 1970. After 1970, the numbers dramatically increased. From 1970 to 1990, for example, the number of African American professors doubled. The number of African American doctors increased twofold. The number of African American engineers increased threefold, and the number of African American lawyers increased sixfold.33 7.5.3. Policies and Measures for Pluralistic Cultural Education in Canada Canada is one of the largest immigrant countries in the world. The history of Canada is a history of multiculturalism. Now there are more than 100 racial and ethnic groups in Canada, and Canada has one of the most diverse populations in the world. Every ethnic group has its own rich cultural heritage and history. Canadians often use the word “mosaic” to describe their country’s pluralistic culture. Canada’s cultural mosaic is the most obvious feature of Canadian society, especially in larger cities such as Toronto and Vancouver. Pluralistic Education in Canada Based on a Bilingual Approach Multicultural policies are built on bilingual education in Canada. Canadian citizens are required to master at least one of Canada’s two official languages (English or French) to prepare themselves to participate in Canadian society. Multicultural policies can also be found in education. Multicultural education includes cultural preservation programs, official language education, multicultural education, and anti-racism Qiao Yuquan, American Education in the 21st Century (Beijing: Higher Education Publishing House, 2000), 190. 33 Zhu Shida, ed., Contemporary Culture and Society in USA (Beijing: China’s Social Science Publishing House, 2000), 489. 32

a review and analysis of ethnic minority education policies 417 education. Cultural preservation programs, for example, are aimed at encouraging each ethnic and racial group to preserve their unique ethnic cultures. To reach this goal, ethnic minority students are offered courses on their languages and ethnic cultures. Pluralistic Education Is at the Heart of Pluralistic Cultural Policies The Canadian Federal Government has created a series of education policies and adopted several measures to promote multicultural policies. Provinces have the power to conduct multicultural education according to local conditions. Multiculturalism is reflected in school education. Schools use textbooks that better reflect differences between races, cultures, and areas. Students’ abilities to see, analyze, and think from the perspective of other cultures are also instilled through the selection of course materials. Families are also important venues for multicultural education. Parents exert subtle influences on their children through their attitudes toward other cultures. Cultural mosaics have become a part of Canadians’ lives. 7.5.4. Drawing Inspiration from Other Countries’ Experiences China’s nationality education can draw inspiration from the experiences of the countries described above. The Priority of Nationality Education is to Create Harmony among Nationalities and the Acceptance of China As a Community of Nationalities The mission of nationality education is to develop an identity with the Chinese nation among all ethnic groups,34 while promoting multicultural policies. Nationality education plays an irreplaceable role in safeguarding unity and promoting common development among all ethnic groups. Every one of the 56 ethnic groups that now resides in China has gone through thousands of years of development during which they have developed their unique ethnic identities. More importantly, in the long course of development they have developed a harmonious relationship with other ethnic groups and have become increasingly aware of the fact that the Chinese nation is a unit of fifty-six ethnic groups. None of the ethnic groups can develop and become prosperous without the

34 Fei Xiaoton, ed., Multiple and Unified Basic Patterns of the Chinese Nation (Beijing: Central Nationality University Publishing House, 1999).

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support of the great family of the Chinese nation. These ideas are the core of the theory on the diversity in unity of the Chinese Nation. Nationality Education Legislation, Guidance, and Administration Caring for and helping the disadvantaged and protecting their educational right is a long-term project and is highly dependent on the support and attention from the government. The government must allocate education resources fairly. It must also create policies and enact legislation that ensures that all citizens will receive education. To this end, the development of nationality education is of national concern and needs to be an effort of the entire country. Education legislation is the most commonly used strategy for promoting educational development among ethnic minorities. Each country develops their own legislative mechanisms to promote the academic performance of ethnic minority students, including the formulation and implementation of educational compensation plans, alternative education plans, and other forms of assistance. For example, the United States Congress enacted several special rules and regulations to support education for poor children, bilingual education, immigrant education, and education for Native Americans. The federal government launched the Affirmative Action Plan and the Preschool Intervention Plan. The British government published the Green Book “Every Child Matters: Change for Children” in 2003 and enacted the Children’s Law (儿童法) in 2004. These two legal documents legalized and systematized many policies and measures that are aimed at promoting children’s opportunities in life. The themes that run through these two legal documents are that no child should be left behind and the gap between disadvantaged children and other children should be narrowed. From these international experiences, we can see that the keys to ensuring rapid development of minority education in China are strengthening the government’s responsibility and enacting nationality education legislation. Striking a Balance between Plurality and Unification in Education It has been a challenge to keep a balance between developing a common identity with the nation among all ethnic groups and promoting cultural diversity. Western countries face the same kind of challenges. For instance, the British government encourages minority groups to maintain their own cultural identities while accepting mainstream culture through education. The history and humanity courses offered in British schools

a review and analysis of ethnic minority education policies 419 focus on British and European cultures, however, while hoping that students will keep their own cultural identities. Students of all ethnic groups should also develop a sense of belonging to the United Kingdom—the basis of constructing a national identity. The adoption of a standard examination system in the whole country is also a strategy adopted by the British government to maintain a balance between diversity and unity. For example, the Education Law of Great Britain introduced nationwide curriculums to strengthen school administration and improve students’ academic achievement. The introduction of nationwide curriculums also increased the state’s control over exams and the influence of national exams. It provides a national standard to measure students’ progress. In developing multicultural education the British government has increased its control over education. Departments and offices (such as the School Financial Assistance Bureau and the Education Standard Bureau) are established to plan and evaluate school establishment, school mergers, and school separations. The Education Law issued in 2002 states that the Welsh Congress is entitled to provide financial subsidies to institutions and personnel35 in order to achieve a balanced development of minority nationality education. The Design and Development of Curriculums to Protect the Right to Education Classrooms are in a position of utmost importance to implement multicultural education. Curriculum development and designs are directly related to the effectiveness of multicultural education. The US social science curriculum reform that started in the 1980s and 1990s reflects the requirements for multicultural education. It provides a fundamental guarantee of effectively implementing multicultural education. Multicultural education is a systematic work. A multicultural perspective should be adopted in school management, class management, curriculum designs, teacher training, and teaching and class evaluations; it is the precondition for multicultural education reform. Multicultural education has directly influenced curriculum reform in the United States. In 1991, New York State stipulated that one of the goals of compulsory education was to cultivate students’ capabilities to understand, appreciate, and cooperate with each other, as well as

35 Lu Da and Zhou Mansheng, Contemporary Works on Education Reforms in Foreign Countries, bk. 2, (Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 2004), 248.

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to cultivate the capabilities to know how to understand and appreciate each other’s values, beliefs, and attitudes, in spite of differences in race and ethnicities, national origins, religion, political stances, socioeconomic background, sex, and educational background.36 That same year, the New York State Social Studies Review and Development Committee stipulated that a multicultural perspective should be explicitly written into the social sciences curriculums of the Association of Social Science. The committee defined ten social themes. The contents of cultural themes include the common characteristics of different cultures, how belief systems (such as religion and political ideals) influence other aspects of cultures, how culture changes and simulates different thoughts and beliefs, and how languages reflect cultures. In the school system, cultural themes are reflected in courses such as history, geography, sociology, anthropology, and multicultural studies.37 The transmission of multicultural ideas depends on an effective multicultural curriculum. In China both curriculums and textbooks are too simple; this impedes the development of nationality education. How to reflect multicultural characteristics in curriculums and textbooks is a challenge for nationality education in China. It is therefore imperative to develop textbooks and teaching materials in minority languages and develop high-quality courses that can best reflect the ethnic relationships in China, that is, unity in diversity. 7.6. Policy Suggestions Globalization has brought about a number of challenges to the development of the unity-in-diversity education policy in China. In particular, foreign anti-China forces and national separatists work in collaboration with each other in attempts to split China apart. In view of this international situation as well as the state of development of ethnic minority education in China, we make the following policy recommendations.

36 Zhong Qiquan and Zhang Hua, eds., The Research of the Trend of the Curricular Reforms in the World: Curricular Reforms of Specific Countries (Beijing: Beijing Normal University Publishing House, 2001), 330–31. 37 Han Xue, “Analysis of the Contents of Social Science Curriculums in USA,” Magazine of Capital Normal University 1 (2004): 108–13.

a review and analysis of ethnic minority education policies 421 7.6.1. Nationality Education Should Foster an Atmosphere of Acceptance of a Unified Multiethnic China Chinese nationality education is centered on building a national identity among all ethnic groups. The State Council issued the Decision to Further Reform and Accelerate the Development of Minority Education in July 2002, insisting that nationality education “should concentrate on maintaining and developing an equal, united, and mutually supportive socialist relationship among all ethnic groups,” and “all ethnic groups should make conscious efforts to establish the ideology of safeguarding national unity and opposing national splits.” Nevertheless, due to a lack of strong system design, a number of problems have emerged in practice. The Chinese government is therefore recommended to draw experiences from the United Kingdom and systematize the unity-in-diversity theory, emphasize national unity in ethnic minority education, and take effective measures to provide support in developing curriculum, editing and compiling materials, and training teachers so that ethnic minorities can start developing their national identities when they are still children. 7.6.2. Understanding the Targets of Nationality Education Policies The precondition for an effective ethnic minority education policy is to have a clear policy target. The Chinese ethnic minority education policies should incorporate basic values that focus on human beings value equality in education, and balanced development. Ethnic minorities must be given preferential treatment in order to reduce the gap between ethnic minorities and the Hans in social and economic development, a gap that is attributed to historical, social, and natural reasons. There are two main challenges to reach these targets: first, how to guarantee that members of ethnic minority groups have equal rights to be educated; and second, how to provide educational resources of high quality to ensure a healthy development of nationality education. To realize these two objectives, ethnic minority education policies must account for cultural differences among minority students. Minority students should also be given preferential treatments in admission, enrollment, access to higher education, entrance exams, and employment. Government should allocate more financial resources to help develop teaching materials in minority languages, train minority teachers and purchase necessary teaching equipment.

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7.6.3. Completion of Relevant Policy Systems Problems that emerged in the practices of ethnic minority education show that there is an urgent need to develop relevant policies to regulate and support the supply of education funds, teacher training, textbook editing, and employment. Policies that are related to the supply of education funds (financial resources) and teacher training (human resources) are the most important. 7.6.4. Target Special Problems with Nationality Education Nationality education policies must address certain unique problems. This is particularly true with regard to the relationship between policies on nationality education and traditional cultures and minority languages. Traditional cultures of ethnic minority groups and nationality education are inextricably linked to and interdependent of each other. However, in practice they have not been integrated well in the current system of nationality education. Currently, education in schools does not play an active role in passing on students’ ethnic cultural traditions. Spoken and written minority languages are important characteristics of minority groups, and are also the carriers of minority cultures. Education authorities need to recognize that they are also an important means of expression. Learning how to use the spoken and written languages of ethnic minority groups is a key principle as well as a core requirement of nationality education. Nationality education is faced with the important tasks of improving bilingual education policies and promoting the development of curriculums in minority languages in order to ensure that minority students acquire work skills while using their own languages. 7.6.5. A Timely Upgrade of Nationality Education Policies to Nationality Education Laws China has accumulated many invaluable experiences in developing and implementing ethnic education policies in the past years. The time has come to transform those positive experiences into laws. There is an urgent need in China to enact the Education Ordinance for Ethnic Minorities (少数民族教育条例). At the same time, China should begin to draft A Law on Nationality Education for Ethnic Minorities (少数民族教 育法). This will be the basic law on nationality education in China.

a review and analysis of ethnic minority education policies 423 The Chinese government should actively create favorable conditions to implement it. A Minority Nationality Education Law (少数民族教育法) would play a profound and influential role in protecting and guaranteeing the right of ethnic minorities to receive education. It would also help to accelerate the progress of modernization in the minority areas and contribute to the development of all of China. References Banks, James A. An Introduction to Multicultural Education. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1994. Bo, Wang. Analysis of President Kennedy’s Policies on the Human Rights of Black People. Shanghai: Shanghai People’s Publishing House, 2002. Cizek, Gregory. Handbook of Educational Policy. San Diego: Academic Press, 1999. Code of Federal Regulations (Title 25-Indians). Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1997. Crawford, Leslie W. Language and Literacy. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1993. Diaz, Carlos, ed. Multicultural Education for the 21st Century. Washington, DC: National Education Association of the United States, 1992. Dongchang, He, ed. Important Works on Education in the People’s Republic of China (1998– 2002). Haikou: Hainan Publishing House. Donghai, Jin, ed. Research on Policies of Minority Nationality Education. Lanzhou: Gansu Education Publishing House, 2002. Fuchang, Guo, ed. Research on Important Theoretical Problems of Minority Nationality in China. Kunming: Yunnan People’s Publishing House, 1997. Fuxing, Liu. Analysis of the Values of Education Policies. Beijing: Education Science Publishing House, 2003. Gibson, Margret, and John U. Ogbu, eds. Minority Status and Schooling: A Comparative Study of Immigrant and Involuntary Minorities. New York: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1991. Jian, Wang. On Family Education. Lanzhou: Gansu Education Publishing House, 2002. Jiancheng, Zhang, ed. Pluralistic Culture Education: Our Tasks and Others’ Experience. Taibei: Publishing Co. Limited of Taiwan Normal University, 2000. Jingxong, Ha, and Teng Xing, eds. On Nationality Education. Beijing: Education Science Publishing House, 2001. Lipeng, Chen. New Theory of Legislation of Minor Nationality Education in China. Beijing: Central University Publishing House, 2007. Manchao, Zeng, ed. Economical Analysis of Education Policies. Beijing: People’s Education Publishing House, 2000. National Education Research and Development Centre, ed. Movements and Trends of Education Reforms in Developed Countries. Vols. 1–6. Beijing: People’s Education Publishing House. Qilin, Ma. Reforms and Development of Nationality Education in China. Beijing: Education Science Publishing House, 2000. Quanhu, Hong, and Wu Xueyan, eds. Education of Original Residents in Taiwan. Taibei: Taiwan Normal University Publishing Company, Ltd, 1999. Quanhu, Hong, et al. Nationality Education and Nationality Relationships. Taibei: Shi Ying Publishing House, 1997.

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Ravitch, Diane. Brookings Papers on Education Policy 1999. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 1999. Ruoqong, Sun, ed. On Minority Nationality Education. Beijing: China Labor Publishing House, 1990. Shengyi, Piao, and Cheng Fangping. History of Nationality Education. Haikou: Hainan Publishing House, 2001. Shiliang, Lin. Development and Research of Nationality Education in China. Tianjin: Tianjin People’s Publishing House. Shimin, Wu, ed. Nationality Education in China. Beijing: Great Wall Publishing House, 2000. Shimin, Wu. The Great Development of the West and Nationality Problems. Beijing: Nationality Publishing House, 2001. Tiezhi, Wang, ed. Theories and Practice of Policies on Nationalities in the New Era. Beijing: Nationality Publishing House, 2001. Wenda, Huo, ed. Research of Important Problems in the Reforms and Development of Minority Nationality Higher Education in China. Haikou: South Sea Publishing Company, 2005. Xihong, Wang. Analysis of Ontological Theories of Nationality Education in China. Beijing: Nationality Publishing House, 1998. Xing, Teng. Changes of Cultures and Bilingual Education: Field Work and Presentation of Educational Anthropological Work in Yi Nationality Community in Liangshan Area. Beijing: Education Science Publishing House, 2001. Xing, Teng, and Wangjun, eds. Minority Nationalities and Education in China in 20th Century. Beijing: Nationality Publishing House, 2002. Yan, Dong. Cultural Environment and Bilingual Education: Case Study of Jingbo Nationality. Beijing: Nationality Publishing House, 2002. Yong, Zhou. Legal Principles of the Rights of Minorities. Beijing: Scientific Works Publishing House, 2002. Zhenguo, Yuan, ed. On Education Policies. Nanjing: Jiangsu Education Publishing House, 2001. Zhu, Xia, Ha Jingxiong and Abudu, eds. 50 Years of Nationality Education in China. Beijing: Red Flag Publishing House, 1999.

CHAPTER EIGHT

THE REPORT OF CHINA’S PRIVATE EDUCATION POLICY DEVELOPMENT Wu Hua and Wen Dai* 8.1. An Introduction to the Development of China’s Private Education Private education is an important institutional innovation in the education field during the reform and the opening-up era in mainland China. Although China had the longest tradition of private education in the world, private education almost disappeared in the new China in the 1960s. When it comes to the reform era, the old tradition of private education revived in the name of nongovernmental (Minban) education and has achieved a lot in the past 30 years. The interruption and revival of private education in China and rich practices of China’s nongovernmental education has exceeded that of the original design as a supplement to public education. Private education has made progress in terms of increasing educational provision, improving educational fairness, promoting educational efficiency, and expanding educational freedom; this offers a wonderful experience for developing countries to learn how to speed up their local education, and provides important theoretical resources for rethinking the future direction of Chinese education and constructing the Chinese modern public education system. Therefore, the international significance of Chinese private education is gradually emerging. By the end of 2007, there were 95,200 private schools and institutions, and the number of enrolled students was 25,835,000.1 Though the figure only occupied 17.6% of schools and 10.3% of students that year, the increasing percentage of private education from 1996 to 2007 has surpassed that of public education in the same period (see table 8.1).2 * Wu Hua, professor, School of Education, Zejiang University; Wen Dai, PhD candidate, School of Education Management. 1 “The Statistic Communiqué of the 2007 National Education Development,” http://www.moe.edu.cn/edoas/website18/54/info1209972965475254. 2 Before 1996, national educational statistics did not include private education.

–31.08

–11.92

566

2348.83

129100

217

130.39 134.88 170.78 222.43 284.26 341.93 400.52 480.23 584.11 668.09 775.69 868.75 2666.33

24466 24643 30824 37020 44317 44526 48400 55500 62200 68800 75426 77616 187300

Students (10000)

–50.45

299

321000

1453 1806 2504 3264 4341 4846 5122 5676 6047 6242 6161 5798 646000

Schools

–22.41

869

10564

46.32 52.23 72.76 97.69 130.81 181.84 222.14 274.93 328.32 388.94 412.09 448.79 13615

Students (10000)

Primary schools Students (10000)

–12.14

276

59400

13.63

1286

5736.19

1191 29.76 1460 40.39 1809 53.59 2129 71.71 2730 99.14 3171 160.42 School: 5362 3651 256.57 4243 317.17 4608 372.42 4550 394.06 4482 412.55 67600 5047.95

Schools

Middle school

12.81

542

15681

483 637 874 1177 1517 1849 Students: 2679 2953 3175 3246 3101 13900

Schools

227.9

2565

2522.4

9.23 14.83 24.16 36.32 51.48 74.51 305.91 141.37 184.73 226.78 247.72 245.96 769.25

Students (10000)

High school

–38.46

443

14832

545 673 885 937 978 999 1085 1377 1633 2017 2559 2958 24100

Schools

50.52

1975

1987.01

12.41 17.74 23.64 26.75 29.19 35.67 47.05 79.31 109.94 154.14 202.63 257.54 1320.06

Students (10000)

84.88

1314

1908

21 20 25 37 37 89 133 175 228 252 278 297 1032

Schools

522.59

13377

1880.9

1.21 1.61 2.22 4.02 6.83 14.04 31.98 81 139.75 105.17 133.79 163.07 302.11

Students (10000)

Vocational middle Colleges/Universities school

Data Source: Ministry of Education, “The Statistic Communiqué of the 2007 National Education Development,” each year; The Department of Developmental Plan, Ministry of Education, Green Book of 2002 Chinese Private Education (Shanghai: Shanghai Education Publishing House, 2003). Note: 1. Increase Percentage = (2007 data–1996 data) / 1996 data × 100%. 2. The 2002 data has not classified middle school and high school. 3. Enrolled students in private colleges in 2004 include the data of enrolled students of independent institutes. 4. Increase1 is for private education; increase2 is the total number of the whole nation.

1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 Nation (1996) Nation (2007) Increase 1 (%) Increase 2 (%)

Schools

Kindergartens

Table 8.1. The Statistics of the Development of Chinese Private Education

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The emergence of private education largely contributed to educational resources, which improved and promoted educational and social fairness. In fact, private education, which provided 25,830,000 new educational opportunities, improved the situation of educational fairness in Chinese society. During this process, more than 25,380,000 students were educated because of private education; therefore this is a typical procedure of social development. One thing that must be mentioned is that children of the floating population, one of the most disadvantaged groups, obtain the opportunity of schooling because of the existence of private schools. If private schools can get public financial support, tuition of these schools will go down; therefore the school scale will expand, and there will be competition between educational services.3 However, it can be seen that almost all types of private schools’ speed of increase slows down after 2003, which means that the civil society had less interest to invest, among which the number of private schools and middle schools has declined for two years since 2006, and private high schools and their enrolled students decreased simultaneously in 2007. Although vocational middle schools have relatively quicker rates

1000 900 800 700

Kindergarten Primary Junior High Vocational College

600 500 400 300 200 100 0 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

Figure 8.1. Enrolled students in private schools in China, 1996–2007. Even high tuition fees exclude ordinary low-income familys; this is not related to educational fairness, because private schools did not occupy public educational resources. Instead, the existence of private schools will help disadvantaged groups obtain more public educational resources. 3

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9000 8000 7000 Kindergarten Primary Junior High Vocational College

6000 5000 4000 3000 2000 1000 0 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

Figure 8.2. The number of private schools in China, 1996–2007 (unit: 1; kindergarten: 1).

Annual Growth Rate of Schools (%)

Annual Growth Rate of Students (%)

35.00 30.00 25.00 20.00 15.00 10.00 5.00 0.00 1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

Figure 8.3. The increase of private preschool education, 1997–2007.

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Annual Growth Rate of Schools (%)

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Annual Growth Rate of Students (%)

45.00 40.00 35.00 30.00 25.00 20.00 15.00 10.00 5.00 0.00 –5.00

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

–10.00

Figure 8.4. The increase of private primary schools, 1997–2007.

Annual Growth Rate of Schools (%)

Annual Growth Rate of Students (%)

70.00 60.00 50.00 40.00 30.00 20.00 10.00 0.00 1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2004

2005

2006

–10.00

Figure 8.5. The increase of private middle schools, 1997–2007.

2007

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wu hua and wen dai Annual Growth Rate of Schools (%)

Annual Growth Rate of Students (%)

70.00 60.00 50.00 40.00 30.00 20.00 10.00 0.00 1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2004

2005

2006

2007

–10.00

Figure 8.6. The increase of private high schools, 1997–2007.

Annual Growth Rate of Schools (%)

Annual Growth Rate of Students (%)

80.00 70.00 60.00 50.00 40.00 30.00 20.00 10.00 0.00 1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

Figure 8.7. The increase of private middle vocational education, 1997–2007.

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Annual Growth Rate of Students (%)

180.00 160.00 140.00 120.00 100.00 80.00 60.00 40.00 20.00 0.00 –20.00

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

–40.00

Figure 8.8. The increase of private high school education, 1997–2007.

of increase, the speed of increase has also slowed down. Why did this phenomenon emerge at the same time that the Law of Promoting Private Education (民办教育促进法) was issued? What is the relationship between the two? Has the trend already taken shape? Does it mean that the expansion of private education has already reached its limit? All these questions need to be examined further. In 2007, all levels of private schools and other educational institutions in China offered more than 3 million teacher and staff positions and provided more than 8 million students with learning opportunities after graduation from high schools, which relieved the pressure of the job market and equivalently offered 11 million jobs. If calculated according to the idea that a city must invest 100,000 yuan for each job, the above endeavors amount to a social investment of more than 1,100 billion which decreases the unemployment rate by more than 4%.4

4 National Bureau of Statistics, The national registered unemployment rate from 2003 to 2007, http://www.stats.gov.cn/tjgb/qttjgb/qgqttjgb/t20080521_402481634 .htm.

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Since 2006, tuition of private schools per year has accumulated to more than 100 billion. If accounting for financial education funds as 65% of the whole-year education fund, tuition added by private schools is equivalent to adding more than 60 billion yuan to the public education fee (see table 8.2). The total five-year tuition fee of private education from 2003 to 2007 (not including financial investment) exceeds more than 300 billion, which is equivalent to adding more than 150 billion yuan to the public education fee. During the same period, some important educational social development projects, such as the Project of Two Basics in the West, the Rural Boarding School Construction Project, the Long-Distance Education Project of Rural Primary and Middle Schools, and the Financial Guarantee Policy for Rural Compulsory Education, sponsored by different levels of government, invested no more than 100 billion total.5 Without the contribution of private education to educational development, the financial stress faced by the government in promoting educational fairness is even more difficult. Although private education contributes greatly to the transformation of Chinese society, promoting educational development, and advancing social development, the legal rights of private schools and related groups have not obtained deserved respect and security. Regardless of whether it is before or after the promulgation of the Law of Promoting Private Education (办教育促进法), private education actually has not received the same legal rights as public education. The law, in the policies of the government, has not obtained power of implementation. It is especially important to note that at the fifth anniversary of the promulgation of The Law of Promoting Private Education, the government has pushed for compulsory education within cities, to avoid the charge of tuition and other miscellaneous fees. The Law of Promoting Private Education’s related laws have performed no practical function, and private education once again has been seriously harmed. The point

5 According to both the average level of student fees from all forms of education at all levels and China’s educational statistical data in 2007. If estimated under the situation of totally free compulsory education, China can save about 33.3 billion yuan of public finance. See the news reports on “The Project of Two Basics in the West” and “New Mechanism to Ensure Funding for Rural Compulsory Education (2009),” China Education Newspaper (2007).

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Table 8.2. Public Education Funds Assumed by Private Education in 20076

Education operating expanse within the budget per student (yuan) public funds within the budget per student (yuan) registered students in private schools in 2007 (10,000) equivalent to saved education funds within the budget (10,000)

Primary schools

Middle schools

High schools

Vocational Colleges and schools universities

1,633.51

1896.56

2240.96

2163.69

5,868.53

270.94

378.42

449.15

407.28

2,513.33

448.79

412.55

245.96

257.54

163.07

733,103

782,426

551,187

557,237

956,981

Note: The figures are estimated according to the Report on Educational Funds Expenditure of China (http://www.moe.gov.cn/edoas/website18/53/info36953.htm). The statistic communiqué of the 2007 national education development (http://www.moe.gov.cn/edoas/website18/54/info1209972965475254 .htm). In 2006, the national educational fund was 981.531 billion yuan, and the allocated educational fund by the central and local governments was 579.561 billion yuan (not including the additional city education fee), occupying 59% of the national education fund. The national financial educational fund (including the educational allocation from all levels of governments, additional educational funds, enterprise allocation in the enterprise schools, and school industry exemption tax) is 634.836 billion yuan, which occupied 65% of the national educational fund.

at which private education can enjoy equal legal rights with public education is still far ahead.7

6 The statistical data of preschool budgeted education expenditure has never been released. According to estimation of China’s present standard of primary school, it means 15 billion yuan of the public education fund needs to be increased. The data of the normal high school did not include that of separated independent institutes, but if counted within it, then the education fund would need to be increased by more than 10 billion yuan. The amount of the private education fund being cut (increased) in 2007 should reach 70 billion in total, if taking into account the nationwide rise of the overall level of the education fund. 7 The State Council issued the Notification on Bringing Success to the Work of Exempting Urban Students from Tuitions and Miscellaneous Fees for the Period of Compulsory Education (State Issue No. 25, August 12, 2008). Financial subsidy was restricted and only available to public schools and part of private schools that were entrusted by the government, which means most private schools in in the compulsory education period were excluded from the catalog, even through they legally carried out compulsory education. It is obvious that some of the regulations in the Notification legally contradict the Law of Promoting Private Education and the Compulsory Education Law.

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wu hua and wen dai 8.2. Policy Development of Chinese Private Education

During the past thirty years of reform and opening up, Chinese policy on private education has had different characteristics during different stages depending on the social, political, and economic circumstances. In retrospect, with the status of private education within the educational system during the different stages as the thread, policy development of private education has four different stages (see table 8.3). Table 8.3. Policy Themes of Chinese Private Education from 1978–2008 during Different Stages Stages

Policy

Development

Themes

First Stage (1978–1991) “Pick up the neglected and supply the deficient,” acceptance in real practice

Proposed Measures Running Social Schools in Beijing (北京市社会力 量办学试行办法) (March 10, 1984) Decision of the CCP Central Committee on the Reform of the Education System (中共中央关 于教育体制改革的 决定) (May, 1985) The first basic regulation was the Interim Rules on Running Educational Institutions with Social Resources (于 社会力量办学的若干 暂行规定) (1987).

Encouraged stateowned enterprises, social groups, and individuals to run schools, and encouraged voluntary donations from work units, collectives, and individuals to operate schools. Private high school education was popularized. Some private schools established by some celebrities and wellknown intellectuals with higher social status and special identity were actually recognized. The speed of development was relatively slow. By 1991, there were only 450 private colleges and universities (institutions of higher education), only 80 more than the 370 in 1986.

Allowance and limitation: On one hand, the school-running method, form, and mechanism of private education made a positive impact on Chinese educational reform. On the other hand, public schools had absolute advantages, and private schools with a low proportion were still in a supplementary position.

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Table 8.3 (cont.) Stages

Policy

Development

Themes

Second Stage (1992–1996) “Necessary supplement of public schools,” main content of system reform

1992: National Education Ten-Year Plan and Key Points of the Eighth Five-Year Project Plan (全国教育事业十年 规划和““八五””计划 要点) 1993: Outline of Chinese Educational Reform and Development (中国教育 改革和发展纲要) 1995: Education Law of the People’s Republic of China (中华人民共和 国教育法) 1996: Vocational Education Law of the People’s Republic of China (中华人民共和 国职业教育法)

Clear position of private education within the educational system. Unified pattern of school-running gradually collapsed, which led to a pattern of the government running of schools and social participation as the principle, schooling as the lead. Private school with public assistance, and public school with private assistance became an important aspect of school-running reform and a new tendency of private education development. In 1993, some public schools turned private. The schooling scope was expanded to degree education and schooling levels were promoted. In 1994, the development of private schools was listed in the National Education Yearbook for the first time.

Expanding on the quantity and scope, entering from basic education to degree education in large scale. Enjoying market favor and government support, private education was in a better position to expand quantity and scope. At this time, some issues needed to be considered: how educational policy regulates the educational market, and how to assure the relations between private and public education.

Third Stage (1997–2002): Simultaneous development of private and public schools

1997: Regulations on the Running of Educational Institutions with Social Resources (社会力量办 学条例)

Social forces were encouraged to run schools. Basically forming the schoolrunning pattern with governmental schooling as leader

The division of social class was aggravated and the educational market faced numerous contradictions. How to satisfy people’s

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Table 8.3 (cont.) Stages

Fourth stage (2003–present): With division, regrouping, and competition, private education enters a stage of rectification and consolidation.

Policy

Development

Themes

January 2001: Notice of the State Council Concerning the Authorization of the People’s Governments of the Provinces, Autonomous Regions and Municipalities to Examine and Approve the Establishment of Higher Vocational Schools (关于 国务院授权省、自治 区、直辖市人民政府 审批设立高等职业学 校有关问题的通知) January 13, 1999: Plan of Education Thriving Activities Towards the TwentyFirst Century (面向21 世纪教育振兴行动 计划)

and joint participation of all social sectors. The simultaneous development of public and private schools. By the end of 1998, with rapid development, according to unofficial statistics, publicly converted schools amounted to nearly 1,000 in 12 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities in China. Private higher education had great development. Taking the opportunity of college expansion in 1999, the Ministry of Education sped up the formation and approval of a number of vocational and technical colleges, and private colleges and universities with the eligibility to issue diplomas.

educational requirements with social resources became the issue that needed to be solved in the field of education.

December 2002: Private Education Promotion Law (民办教 育促进法) March 2004: Regulations on Implementing the Private Education Promotion Law (民办教育促进法实 施条例) April 2003: Opinions on Standardizing and Strengthening the Management of General

Forming competition between true and false private education. “True private education” shows an overall weak trend, but “false private education” becomes the main developing power besides the education of children and training institutions. With the Regulations on the Promotion of Private

Choosing private education. Since the policy that famous schools run private schools and independent colleges was opened up and public schools enlarged enrollment capacity in the way of private running, the survival space of private schools became limited

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Table 8.3 (cont.) Stages

Policy

Development

Themes

Colleges through New Mechanisms and Models to Run Independent Colleges (于规范并加 强普通高校以新的机 制和模式试办独立学 院管理的若干意见) March 2006: Seven ministries and commissions jointly issued the Opinions on the Implementation of Controlling Unjustified Charges in Education (治 理教育乱收费工作实 施意见) March 2007: Provisions on the Administration of the Establishment of Privately Run Institutions of Higher Education (民 办高等教育办学管理 若干规定) February 2008: Measures for the Establishment and Administration of the Independent Colleges (独 立学院设置与管理 办法)

Education in Shanxi Province, which began January 1, 2005, local laws and regulations on the development of private education were formulated successively in Hebei, Shanxi, Liaoning, Heilongjiang and Sichuan. A new stage with local legislation as mainstay arrived. With the implementation of the policy where the state waived tuition and miscellaneous fees in the stage of compulsory education, and behind the policy where responsibility of compulsory education went back to the state, private schools faced policy discrimination and seriously lost students. By the end of 2005, the state constantly issued official documents to fully stop the approval of newly converted schools and charging standard of the converted schools. Beginning in 2007, cleanup and rectification work in converted schools in the stage of compulsory education was in full swing in the whole nation.

after a short while. While clearing up state-owned and privately run schools, governments clearly chose the private education development model of public-private, which may became the guiding ideology of governments for private education development policy in the future.

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The division of the above stages is only a rough outline. Policies and regulations influencing the development of private education are found among all kinds of policy documents at various levels, such as the constitution, education law, tax law, and development planning, whose common effect shapes the current outline of private education. This outline will be further enriched in the following discussion. 8.2.1. Construction Progress of the Private Education Legal System Since the reform and opening up, the Chinese government constantly has encouraged private investment to run education. The constitution adopted by the fifth session of the 5th NPC in 1982 clearly stipulated, “The state encourages collective economic organizations, state enterprises and institutions, and other sectors of society to establish educational institutions of various types in accordance with the law.” In 1985, the Decision of the CCP Central Committee on the Reform of Education System (中共中央关于教育体制改革的决定) reiterated, “Local governments encourage and guide state-owned enterprises, social groups, and individuals to run schools, and encourage units, collectives, and individuals to donate money to education on a voluntary basis.” In 1987, the Ministry of Education promulgated Some Interim Rules on the Running of Educational Institutions with Social Resources (关于社会力量办 学的若干暂行规定). In 1997, the State Council promulgated Regulations on Running of Educational Institutions with Social Resources (社会力量办 学条例), which was the administrative regulation with supreme legal authority before the promulgation of Private Education Promotion Law (民 办教育促进法).8 On the basis of the above policies, laws, and practice of private education, China began the legal system construction process with Private Education Promotion Law as its core. Arguments on Private Education Promotion Law (民办教育促进法). In the legislative process of Private Education Promotion Law, different ideas and divergent policy thought came to a final compromise, but conflicts and contradictions are still tenaciously displayed in the following process of policy formulation and implementation. The legislative Judging from available data, the Leek Garden Amateur School, founded in Changsha by democratic parties (the Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang) in 1978, is the earliest private school in China; http://www.minge.gov.cn/ chinese/pplrevo/unitedzine/19020.htm. 8

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process of Private Education Promotion Law is an important background for understanding policy development of Chinese private education during the last 30 years.9 In 1998, the NPC Standing Committee brought the legislation of private education into the legislative plan of the Ninth NPC Standing Committee. After holding several symposiums and demonstration conferences to listen to opinions from concerned departments, private schools, experts and scholars, the Education, Science, Culture and Public Health Committee of the NPC formed a draft of the Private Education Promotion Law, and brought it to the NPC Standing Committee for consideration. The 28th Session of the Ninth NPC Standing Committee was held in the Great Hall of the People on June 24th, 2002. The draft of Private Education Promotion Law was submitted to the Standing Committee Meeting for consideration for the first time. Wang Jialiu, the vice chairman of the Education, Science, Culture and Public Health Committee of the NPC, introduced the Private Education Promotion Law (draft) in eight aspects such as the name of the act and legislative purpose. In the introduction report, Wang Jialiu pointed out: “The legislative purpose of this act is: to establish the status and role of private education in socialist education causes for private education; to embody the principle of active encouragement, full support, correct guidance, and administration by law; and to standardize the school-running behavior of private schools, standardize management behavior of governments, protect the legitimate rights and interests of founders, private schools, teachers and students, and promote healthy and orderly development of private education.” As for the public benefits of private education, Wang Jialiu said: The draft clarifies the public-benefits principle of private education, and simultaneously allows founders to get a reasonable return, which is in accordance with the national conditions of China. According to the actual situation of China, at present, funds for running private schools are raised by themselves. Only a few people donate to run schools, and 9 In respect of the legislative background and process of Private Education Promotion Law, this article mainly makes reference to documented materials such as the Legislative Process of Chinese Private Education (http://news.xinhuanet.com/edu/2004-03/25/ content_1383884.htm), Legislative Memorandum of Private Education Promotion Law (http:// news.sina.com.cn/c/2002-12-29/0304855979.shtml ), and the Note on Private Education Promotion Law of the People’s Republic of China (draft) (中华人民共和国民办教育促进 法（草案）) (http://www.fsou.com/html/text/bleg/5536481/553648198.html ).

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wu hua and wen dai the majority of founders run schools through investment. Most private education founders hope to own property rights of the part they put in, and get a corresponding return. The practice of private education development in the last few years shows that allowing founders to get some return from school balance is beneficial to arouse founders’ enthusiasm and attract more social capital to run private schools.

As for the property rights of private schools, the draft stated: (1) the capital invested in private schools by the founder is owned by the founder; (2) state-owned assets invested in private schools are owned by the state; (3) assets donated to a private school are owned by the school; (4) the value-added part of school assets, among which, the part that the state allows founders to get a reasonable return is owned by founders, and the property right of other value-added parts is owned by the school. For protecting basic school conditions of private schools and raising educational and teaching quality, the draft stipulated, “During the period of a private school’s continuous existence, all its assets shall be managed and used by this school; no organization or individual is allowed to encroach upon it.” As for encouragement and support of the state to private education, Wang Jialiu pointed out in the introduction: “Encouraging and supporting the development of private education is the obligation of governments. Therefore, chapter 7 of the draft makes provisions in six aspects for the state to support and reward private school. The implementation of these provisions will promote the healthy development of private education.” However, in the subsequent 29th and 30th sessions of the Ninth NPC Standing Committee, due to serious differences in members’ opinions on issues of whether private school founders can get a reasonable return and how to get a reasonable return, the vote on the draft failed. On the issue of reasonable returns, some members, departments such as the State Council Legislative Affairs Office and the Ministry of Finance, local governments, and experts proposed that some founders of private schools could get reasonable returns, but the system should be further rationalized. At present, both public schools and some private schools set up by donation are characterized by benefitting the public. Because founders do not seek any return, the state stipulates that these kinds of schools deserve various preferential treatment. It will influence and impact public-benefit schools, and it is obviously unreasonable in system and unfavorable for the development of public-benefit schools if some private schools can get returns while enjoying various preferential treatment in aspects such as land use, public-benefit donations,

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and taxation. Therefore, it is recommended that some separate provisions be made for private schools that get returns; in principle, they should not enjoy various preferential treatment by the state, but they can get returns after fulfilling the obligation of paying taxes. In another view, in the reality of the Chinese situation where a poor state runs big education, positive measures should be taken to encourage the development of private education. At present, majority of private schools are founded by investment, and most founders hope to own the property rights of the part they invest in and get a corresponding return. Implementing policies where founders get reasonable returns can raise school-running initiatives of private schools and attract more private capital to be invested in education. On October 28th, in the 30th session of the Ninth NPC Standing Committee, the Law Committee of the NPC proposed the main amendment: private education should adhere to public benefits, and should not seek profit. The Law Committee suggested adding the provision that social organizations and individuals cannot run schools for profit. However, some members seriously criticized the third draft because they thought serious setbacks occurred on some main issues. Debate is particularly intense especially in the aspect of reasonable returns. Some members thought founders of private schools cannot get reasonable returns mainly because of the following: (1) The so-called reasonable return is in essence profit making, which directly contradicts the provision of Article 25 of Education Law (教育法): “Any organization or individual may not establish schools or other educational institutions for the purpose of making profit.” (2) Developing education should mainly depend on tax incentives instead of attracting investment to run schools by reasonable returns. Private schools and education pursuing returns do not meet national requirements and cannot promote the development of education in a real sense. (3) The mixture of for-profit and nonprofit educational institutions will cause disorder of tax policies. Even allowing some private schools to get some return is not obviously inconsistent with Education Law, and for-profit schools cannot enjoy the same preferential policy as public schools. However, some members advocate that private schools can get reasonable returns due to the following reasons: (1) investors of private education will not have enthusiasm without reasonable returns; (2) private education should reflect the unity of economic benefits and social benefits—only emphasizing social benefit is not enough; and (3) dividing private education into public benefit and profit making

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does not conform to the principle of educational public benefit stipulated in Article 25 of Education Law. Giving certain reasonable returns to some private education investors with significant performance in running schools by investment is not contradictory with insisting private education’s direction of public benefit. On December 1st, Li Peng, the chairman of the Ninth NPC Standing Committee, investigated and researched the draft of Private Education Promotion Law in Hebei. He clearly expressed that private education, as a component of the whole educational system, was a public benefit in cultivating talents for the state, and a noble cause benefiting the state and the people, which must be clearly and definitely understood. Promoting the healthy development of private education would meet the actual requirements in society and would also be beneficial for speeding up the development of education. Meanwhile, due to the specialty of private education, certain and reasonable returns of economic benefits should be allowed for investors of private education. Of course, simple pursuit of profit should not be the target of investing in private schools, which must be clearly understood. According to the views of members, the NPC Law committee submitted the fourth draft for consideration. Comparing with the third draft, the issue of whether private schools were run for profit was not mentioned. The draft also made regulations clear, in terms of whether investors can get reasonable returns, which was heatedly debated in the past. After repeated consultation with all parties, the Legal Committee concluded that on the premise of ensuring the public-benefit feature of private schools, investors of private schools can get reasonable returns as an encouragement and a award. Meanwhile, to encourage running schools by donation, private schools whose investors get reasonable returns will enjoy preferential policies of tax and land use with some differences to the public and private schools without getting returns. It was suggested that relevant provisions be deleted in the third draft and that one provision, “support and reward” of the draft, be added to chapter 7: “After a private school has deducted its costs, reserved development funds, and drawn other necessary expenses in accordance with relevant regulations of the state, the contributors may obtain reasonable returns from the balance of the school. Concrete measures for reasonable returns shall be formulated by the State Council.” The addition of the provision that“acts violating the legitimate rights and interests of private schools should investigate and affix legal

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responsibility” is important for this draft. The third draft made provision on the illegal responsibility of approving authority and relevant departments of private schools. The fourth draft listed 6 prohibited zones for approving authority and relevant departments. If any department performs any illegal acts, its superior organ shall order it to get it right. If the circumstances are serious, the person chiefly in direct charge and other persons held to be directly responsible shall impose an administrative sanction in accordance with the law; if the act caused economic losses, they shall bear the liability for compensation. If the act constitutes a crime, the offender shall be subject to criminal liabilities. On December 28, 2002, the 31st Session of the Ninth NPC Standing Committee examined and adopted Private Education Promotion Law. The law came into force on September 1, 2003. On February 25, 2004, the 41st executive meeting of the State Council examined and adopted Implemental Regulations of Private Education Promotion Law (民办教育促进法实施条例). On March 5th, Wen Jiabao, premier of the State Council, signed and issued Implemental Regulations of Private Education Promotion Law (民办教育促进法实施条例). The promulgation of Private Education Promotion Law and Implemental Regulations of Private Education Promotion Law indicates the basic establishment of the legal system of Chinese private education law. With the constitution as mother law, Education Law (教育法) as basic law and Private Education Promotion Law (民办教育促进法) as the mainstay, this system is composed of Degree Ordinance (学位条例), Compulsory Education Law (义务教育法), Higher Education Law (高等教育法) and Vocational Education Law (职业教育法). At the same time, the system also includes relevant administrative regulations of the State Council, department rules issued by the Ministry of Education, local laws and regulations, and local government regulations on private education formulated by local governments. On December 2, 2004, Shanxi Province adopted the Regulations on the Promotion of Private Education in Shanxi Province (民办教育促进法), the first local regulation on private education after the promulgation of Private Education Promotion Law (陕西民办教育促进条例). The legal construction of Chinese private education entered a new stage with local legislation as a mainstay.10

10 On December 2, 2004, Shanxi Province adopted the Regulations on the Promotion of Private Education in Shanxi Province, which was the first local regulation on private

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Innovation of Local Policy on Private Education11 The promulgation and implementation of Private Education Promotion Law laid the foundation for putting Chinese private education onto a legal track. But local policy practice of promoting the development of private education shows that there are problems threatening the healthy development of private education, such as legal attributes of schools, teacher identity, reasonable returns, vesting of property rights, and tax incentives, which are not clearly defined in the Private Education Promotion Law and Implemental Regulations of Private Education Promotion Law. Relevant provisions in laws are also unable to respond to the situational needs of the development of private education. Therefore, local governments draft local legislation or formulate local policies to more effectively solve the practical problems in the development of local private education. From September 14th to 16th in 2005, the symposium on local legislation of private education jointly organized by the Education, Science, Culture and Public Health Committee of the NPC, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, was held in Xian. The symposium focused on six issues, as follows: “supporting policies for promoting the development of private education; guaranteeing that private schools and its teachers and students have the same legal status with public schools and its teachers and students; guaranteeing school-running autonomy of private schools; standardizing the management behavior of governments; standardizing the school-running behavior of private schools and public-run private schools;” and especially emphasized “combining developing private education with promoting the overall development of education, making innovation on the basis of maintaining the unity of the national legal system, summing up experiences, and learning lessons from the development of private education in other areas” in local legislation of private education. In the following few years, the local legislation education in China. Local legislation on private education started. Prior to this, there was a round of legislative activities at the local level after the State Council promulgated the Regulations on the Running of Educational Institutions with Social Resources. Before the promulgation of Private Education Promotion Law, some provinces and cities had formulated corresponding local laws and regulations, or local government regulations. 11 Within the current Chinese framework of rule of law, due to the unified leadership of the Chinese Communist Party to national political life and the executive-led model in national management, as normative system in social life, policies and laws have the same functions although there are numerous differences of forms and procedures in source. Therefore, in analysis to general policy, their difference could be ignored.

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of private education made much progress. Within the legal framework of Private Education Promotion Law and its Implemental Regulations, combined with local realities, local governments actively explored the policy environment of promoting the healthy development of private education.12 Shanxi is the first province to carry out local legislation on private education after the promulgation of Private Education Promotion Law. On December 2, 2004, the 15th Session of the 10th Shanxi Provincial People’s Congress Standing Committee adopted the Regulations on the Promotion of Private Education in Shanxi Province (陕西民办教育促进条例). A new round of local legislation on private education started.13 Article 27 of the Regulations on the Promotion of Private Education in Shanxi Province stipulates: “The private schools that have accumulated to a certain scale of running surplus can give a one-time award to the founders without a definite investment amount after the school council, board, or decision-making body in other forms determines and the authority approves. Concrete measures shall be formulated separately by the Provincial People’s Government.” This is the first attempt to crack down on the issue of property rights after the promulgation of Private Education Promotion Law. But issues, such as the realization method of award and its influence on the current structure of property rights are still not clearly defined.14 One year later, Some Opinions of Heilongjiang Provincial People’s Government on Promoting the Development of Private Education (黑龙江省人民政府 关于促进民办教育发展的若干意见) made more specific provisions on this issue: “For private schools developing progressively before the promulgation of Private Education Promotion Law of the People’s Republic 12 According to incomplete statistics, at present, 13 provincial governments including Shanxi, Shanghai, Beijing, Guizhou, Shanxi, Neimeng, Jiangxi, Hunan, Liaoning, Jilin, Heilongjiang, Chongqing, and Sichuan, and more than 30 city governments such as Ningbo (subprovincial ), Shenzhen (subprovincial ), Kunming (subprovincial ), Haikou, Zhangzhou, Mianyang, Jiujiang, Changde, Yueyang, Jiaozuo, Enshi, and Zibo have adopted local legislation or related policies on promoting the development of private education. 13 In accordance with the legal system in China, only provinces and larger cities, such as Ningbo City and Shenzhen City, have local legislative power. In this sense, although some city and country governments have made government documents aiming at promoting the development of local private education before Shanxi Province, local legislation for private education in normative sense started in Shanxi. 14 No more definite regulations are made for the issues such as realization forms (equity, cash or in-kind), source of award, and how the equity ownership structure will change after awarding.

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of China (中华人民共和国民办教育促进法) and achieving a certain scale of schooling accumulation, according to their contribution to the development of school, after the school council or board agrees and the approving authority approves, the school can give founders without definite funded ratio awards valuing 15% of school net assets (after deduction of state-owned assets and social donations) the founder’s initial investment amount.” Compared with relevant provisions of the Regulations on the Promotion of Private Education in Shanxi Province, Heilongjiang’s regulation made clear the investment nature of awards as equity and reflected a more active attitude. The definition and disposal of property rights of private schools are very sensitive and complicated issues influencing the healthy development of private education. There are great differences in viewpoints on this issue; besides the provisions that “a private school shall enjoy all the legal person property rights formed by the invested assets of the founders, state-owned assets, donated properties, and the school’s accumulated assets” (Private Education Promotion Law, Article 35) and “the properties left after clearing the above-mentioned items shall be disposed of pursuant to relevant laws and regulations” (Private Education Promotion Law, Article 59), Private Education Promotion Law deliberately avoids the issue of founders’ property rights and does not make provisions on ownership of surplus property after liquidating schools. For the same reason, Implemental Regulations of Private Education Promotion Law completely evades this issue so that the definition and disposal of property rights of private schools are still problems lacking clear legal norms until now. The policy practice of the Heilongjiang model, which admits the social contribution of private school founders and affirms the property rights, has positive significance, but the Heilongjiang model does not have sufficient effects at the legislative level, which is neglected by most people.15 15 Since 1999, Qiqihar Vocational College started a school property rights system reform with characteristics of “defining clearly the relationship of property rights, diversifying the structure of property rights, personifying the subject of property rights and commercializing the attributes of property rights.” On August 18, 2005, according to the spirit of Some Opinions of Heilongjiang Provincial People’s Government on Promoting the Development of Private Education (黑龙江省人民政府关于促进民办教育发展的若干 意见), Heilongjiang Province Education Department made an official reply on Requesting on Approving Relevant Investment Affairs of Qiqihar Vocational College (关于齐齐哈尔职业 学院有关出资事项予以核准的请示), affirmed the original founder identity of Cao Yong’an and 23 people including Cao Yong’an as initial investors, and the affairs of the property rights definition and disposition, such as ratio of personal and collective

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The issue of the old-age insurance of teachers in private schools also attracts great attention in the local legislation of private education. Among the several major issues plaguing the healthy development of Chinese private education, the stability of teachers in private schools is universally recognized as the core problem. The biggest obstacle influencing stability is that teachers in private schools cannot enjoy the same social security system as teachers in public schools on the aspect of old-age insurance, which causes the decrease of occupational evaluation of teachers in private schools and serious losses of key teachers. This kind of discrimination policy causes many teachers to lack confidence in teaching and developing private schools, and they change jobs frequently. As a result, private schools face difficulties of introducing and retaining high-quality teachers, and lack middle-aged and young key teachers. A survey shows that among the same kinds of schools and teachers, the proportions of full-time teachers with over three years’ duration in private schools in Zhejiang Province are: 29% in kindergarten, 29% in primary schools, 38.2% in middle schools, and 39% in private colleges and universities.16 At present, most teachers in private schools in China participate in the old-age insurance system for enterprises in terms of social security. The pension they receive after retiring is over 50%, less than teachers with the same seniority in public schools.17 Identity discrimination caused by ownership differences of schools while undertaking the same social obligations, has become the main factor of instability of private school teachers in recent years, and has also become something provinces actively pay attention to in the local legislation of private education. In the current local practice, the typical opinion of solving assets in college net assets (for detail, see relevant data), which provides a rare case for reasonably resolving the issue of property rights of private schools. While according to the provision of the Legislation Law of the People’s Republic of China (中华人民共和国立法法), the issues referring to “levy of non state-owned property” and “civil basic system” could be regulated only through legislation. Therefore, the above regulations made by the Heilongjiang Provincial People’s Government in the way of local government regulation as its legal form do not have adequate legal effect. Moreover, strictly speaking, local laws and regulations through local legislation cannot make effective provisions, which means that it is impossible to solve this problem left in Private Education Promotion Law with regulation in the near future due to the loss of legislative opportunity solved in Implemental Regulations of Private Education Promotion Law. 16 Wu Ni and Ming Hang, “Research Report of Private Education in Zhejiang and Guangdong Provinces,” Private Education Research 1 (2007). 17 The calculation of this conclusion is based on that teachers in public and private schools are carrying out different old-age insurance systems respectively now.

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this problem is that teachers in private schools should participate in the old-age insurance of employees in government organizations and institutions, so that they can receive the same pension as teachers in public schools after retiring, or at least so that the current huge gap can be narrowed.18 Ningbo city in Zhejiang Province did active exploration on this issue. Article 31 of the Regulations on Promotion of Ningbo’s Private Education (宁波市民办教育促进条例) stipulates: “Teachers with over intermediate professional and technical positions in private schools implementing diploma education and preschool education and meeting conditions stipulated, may participate in institutional oldage insurance.” In the subsequently promulgated Some Regulations of Ningbo City People’s Government in Zhejiang Province on Carrying Out and Implementing Regulations on Promotion of Ningbo’s Private Education (关于贯彻实施〈宁波市民办教育促进条例〉的若干规定) (Yong Government Issue [2007] No. 58), Article 3, item 2 further stipulates: “For the part of social insurance fees paid by teachers with professional and technical positions in full-time private primary and secondary schools and kindergartens that school bears, give no less than half of the subsidy.”19 These policies, as an effective way of resolving contradictions between improving the welfare of teachers in private schools and controlling the costs of running schools, not only improve the social security of teachers in private schools, but also greatly reduce the running cost of stress of private schools. For the practical need of implementing Private Education Promotion Law and maintaining occupational stability of teachers in private schools, what Ningbo did is a kind of public policy choice with effectiveness 18 Implemental Measures of Hangzhou City Labor and Social Security Bureau, Financial Bureau, Education Bureau and Personnel Bureau on Teachers in Private Schools in Urban Area of Hangzhou Attend Basic Old-age Insurance for Employees of State Organs and Institutions (杭州市劳动和 社会保障局　杭州市财政局　杭州市教育局　杭州市人事局关于杭州市区民办 学校教师参加机关事业单位职工基本养老保险的实施办法) (Hang Labor Social Insurance, No. 19, 2005), http://www.hzzx.gov.cn/main/wjgg/zxwj/bmwj/T56088. shtml; Circular of Changde City Labor and Social Security Bureau, Changde City Education Bureau on Printing and Distributing Implemental Measures on Basic Old-Age Insurance of Teachers in Private Schools in Changde City (关于印发常德市民办学校教师基本养老保险 实施办法的通知) (Chang Labor Social Issue, No. 65, 2006), http://www.tyedu.cn/ jyzw/zcfg/200611/20061103095620.html. 19 Some Regulations of Ningbo City People’ s Government in Zhejiang Province on Carrying out and Implementing Regulation on Promotion of Ningbo’s Private Education (关于贯彻实施〈宁 波市民办教育促进条例〉的若干规定) (Yong Government, No. 58, 2007), http:// www.lawyee.net/Act/Act_Display.asp?ChannelID=1010100&RID=525573.

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and feasibility. However, in terms of income, old-age insurance is not the core element influencing employment choice. If private schools cannot provide higher incomes for teachers compared to that of public schools, even Ningbo’s proposal solves the problem of choice of the old-age insurance system; it is still difficult to raise private schools’ attraction to teachers. One important reason why this problem was not very prominent in the last few years is that wages of teachers in private schools are generally higher than that of teachers in public schools. Now, the past salary advantage is disappearing, and working and living conditions for teachers provided by private schools are universally falling behind that of public schools. Private education is facing the systematic risk of overall weakening.20 Logically, the only way to universally solve this problem is to provide teachers in private schools with the same wages as those of teachers in public schools by using public finance, and have private schools provide school wages for teachers along with financial wages. Any other method will result in failure in the long term; therefore, it is impossible to thoroughly solve the stability issue of teachers in private schools.21 Zhoukou City in Henan Province made policy exploration in another model for stabilizing teaching staff. As an underdeveloped region in Henan Province in China, Zhoukou has a weak economic foundation and a lack of location advantage. But private education in this city presents a booming trend due to the formulation of the preferential policy that “the teachers in private schools achieving certain school-running conditions and scale requirements will be given the same wages as teachers in public schools by local finance, and enjoy equal treatment with teachers in local public schools in all other aspects stipulated by Private Education Law,” which promotes the booming development of

Wages of teachers will be double in seven years with an average annual increase of 10%. Estimating according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics in the last ten years, wages of teachers doubled approximately within five years. At this rate, ten years later, wages of teachers will be four times more than they are now. It is impossible for private schools to sustainably raise wages unless charges increase, while in the last ten years, charges of private schools basically remained unchanged, even slightly decreased. The basic conclusion resulted from the situation above is that teachers in public schools will have higher wages than those in private schools. In fact, in developed costal areas, teachers in public schools had begun to have higher wages than those in private schools. 21 Generally speaking, teachers in private schools receive higher wages than those in public schools because the former undertake a higher work intensity than the latter. 20

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local private education.22 No similar policy is made at the provincial government level until now, but the policy has been put into practice in the scope governed by governments at the city and country levels and has achieved good results.23

22 The policies similar with most of Zhoukou experiences could be found in Zhejiang Province, but only this one is their original creation. This is also the most important conclusion gained by the author of this article after doing extensive and in-depth interviews with principals who run private schools in Henan from other places, such as Huang Sutao, chairman of Zhoukou Chinese and English School. For related coverage, see Chenqiang: Zhoukou in Henan “pave ways and erect bridge” for private education—allocating school land with priority, reducing and exempting various fees, no restricting quota of title assessment, government paying wages of teachers, February 28th, 2005, China Education Daily; “What is happening to private education in Zhoukou?” http://www.usors.cn/blog/chuqy/MyEssayDetail. asp?id=1074. Relevant documents include: Opinions of Zhoukou City People’s Government on Encouraging Social Forces Run Schools to Speed up the Development of Education Industry (周口市人民政 府关于鼓励社会力量办学加快教育产业发展的意见) (December 6, 2001); Opinions of CCP Chuanhui District Committee and Chuanhui District People’s Government on Encouraging Social Forces Run Schools to Speeding up the Development of Education Industry (中共川汇区 委川汇区人民政府关于鼓励社会力量办学加速教育产业发展的意见) ( January 16, 2002); Opinions of Taikang Country People’s Government on Speeding up the Development of Private Education (太康县人民政府关于加快民办教育发展的意见) (August 18, 2003). 23 Opinions of CCP Chuanhui District Committee and Chuanhui District People’s Government on Encouraging Social Forces Run Schools to Speed up the Development of Education Industry (中共川汇区委川汇区人民政府关于鼓励社会力量办学加速教育产业发展的意 见) ( January 16, 2002) clearly stipulates: “After a private school is established and passes the acceptance check of relevant departments, one-third to two-thirds of teachers shall be selected and sent by district education committee and their wages shall be uniformly disbursed by government; other teachers and administrative staff shall be employed in society under the guidance of educational department and included into the normal management of educational department. Professional and technical qualification assessment is not restricted by quota. Old-age pension, medical insurance, and housing funds of employees of private schools will be paid by the schools employing and employees according to national relevant laws and regulations.” However, the Opinions of Taikang Country People’s Government on Speeding up the Development of Private Education (太康县人民政府关于加快民办教育发展的意见) (August 18, 2003) makes more specific provisions on paying financial wages to teachers in private schools: “Select and send public teachers to private schools and implement the model of private school with public assistance. For those investing over 5 million yuan for one time and establishing basic education over junior high school, the county government shall select and send 30% of teachers in regular payroll in this school; for those investing over 10 million yuan, 50% of teachers shall be selected and sent; for those investing over 20 million yuan, according to school requirement, the county education bureau and sport bureau shall send teachers. Public teachers selected and sent by government enjoy various treatment stipulated by national laws.” Article 28 of the Measures of Jiaozuo City on Implementing (Private Education Promotion Law) (trial) (焦作市实施〈民办教育促进法〉办法（试行）) stipulates: “Except the part individual should burden, school and finance at same level with approving authority will separately bear 50% of the social insurance and housing fund of teachers in

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Another important value to the Zhoukou experience is enriching the public policy practice of establishing public-private partnership in the field of education. One important trend and basic characteristic of modern society development is strongly advocating public-private partnership in the field of public management, giving full play to separate system advantages of governmental mechanisms, market mechanisms, and mechanisms of social autonomy, and integrating various system resources to realize the biggest growth of social, public benefits. The practice includes privatization of public utilities, the role of NGOs, school vouchers, charter schools, cost sharing, and state-owned and privately run schools in the field of education.24 But since the end of the last century, domestic mainstream views on school policy themes such as state-owned and privately run, private schools with public assistance, and the transformation of public schools are simplistic thoughts of a black-and-white nature, such as clearly public-private and progress or retreat, which run counter to international trend and ignore the effective policy practice local governments develop in this aspect. This reflects that at present, domestic educational and administrative departments, and educational theoretical circles are still confined to the traditional concept that public education is equivalent to common education. The practice in Zhoukou shows that even in China and in noneconomic fields, the general principle of public-private partnership is still effective, so the policy space of public-private partnership developed in the educational field is greatly expanded.

private schools.” Article 29 stipulates: “For the private schools located in the Jiaozuo urban area, approved and directly managed by city-level approving authority, whose net assets or establishing input reaches prescribed amount, after evaluating by qualified intermediary and defining by financial department, according to school-running scale checked and approved by city personal and compilation departments, the city financial department can allocate wages of a certain proportion of teaching staff in accordance with standard of average wages of teachers in public schools in last year and continuously support for 10 years.” From November 25th to 27th, 2005, the symposium on the Regional Development of Strategy of Private Education was held in Zhuji in Zhejiang, The symposium summed up the important experience of private education development in Zhuji: “That government provided private schools with 30% of public teachers on the regular payroll. This experience is proved by schoolrunning practice of Xiangyu Education Group in Baoying in Jiangsu, and Shujiang Scholar Middle School in Zhejiang, and became the main policy preference required by converted schools and “famous schools run private schools.” 24 Privatization and Public-Private Partnerships (Beijing: Chinese Renmin University Press, 2002), a classical work of E. S. Savas, makes comprehensive, profound and detailed analysis on this issue.

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Direct financial assistance provided by governments to private schools is one of the most important policies for local governments to support the development of private education after the promulgation of Private Education Promotion Law. Before the promulgation of Private Education Promotion Law, one important case with the greatest impact is the school voucher in Zhejiang Province. Since 2001, in order to promote the development of local private education, Changxing country government in Zhejiang Province has provided local students studying in private schools and vocational schools in the country with a school voucher valuing 300–500 yuan, which resulted in a nationwide upsurge of school vouchers.25 This policy is not further developed until now, but the ideology of educational public finance based on students’ rights plays the role of enlightenment for forming the public financial system to fairly treat private education. After the promulgation of Private Education Promotion Law, local governments began to support the development of local private education by gradually setting up special funds for private education. In the Shanghai Working Conference on Private Education in February of 2005, the Shanghai municipal government announced that capital of no less than 40 million yuan would be allocated for supporting the development of private education every year.26 For the 200,000 students studying in Shanghai private schools, 40 million yuan means 200 yuan per student, which is only 1/40 to 1/50 compared with a student in Shanghai public schools. But, as a practical action of implementing Private Education Promotion Law, it had more symbolic significance than an economical value, and played an exemplary role in China.27 The above-mentioned Zhoukou experience can also be considered in the scope that governments provide direct financial assistance. Governments provide private education with direct financial assistance in

Wu Hua and Xue Zhaofeng, “Practice of School Voucher in China: Current Situation, Problems and Prospects,” Exploring Education Development 6 (2005). 26 Convene of the Shanghai Working Conference on Private Education, http:// www.shmec.gov.cn/web/news/show_article.php?article_id=19300. 27 At present, the provinces and municipalities announcing to provide special fund to support private education include Shanghai municipality (2004–2007, 40 million yuan per year), Guangdong Province (2005–2010, 30 million yuan per year), Sichuan province (1 million yuan in 2005), Beijing municipality (8 million yuan in 2005), Guiyang city (3 million yuan in 2005), etc. In Zhejiang Province, since Changxing County implemented the policy of school vouchers in 2001, governments at all levels have provided private education with sustainable financial support in the way of school vouchers. 25

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three approaches: school vouchers, teachers’ wages, and special funds, which become the basic policy choice of governments for supporting the development of private education with public resources. Integrating current local policy practice of providing private education with financial assistance can clarify a universal misunderstanding. For a long time, the general provision in Article 2 of Private Education Promotion Law, utilizing nonstate financial funds, is usually understood as private schools may not use state financial funds, which makes supporting policies of governments for private education remain only at a level of encouragement. The above-mentioned local practice shows that Article 2 of the general provision in Private Education Promotion Law should be understood as the regulation of legal requirements for founders to establish private schools rather than the prohibitive norm of receiving financial funds from governments for running private schools. In fact, the vast majority of local supporting policies toward private education are embodied by financial funds; otherwise, most supporting policies of governments for private education will not be implemented.28 Besides the support of direct financial funds, according to the needs of local private education development, local governments have issued various preferential policies to carry out relevant provisions in Private Education Promotion Law. For example, Suqian City in Jiangsu made the following regulations:29 Article 4: All public schools in the stage of noncompulsory education, while expanding the school-running scale, must absorb social capital and use private mechanisms. Public schools in the stage of compulsory education, while expanding the school-running scale, may take forms such as “public school with private assistance” and “publicly owned and privately run,” so as to widely absorb various kinds of capital and expand sources of school resources. Article 6: Implement the strategy of “famous schools run private schools.” Public schools with higher educational and teaching quality and social credibility such as city senior high schools with degrees more than three stars, provincial model junior high schools, provincial experimental primary schools, and provincial model kindergartens, shall

28 Wu Hua: Significance of Reform in Baoying, http://www.usors.cn/blog/wuhua/ MyEssayDetail.asp?id=25. 29 Some Regulations of Suqian City on Further Speeding up the Development of Private Education (Su Government Issue (宿迁市进一步加快民办教育发展的若干规定) ((2004) No. 96), http://www.sqmbjy.com/Article/zcfg/dffg/200611/72.html.

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Local governments, such as that of Dengzhou City in Henan and Hengshui City in Hebei, have also made specific policies to support the development of local private education in every aspect, such as land acquisition, tax deduction and exemption, teacher identity, social security, financial support, financial assistance, and cooperation patterns.30 By reading these documents carefully, it is evident that since the promulgation of Private Education Promotion Law, local governments at all levels explored different policy innovations with the basic guiding ideology of enriching the legislative spirit of Private Education Promotion Law and providing private education with the support of public resources. On this issue, local governments are obviously more enthusiastic and pragmatic than the central government. A new way 30 See Some Opinions of CCP Hengshui City Committee and Hengshui City People’s Government on Vigorously Promoting the Development of Private Education (中共衡水市委衡水市人民政 府关于大力促进民办教育发展的若干意见) (Heng Issue, No. 2, 2005); Opinions of Henan Province Dengzhou People’s Government on Speeding up the Development of Private Education (关于加快民办教育发展的意见) (Deng Government, No. 45, 2005). The latter clearly stipulates “for private schools with high investment, large-scale and good student sources, city government shall select and send public teachers according to the amount of investment. City finance will pay wages for teachers sent by government and period of payment will be specifically agreed according to amount of investment. Proportion of teachers selected and sent is: 30% of teachers on regular payroll will be selected and sent by city government for those with one-time investment over 10 million yuan; 50% for those with investment over 20 million yuan; all teachers will be sent by government for those with investment over 30 million yuan. If investors would like to employ teachers in society, city government will pay equal wages with teachers sent by government according to proportion above.”

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of developing private education promoted by local governments is becoming progressively clearer.31 8.2.2. Private Education Policy and Conflicts in Law Enforcement Local governments actively make policies to support the development of local private education; meanwhile, the policy of relevant functional departments of central government often violates the legitimate rights and interests of private education, which not only seriously interferes with the development of national private education, but also seriously damages the legal authority of Private Education Promotion Law, and confuses grassroots governments. On July 2, 2004, NEEA (National Education Examinations Authority) issued the Notice on Cancellation of the Higher Education Academic Diploma Test Released by the Ministry of Education (教育部关于取消高等教育学 历文凭考试的通知) (Education Issue [2004] No. 24) on its website, which brought major survival crises to over 400 private institutions of higher education all of a sudden. In addition, before coming into being, this public policy was unknown to institutions of private higher education and local departments of education and administration, which reflects the discordant phenomenon on judgment of relevant issues and policy design between central and local governments.32 In 2005, local governments began to collect corporate income tax on private schools, which severely destroyed private education’s endeavor for equal rights. The tax case of private Lanhua Middle School in Pingtan country, Fujian Province attracted great attention from all circles of society, and ended with the private school winning

At present, in these regions with vigorous support to the development of private education, government has a very consistent attitude towards private education and private economy. Private education is in the local government’s overall planning of economic and social development. 32 The formulation date of this document is June 28, 2004, while its promulgation date is July 2, 2004. In accordance with the relevant provision in the Administrative License Law of the People’s Republic of China (中华人民共和国行政许可法), which came into force on July 1st, 2004, governments shall compensate stakeholders for losses caused by abolishing administrative license, otherwise, it is illegal, while the Ministry of Education promulgated this policy in a hurry before Administrative License Law (行政许可法) came into force, which is considered to obviously circumvent Administrative License Law. 31

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the lawsuit, but the central government with the right of final jurisdiction still did not express its position.33 The practice of local private education development after the promulgation of Private Education Promotion Law shows that as long as the central government does not make concrete prohibitive norms on private education, local governments try every means to create a better policy environment for local private education, which is similar to the transformation of state-owned enterprises that started at the grassroots level in the early 1990s. Of course, when private education has interests conflicting with public education, local governments usually stand with public education, which is typically proved by the case that local educational and administrative departments set up administrative barriers to the enrollment of private schools from other places, which brings much difficulty for private schools to enroll in other places. Similar discriminative policies, such as arranging the enrollment order of local public schools and private schools and restricting the ways of admittance, exist quite commonly; this causes lots of interference for the autonomy of private schools. Various problems above reflect the phenomenon of policy conflicts, including policy conflicts between central and local governments, as well as policy conflicts among departments of central governments and local governments, which are universal in Chinese private educational development. Besides cognitive diversities of different policy-making subjects to private education, and interest conflicts, unsoundness and

33 On September 7, 2005, Pingtan County Court dismissed the claim of the plaintiff, the private Lanhua Middle School in Pingtan County. The court stated that “the plaintiff, as the private school requiring return on investment with qualification of legal person, is taxpayers of corporate income tax of private non-enterprise unit stipulated by laws, regulations and rules. The plaintiff handled Social Schooling Permit in 1999, handled and registered Private Non-Enterprise Unit Registration Certificate in civil administration department on December 10, 2003, which is not enough to reflect the fact of old-registration of private non-enterprise unit and need to be recognized as private non-enterprise unit by new registration. The defendant has right to approve enterprise income tax in accordance with relevant laws, regulations and rules.” See “Pingtan Private School Sues State Tax Bureau in this County and loses lawsuit in first instance” (Xinhua Net Fujian, window of state tax, http://www.fj.xinhuanet .com/fjgs/2005-10/22/content_5408995.htm. This case seems like the local tax department’s violence to legitimate rights and interests of local private schools. But we will understand it is the problem of the central government and the conflicts among different departments of the central government if we know the vertical management system of tax system and what they implement is not the policies of local governments.

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incongruence of the legal system produced as a transformation of Chinese society are also important reasons.34 8.2.3. A Discussion on Two Important Policy Cases of Private Education Protecting legitimate rights and interests of private schools and relevant interest groups, and standardizing school-running behaviors of private schools are the two major themes of private education policy— among which, the public policies of rights and interests protecting private schools in the stage of compulsory education and public schools participating in running private schools not only attract great attention from various circles in society and lead to heated arguments, but also have great and long-term influence to path selection in terms of the development of Chinese private education. The Issue of Rights and Interests Protecting Private Schools and Their Students in the Stage of Compulsory Education On August 1st, China Education Daily published a long interview where the “relevant person in charge from the Ministry of Education explained in detail the exemption of tuition and fees” in China Youth Daily. When the journalist asked “whether the students in private schools of compulsory education can enjoy the exemption policy,” this person in charge answered, “as the state council document demands, students in private schools that are commissioned by governments and undertake the task of running compulsory education, enjoy the same policy of exemption from tuition and miscellaneous fees as local students in the stage of compulsory education.” Thereafter, when the journalist asked “whether the children of rural migrant workers can enjoy this new policy as students in the city,” this person emphasized again that “the children, living with the rural migrant workers and studying in private schools that are commissioned by governments and undertake the running task of compulsory education, enjoy the policy of exemption from tuition and miscellaneous fees according to the same standard with students in public schools.” Undoubtedly, this policy is a serious misunderstanding of Compulsory

34 In China, in the transitional process from traditional society to law-ruled society, conflict among laws is a universal phenomenon. The current standardized solution is to deal with it according to provisions of the Legislation Law of the People’s Republic of China (中华人民共和国立法法), but in fact, the solution is usually the coordination of administrative organs.

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Education Law, and severely violates the legitimate rights and interests of private schools and relevant interest groups.35 Within the framework of the existing Compulsory Education Law, regardless of whether it is in public schools or in private schools, compulsory education is to be received by school-age children and teenagers. Under this premise, according to Article 2, item 3 (“No tuition or miscellaneous fee may be charged in the implementation of compulsory education”), item 4 (“The state shall establish a compulsory education operating funds guaranteeing mechanisms to ensure the implementation of the compulsory education system”) and Article 42, item 1 (“The state shall integrate the entire compulsory education into the scope of financial guarantee; the operating funds for compulsory education shall be guaranteed by the State Council and the local people’s governments at all levels in pursuance of the law.”), there is no doubt of the legal liability that public finance shall provide private schools in the stage of compulsory education with universal funding assistance in Compulsory Education Law; otherwise, governments directly violate Article 4 of Compulsory Education Law, that “all children and adolescents who have the nationality of the People’s Republic of China and have reached the school age shall have equal right and have the obligation to receive compulsory education, regardless of their gender, nationality, race, status of family property, religion, belief, etc.” Therefore, after the implementation of Compulsory Education Law, getting public financial assistance became the legitimate right of students in private schools protected by Compulsory Education Law. In 2007, a public policy crisis involving legitimate rights and interests of students studying in private schools occurred in Henan Province. On February 14, 2007, the Financial Department and Educational

35 In accordance with the provisions of existing Compulsory Education Law, receiving compulsory education is the rights of school-age children and teenagers (Article 1) and also the obligation that all school-age children and teenagers have to fulfill (Article 2). Therefore, after the implementation of new Compulsory Education Law on September 1, 2006, school-age children and teenagers may receive compulsory education in any schools with national accreditation. Otherwise, the educated shall bear corresponding legal responsibility for not discharging his (her) statutory obligations, and schools and governments also shall bear corresponding legal responsibility. Relevant provisions on the enforcement of compulsory education in the Compulsory Education Law are the legal basis for us to correctly understand the rights and obligations of private schools and their students in compulsory education.

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Department of Henan Province jointly issued the Circulation on Bringing Success to the Work of “Two Exemptions and One Supplement” of Compulsory Education in Rural Areas in Spring 2007 (关于做好 2007 年春季农村义 务教育“两免一补”工作的通知). This document, excluding students studying in private schools, caused a survival crisis of private schools in Henan.36 With joint efforts of various circles, this crisis has been tentatively solved. On August 30, 2007, the General Office of Henan Provincial People’s Government transmitted and issued the Implement Scheme on “Two Exemptions and One Supplement” of Compulsory Education in Rural Areas in Henan Province (河南省农村义务教育“两免一补”实 施方案), formulated by the provincial financial department and educational department, and would again include private school students who were excluded out of the policy of Two Exemptions and One Supplement at the beginning of the year into the scope of policy protection. Public policy that might have caused large-scale bankruptcy of rural private schools in Henan was avoided.37

36 See related coverage of the CPPCC Post (the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Post) on June 6, 2007. 37 For details, see related coverage of the CPPCC Post in 2007. It is worth noticing that in the Circular on Bringing Success to the Work of “Two Exemption and One Supplement” of Compulsory Education in Rural Areas in Spring 2007 jointly issued by financial department and educational department of Henan province, the provision excluding private school students out of the policy of Two Exemptions and One Supplement is directly from Education Finance No.4, (2006) document on January 19, 2006 of the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Education. This is also the so-called basis that local related department said while private school address inquires. This issue fully exposes that government functional departments pay much more attention to the “official document” than to law in the specific administrative process and reflects the lack of concept of rule of law and indifference of legal awareness. For “the event that private schools in Henan safeguard legitimate rights,” according to the analysis above, within the framework of Compulsory Education Law, students in private schools also should enjoy the same public financial assistance as students in public schools, rather than only enjoying the treatment of “two exemption and one supplement.” But in view of realistic level of China’s current economic and social development, especially correct concept basis on education fair is still not formed in socio-cultural philosophy, it is unlikely to fully realize the above-mentioned rights of students studying in private schools in the stage of compulsory education in the near future. Therefore, as a realistic consideration, what we can do and should do now is to make Two Exemption and One Supplement policy to include private education and private school students in the stage of compulsory education as soon as possible, and based on which, gradually increase financial assistance for private school students until the target of social equity and justice that public school students and private school students enjoy equal rights is realized.

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The important root of understanding the Circulation of Henan Province that excluded students studying in private schools from of the policy of Two Exemptions and One Supplement is the confusion of the two different rights found in the Compulsory Education Law and Private Education Promotion Law in the compulsory education system. In Private Education Promotion Law, private schools commissioned by governments assume the corresponding task of compulsory education. A kind of civil, legal relationship is established between governments and private schools, the right subjects corresponding to governments. Private schools get financial assistance from the government for undertaking the responsibility that governments shall undertake; therefore, the government supplies cost compensation to private schools for providing corresponding public services. While in Compulsory Education Law, governments build a kind of administrative and legal relationship with school-age children and teenagers. The right subjects corresponding to governments are students whose rights to education are not on the premise of studying in public schools and shall not be restricted for studying in private schools. Compared with the contractual rights above arising as private schools accept commissions of the government that the Private Education Promotion Law stipulates, the students’ right to compulsory education stipulated by Compulsory Education Law is a fundamental right of citizens, which will not change as the relationship between governments and schools changes and must be met with priority. Through the analysis above, it is easy to see that the Circulation of the State Council on Bringing Success to the Work of Exempting Urban Students from Tuition and Miscellaneous Fees for the Period of Compulsory Education (国务 院关于做好免除城市义务教育阶段学生学杂费工作的通知) (State Issue [2008] No. 25) has problems in three aspects. First, implementation of compulsory education is irrespective of public school or private school, so relevant provisions in the circulation of the State Council violates or deprives rights of students to receive compulsory education, and violates Compulsory Education Law. Second, for schools, implementing compulsory education is not only an obligation but also a right. Relevant provisions in the circulation of the State Council deprive the legitimate rights of some private schools and violate Private Education Promotion Law and Compulsory Education Law. Third, implementing compulsory education is the government’s obligation and not a privilege, and is not the privilege of public schools. Therefore, relevant provisions in the circulation of the State Council adopt discriminatory

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treatment to legitimate subjects implementing compulsory education with same legal status and same rights, which not only violates Compulsory Education Law and Private Education Promotion Law, but also violates Administrative License Law. It is interesting why policies that obviously violate Compulsory Education Law and Private Education Promotion Law are promulgated again and again. Meanwhile, in compulsory education policies formulated by some local governments, private schools have been included in the scope of public financial assistance.38 The Issue of Public School Participation in Running Private Schools Participation of public schools in running private schools, concretely embodied as the transformation of public schools and famous school-run private schools at the stage of basic education and of independent colleges39 at the stage of higher education, is an important phenomenon in the development of Chinese private education after the 1990s. As for school-running behavior, this kind of school, or so-called state-owned and privately run schools, has the pricing characteristics of private schools and state-owned characteristics of public schools, which gives them a competitive market edge to traditional private schools and high charges to students, so they become the common target of attack by private schools and some public schools.40 Public discontent amounted to too much pressure on governments and finally led to the Ministry of Education issuing official documents to prohibit the transformation

38 Opinions of Zhejiang Province on Implementation of Exempting Students in Primary and Secondary Schools from Tuitions and Miscellaneous Fees for the Period of Compulsory Education (浙江省义务教育中小学生免除学杂费的实施意见) (The Government Office Issue, No. 66, 2006) clearly stipulates that: “private schools (including public schools operating in private mechanism) founded by approval may still collect tuition in accordance with provisions, but shall make corresponding reduction according to price standard approved by price department and the standard in local public schools when students register and report.” In addition, Henan Province also made corresponding provisions for private schools in the stage of compulsory education in rural areas, but the majority of provinces still exclude private schools. 39 A common feature of this kind of school is having two kinds of institutional resources of public and private in the school-running system. 40 Although the converted school certainly includes a private component—either “private-owned” or “private-run”—basically it is not in the statistics of private schools in local places, which is obviously inconsistent with identification of private schools in the Private Education Promotion Law. In spite of this, the converted school has been an important object of study in the field of private education.

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of qualified public schools and requiring local governments to strictly control the number of converted schools.41 41 Circulation of the General Office of the State Council on Transmitting and Issuing Some Opinions of the Ministry of Education on Test of School-Running System Reform during the Period of Compulsory Education (国务院办公厅转发教育部关于义务教育阶段办学体制改革试 验工作若干意见的通知) ( June 25, 1998, State Office Issue, No. 96, 1998) stipulates that, “tests on school-running system reform of public schools in the stage of compulsory education must be under strict control. Tests on school-running system reform of public schools must be approved by provincial educational and administrative departments and the number of schools with tests of school-running system reform must be strictly controlled.” “Tests of school-running system reform such as ‘public school with private assistance’ and ‘private school with public assistance’ shall be done mainly in schools with weak foundation.” After 2005, the central government has great policy changes on the issue of transformation of public schools. Circulation of the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Education on Bringing Success to the Preparation Work of Clearing-up and Rectification of Charges in Converted Schools (国家发展改革委、教育部关于做好清理 整顿改制学校收费准备工作的通知) (Development Reform Price, No. 2827, 2005) demanded that local governments completely stop approving new converted schools. A series of documents successively issued such as the Circulation of the General Office of the State Council on Transmitting and Issuing the Proposals for Implementation of the Work of Correcting Malpractice in Government Departments in 2006 Drafted by the Ministry of Supervision and the Office of the State Council for the Work of Correcting Malpractice in Government Departments (国务 院办公厅转发监察部和国务院纠正行业不正之风办公室关于 2006 年纠风工作实 施意见的通知) (State Office Issue, No. 20, 2006), the Opinions of Seven Ministries Including the Ministry of Education on Implementation of the Work of Controlling Unjustified Charges of Education in 2006 (教育部等七部门关于 2006 年治理教育乱收费工作实施意见) (Education Supervision, No. 6, 2006), Some Opinions of the Ministry of Education on Implementation of Compulsory Education Law and Further Regulation of Behavior of Running Compulsory Education (教育部关于贯彻<义务教育法>进一步规范义务教育办学行为的若 干意见) (Education Basic, No. 19, 2006), Opinions of Departments Including the Ministry of Education on Implementation of Regulation of Educational Fees and Further Controlling Unjustified Charges of Education (教育部等部门关于 2007 年规范教育收费、进一步治理教育乱 收费工作的实施意见) (Education Supervision, No. 4, 2006), Opinions of the Ministry of Education, Office of the State Council for the Work of Correcting Malpractice in Government Departments, the Ministry of Supervision, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Finance, Audit Commission, General Administration of Press and Publication on Implementation of Work of Regulation of Education Fees and Further Controlling Unjustified Charges of Education (教育部、国务院纠风办、监察部、国家发展改革委、财政部、审计署、新闻出 版总署关于 2008 年规范教育收费进一步治理教育乱收费工作的实施意见) (Education Supervision, No.7, 2008) all emphasized to “resolutely put an end to unjustified charges in the name of transformation and further regulate running behaviors of public schools, which means that central government has given up the policy choice of developing private education through the transformation of public schools.” Jiangsu Province Education Department has clearly affirmed the reasonableness of transformation of public schools in the stage of noncompulsory education in Opinions of Jiangsu Province Education Department on Reforming School-Running System of Basic Education (江苏省教育厅关于基础教育办学体制改革的意见) promulgated on October 31, 2005: “public schools in the stage of noncompulsory education can try out running ‘state-owned and private-run’ schools; . . . public schools in the stage of noncompulsory education can wholly turn into private schools; . . . actively promote cooperation in

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With the data available, it is evident that the transformation of public schools attracts people’s attention after 1993.42 The transformation test of eleven schools in Beijing shows that the main starting point in the initial stage is the autonomy to run school. Later on, the transformation of public schools is given universal value of system innovation and imitated in the whole nation, which reflects the political strategy adopted by the government in that they do not want to actively promote this system innovation while facing the local successful practice.43 The investigation report of the National Education Development and Research Center indicates: From 1994 to 1995, the number of private primary and secondary schools in some provinces and municipalities almost doubled, among which, most are ‘converted schools’. Public primary and secondary schools in the Shanghai municipality transformed, mainly by way of giving the original weak public or new schools to individuals or groups to undertake, almost simultaneously with the development of private schools. Transformation targets in Guangzhou are mainly relatively weak public primary and secondary schools. Most undertakers are social groups or enterprise groups but not principals in public schools, so school transformation is considered an important part of establishing a diversified school-running system. School transformation in the Tianjin municipality started in 1992, gradually picked up momentum after 1995, and developed by the largest margin of about 50 per year in 1995 and 1996. At present, there are 120 converted schools in Tianjin, which is the largest number of transformation of public schools in

running schools in the form of joint-stock; . . . actively develop cooperation in running schools with mutual stock participation of public capital and nonpublic capital, establish the new mechanism that the investment of national finance to noncompulsory education could move forward or move back, and rationally flow” (Su Education Law, No. 2, 2005). This is the most active local policy of provincial government on transformation of public schools at present. 42 Before market-oriented economic reform started by Deng Xiaoping’s “Speeches during the Inspection Tour in the South,” transformation of public schools was not allowed in politics. 43 Li Jinchu analyzed the guiding ideology of reform test of school-running system. He says, “Since Deng Xiaoping’s ‘Speeches during the Inspection Tour in the South’ in 1992, reform of school-running system was started. On May 8th, 1992, ‘five selves’ was officially presented: the first is self-raising fund to run schools, the second is selfenrolling, the third is self-employing staff, the fourth is self-distributing staff wages, the fifth is self-educating and teaching reform.” The history of reforming and opening up in China shows that, while facing civil system innovation, governments usually did not take positive or active support actions so as to avoid political risk, which is also consistent with the logic of progressive reform.

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wu hua and wen dai China. Since 1996, Beijing municipality started to do transformation tests on some public primary and secondary schools. Before 1998, there were mainly three categories: transformation of schools with relatively good foundation, transformation of weak schools, and transformation of new schools. In 1998, converted schools in Beijing municipality had a marked increase in number and showed a new form of transformation, such as taking the opportunity of separating from middle and high schools and some famous schools; key schools merged weak schools and founded a new converted middle school, which was similar to converted schools in Tianjin municipality. In addition, converted schools develop in different degrees in Shenyang, Harbin, and Changchun.44

After 1993, transformation tests of public schools developed throughout the nation. The main motivation of transformation also changes from that schools strive for more school-running autonomy to schools and governments paying more attention to realistic and potential economic interests. In the early stages of transformation tests of public schools, a considerable number of schools stemmed from exploring new ways of educating and teaching, hoping to find an effective way to break through exam-oriented education and practice quality education through reform in the aspect of the school-running system. But unless converted schools go through non-normal channels such as going abroad, to release academic pressure, no one school can bear the tremendous pressure caused by the decrease of the ratio of those entering a higher school, especially when financial sources of converted schools heavily depend on the social assessment of the ratio of those entering a higher school. After recognizing this reality, public schools have to put noneducational goals, such as the ratio of entering a higher school, in an important position in the reform of the school-running system.45 In the school-running system reform of public schools, governments have changed from pursuit of an educational target to a financial target, and a typical case is seen in the policy of independent colleges.46 44 Ye Zhihong and Wang Ming, “Investigation and Research on Transformation of Public Primary and Secondary Schools in China,” Exploring Education Development 4 (1999). 45 This is a universal fact clearly proved by that most converted schools have not made progress in the aspect of education innovation. This is really a regrettable thing and is the problem of the entire education system. 46 From this point, Some Opinions of the Ministry of Education on Standardizing and Strengthening Management of General Colleges through New Mechanism and Model to Run Independent Colleges (关于规范并加强普通高校以新的机制和模式试办独立学院管理 的若干意见) has explicit requirements: “Fourth, all independent colleges must use private mechanism. Construction of independent colleges, fund required for devel-

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In addition, the system design that almost all converted schools have been suspended from public financial assistance further illustrates that alleviating financial pressure is an important motivation for governments to promote transformation of public schools;47 this also shows that decision-making departments still lack deep understanding and systematic design for the significance of the transformation of public schools.48 The current practice of public school transformation shows that it is an effective way to attract private capital, rapidly improve school conditions, and raise the school management level. From the perspective of developing private education, transformation is also a good way to optimize stock resources of public education and promote the rapid development of private education. Someone performed a specific case study for the policy effect of the transformation of public schools and came to the conclusion that converted public schools had good performance in many aspects, such as increasing educational investment, improving school conditions, improving educational quality, promoting competition among schools, and satisfying the public’s right to choose education.49 So far, the opinions opposing the transformation of public schools are not supported by specialized study

opment and other related expenditures shall be undertaken by partners or raised in private mechanism.” 47 Reducing stress of school choice is also an original intention for governments to encourage and develop transformation tests of public schools, but this starting point is in question. In addition, comparing the transformation test of Chinese public schools with that of US charter schools will further prove the judgment above. 48 Circulation of the Ministry of Education on Several Issues about Strengthening School-Running Management of Basic Education (教育部关于加强基础教育办学管理若干问题的通知) (Education Basic, No. 1, February 26, 2002) stated,“ In recent years, locals have achieved remarkable results in aspects such as carrying out reform pilots of public school running system, encouraging social forces run schools, improving weak schools, expanding high-quality educational resources, and promoting entrance examination system reform in the stage of compulsory education.” But Article 1 (“Developing basic education is the duty of governments at all levels. Local governments may not transfer primary and secondary schools, kindergartens in the ways of selling or auction. Schools that had been transferred and causes loss and impairment of public assets must be corrected timely.”) and Article 2 (“Public primary and secondary schools and kindergartens with high school levels, high teaching quality and good social reputations, as the public education resources formed by long-term accumulation, may not turn into private or charge high fees in the name of transformation.”) oppose transformation of public schools to the educational responsibility of governments and have obvious recognizing bias. 49 Hu Wei: “Successful Attempt of Extricating from Predicament,” Exploring Education Development 4 (1999).

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results.50 There is a lack of comprehensive assessment at the national level on performance after the transformation of public schools, but based on the cases above and logical analysis, the transformation of public schools has an undoubtedly positive significance to increase the supply of education, especially the supply of high-quality education, in the aspects of improving weak schools and increasing the utilization efficiency of educational resources. Converted schools usually have a good performance; they also made a positive contribution in aspects of rendering education as fair and increasing the selection of education. The fact that the transformation of public schools increases consumer welfare should be fully affirmed. One important source of this welfare increase is interest transfer, including reducing fees and innovating education services provided by private schools due to increasing competition; it also means cost increase and loss of interest for private schools. The adjustment of the interest pattern caused is in accordance with the overall interest of society, but the overall interest of society will be damaged if private schools withdraw from the market due to too much competitive pressure.51 This is why private schools strongly oppose converted schools.52 Independent colleges are a typical case of developing private education with public educational resources in the field of higher education in China. In 2007, there are in total 318 independent colleges with 50 Wu Hua made comprehensive analysis in “Preliminary Comments on Policies about Public Schools’ Transformation,” Exploring Education Development 2 (2006). 51 Besides the reason of investment of fixed assets, the cost advantage of converted schools relies on another possible reason with more importance that converted school teachers have different identity with private school teachers, resulting in that private schools have to bear a higher wage cost. Of course, the final evaluation on rationality of competition between converted schools and private schools also depends on the definition and difference in aspects of financial structure and profit-making behavior of two parties. Due to converted schools’ universal nature of being state-owned, the issue of reasonable returns should not exist in system design, therefore, while evaluating the competition between private schools that may get “reasonable return” and converted schools that need not consider reasonable returns, we need to jump out of the position of specific school. 52 Converted schools cannot get financial allocation, but converted school teachers, usually retaining the identity of public teachers, have higher occupational stability than private school teachers. The converted school of state-owned and privately run need not bear the investment cost of new schools, which greatly reduces their financial pressure and is beneficial for schools to choose a sound market strategy; meanwhile, some converted schools possessed brand resources of public schools before transformation, which made them easier for parents to recognize. All these factors result in a more a favorable market position for them to compete with private schools and constitute unfair competition to private schools.

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1,866,000 students accounting for more than 10% of the total number of undergraduate and junior college students of national universal higher education, among which, undergraduate students in independent colleges amounted to 1,657,000, accounting for 88.7% of the total number of undergraduate and junior college students of private undergraduate higher education in China. Independent colleges not only play an important role in higher private education, but are also an important system innovation for the long-term development of Chinese higher education.53 Differing from the identity selection of the central government for state-owned and privately run schools in the stage of compulsory education, independent colleges have completely posited themselves in private education, which undoubtedly enhances the overall strength of Chinese private higher education. Private higher education has changed from totally depending on private resources to a new development path where it uses more public resources; in the process of institutional change, original private colleges and universities face tremendous pressure of market competition, so governments need to make market competition rules with more fairness for providing private colleges and universities and independent colleges more development space.54 53 Independent colleges originated from the private subcollege under public universities. Sichuan Normal University of Film &Television College, founded in 1996, is the first private subcollege under public university. After rapidly enlarging scale of enrollment for higher education in 1999, for finishing national expansion plan and solving the problem of insufficient fund, some universities and colleges ran subcolleges, which are currently independent colleges. In the meantime, China’s higher education finds a path of realizing extraordinary development by using market mechanisms and government mechanisms. In statistics on private universities and colleges in 2003, independent colleges are not included in the statistics of private education system; but in the Education Statistical Report of 2004, students in private schools had been included in the private education system, while independent colleges were still not included into the statistics of private education system, which reflected government’s ambivalence and vague understanding on this issue. Since 2005, independent colleges are officially included into private education system; Measures for the Establishment and Administration of Independent Colleges (独立学院设置与管理办法) (Ministry of Education, Order No. 26) promulgated on February 22, 2008, stipulates that “Independent colleges are an important part of private higher education and are a public undertaking.” 54 Rule fairness refers to all schools attending competition have the same rights and obligations, while this requirement is far from achieving at present. Meanwhile, independent colleges have more public education resources than other private universities and colleges, which forming the competitive edge in market. In this case, to achieve fair competition, the general idea is restricting independent colleges to have

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8.3.1. Basic Judgment on Policy Development of Chinese Private Education over Three Decades of Reforming and Opening Up With the promulgation of Private Education Promotion Law as the landmark, policy development of Chinese private education presents two opposite trends. Before 2003, all the relevant public policies of governments at all levels showed an active supportive tendency toward private education. But this trend started to change with the promulgation of the Implemental Regulations of Private Education Promotion Law; managing and standardizing became the mainstream of policy design of the central government on private education, while local governments still maintained a generally positive attitude. We will be inspired if we note the great increase of national tax from 2003 to 2007 and the sustainable increase of investment in public education during this period. In 2007, national fiscal expenditure on education amounted to 706,535 million yuan, including a central fiscal expenditure of 107,635 million yuan, which is 15.23% of the national fiscal total expenditure on education and is the highest proportion since the founding of the nation.55 Education is mainly a local affair according to the demarcation of power and responsibility for financial expenditure between central and local authorities; therefore, promoting the development of private education will bring much more financial interest to local governments than to the central government; this can partly explain why the local government has stronger motivation of institutional innovation and more enthusiasm than the central government to promote the development of private education.56 If it is a reasonable explanation, then, if the central government does not issue policies and laws restricting the development of private education, promoting the

two kinds of institutional resources, while ignoring the possible way of achieving fair competition by allowing private universities and colleges to have two kinds of institutional resources. 55 Report on the Implementation of the Central and Local Budgets for 2007 and on the Draft of Central and Local Budgets for 2008 (abstract), http://www.npc.gov .cn/npc/xinwen/jdgz/bgjy/2008-03/06/content_1407004.htm. 56 The comparison of relevant policies between central and local governments shows that, regardless whether it is before or after the promulgation of Private Education Promotion Law, local governments have more active policies and regulations for promoting local private education.

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development of local private education becomes an inherent desire of local governments.57 Through observation and analysis like this, various phenomena and problems in current private education can get a more reasonable explanation. For example, Article 6, item 3 of the Implemental Regulations of Private Education Promotion Law stipulates that “public schools implementing compulsory education may not turn into private schools,” which is obviously contrary to the basic spirit of Article 3 (“Private education is a public undertaking; it is a part of the socialist education undertakings”), Article 5 (“Private schools and public schools are of the same legal status; the state protects private schools’ autonomy of operation”), and Article 27 (“Teachers and the educated have the same legal status as those of a public school”). On the surface, it reflects the concept limitation that government still positions itself as the manager of public education and vague consciousness of law. In fact, the deeper issue behind this is that, without financial pressure, the central government pays more attention to noneconomic interests, while local governments are more pragmatic to institutional innovations that are conducive to alleviate the existing financial pressure in reality.58 Such conflict is also a universal phenomenon in other social fields.59 All in all, the central government’s policy on private education has turned from actively encouraging into strengthening standardization. A fact supporting this conclusion is that, besides the Implemental Regulations of Private Education Promotion Law promulgated by the State Council, the Ministry of Education did not formulate any public policy aimed at encouraging the development of private education in the five years since the promulgation and implementation of Private Education Promotion Law. All relevant policies formulated in this period are based on

57 No matter whether governments will provide more public financial assistance to private education (schools) in future, at least, private education will make a prominent contribution to public finance in aspects of school-building investment and annual operating cost. 58 If the government really positions itself as the manager and facilitator of education of the whole society and truly believes that private schools have the same legal status as public schools, then the provision of “public schools implementing compulsory education cannot transform into private schools” in the Implemental Regulations of Private Education Promotion Law not only lacks legal basis and is obviously illogical, but also cannot meet the practical needs of adjustments of public schools that social development requires. 59 Liu Xing, Conflict of Laws and Legislative Measures in China (Beijing: China University of Political Science and Law, Press, 2003).

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a theme of strengthening standardization. Another more obvious fact is that the Ministry of Education did not hold any National Working Conference on Private Education during this five-year period; which means that from the perspective of the Ministry of Education, the importance of private education has begun to decline. This point can also be obviously corroborated by the focus of annual work from 2001 to 2008 developed by the Ministry of Education.60 Since 2003, the central government’s policy on private education has obviously changed, but local governments still insist on the policy of supporting the development of private education. Judging from the fact of the relatively rapid growth of private education at the national level during this period, private education has entered a new stage oriented by the policy of local governments. In this sense, the Circulation of the State Council on Bringing Success to the Work of Exempting Urban Students from Tuitions and Miscellaneous for the Period of Compulsory Education (国务院关于做好免除城市义务教育阶段学生学杂费工作的通知) (State Issue [2008] No. 25) clearly excludes the vast majority of private schools out of the scope of public financial assistance, which is a very unwise policy choice even without consideration of legitimacy. At present, the most cause for concern is that if the policy ideology of clearly public-private, that is reflected when the central government standardizes the school-running behavior of the participation of public schools in running private schools becomes the basic guiding ideology of governments at all levels to develop private education in future, then, the elimination of private schools is the likely result due to longterm and continuous increase of school-running costs. Therefore, for the long-term and healthy development of Chinese private education, establishing a policy ideology of supporting private educational development with public resources and setting up an overall and systematical policy guarantee system of private education in aspects such as taxation, old-age security, and student financial assistance is the urgent policy theme that needs to be faced by governments at all levels.

60 In the focus of the annual work of the Ministry of Education, there was almost no content of private education before 2000; from 2000 to 2004, encouraging development is keynote on private education; equal attention was paid to promoting development and standardizing management in 2005; while from 2006 to 2008, the theme on private education is standardizing the development of independent colleges (arranged according to working focus of the Ministry of Education); http://www.moe.gov.cn/.

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8.3.2. Several Policy Recommendations Private education is the product of the market economy. Since China carried out the policy of reform and opening up and chose a market economic system, the traditional public education system operating in accordance with a planned economic model cannot meet the basic requirements of the free flow of resources in the market economy. Thanks to the background of social change as stated above, private education appears and develops. Therefore, as long as China continues pursuing a socialist market economy, a private economy will exist. Now, it is universally recognized that the existence and development of private education is beyond a doubt in the field with a high-marketing level such as higher education, vocational education, and educational training. But an obvious difference of opinions about whether private education should be developed exists in fields of basic education, especially in the fields with a stronger nature of public good, such as compulsory education. Judging from the current policy direction, the policy of restricting and denying the development of private education in these fields has received the upper hand, but its rationality lacks sufficient reasons in theory and practice.61 Because of special national conditions and historical reasons for the development of Chinese private education, we should not think that it is a policy failure for private schools to have public education resources and hope to deprive their legitimate rights and interests just because at present, private schools in the traditional sense do not enjoy the public education resources that state-owned and privately run schools enjoyed. In contrast, their practice shows that more active support towards private education with public educational resources will greatly promote the healthy development of private education. In the past, private schools in the traditional sense did not get the support

61 In theory, noncompetitive and nonexclusive are the two basic attributes of public goods, and the two basic attributes of public goods cannot be strictly met if only goods and services consumed by people have non-negligible differences, which is the normal state of educational activities. As a public good, compulsory education is just a kind of institutional arrangement rather than its own attribute. In a realistic level of educational consumption service, both compulsory education and other education have more attributes of private goods rather than public goods. In fact, the practice of compulsory education in the world shows that compulsory education solely run by government is inferior to private education either in quality or in efficiency. In other words, private education is not in the least inferior to public education in the aspect of quality of compulsory education.

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of public educational resources that they deserved, but effective measures should be taken now to correct policy deviations. In this way, a more level playing field can be created, which will promote faster and healthier development of Chinese private education. In response to urgent problems in the development of private education at present and major issues influencing the long-term development of private education, the following several objectives should be given special attention in the government’s policy practice: First, protect legitimate rights and interests of private schools. Strictly enforce provisions in Private Education Promotion Law and its Implemental Regulations that private schools without the requirement of reasonable return enjoy the same tax benefits as public schools, formulate most the preferential tax policy for private schools with the requirement of reasonable returns, exempt business tax and corporate income tax on private schools with the requirement of reasonable returns, only levy personal income tax on founders, make efforts to reduce the cost of private schools, and establish a stable policy expectation for private and international capital to invest in Chinese private education. Encourage local governments to formulate a sharing policy of teacher old-age insurance the school pays that links to the schooling level of private schools and earnestly reduces the costs of private schools. Earnestly protect the autonomy of private schools to run schools. Allow and encourage private schools to determine admission schemes according to local and school conditions and eliminate local protectionism barriers private schools face in the enrollment process. In the enrollment method, especially for private schools implementing compulsory education, allow the adopting of admission methods such as examination, and do not replace the selection and admission methods of private schools with the standard of public schools.62 Regarding the

Educational activities in private schools can be divided into two parts: one part corresponds to educational activities developed in public school; the other part reflects the own characteristics of private schools. The former can be named “legal education,” and the latter “school education.” Precisely because private schools provide school-age children and teenagers with legal education in line with the national requirement, the integrity and uniformity of national compulsory education system is guaranteed. It is also for this reason, the state must provide private schools in the stage of compulsory education with universal public financial assistance, and this fund support must be understood on the basis of legal rights of students and legal obligations of governments rather than for the policy purpose of supporting private education. However, this policy surely has a supporting effect on private education. Meanwhile, private schools also provide school-age children and teenagers with school education with 62

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curriculum, encourage private schools to explore and innovate, positively develop school curriculums and form school characteristics on the premise of following the national curriculum standard. In the field of higher education, according to reform process of the national higher education system, gradually relax and abolish administrative regulations on admission schemes, professional settings, levels of charges and diplomas recognized in private universities and independent colleges, and encourage private schools to make their own decisions in accordance with market requirements. Second, protect the legitimate rights and interests of private school founders. Relevant provisions in Private Education Promotion Law and the Implemental Regulations of Private Education Promotion Law stipulate that private school founders have the following rights, such as the right of running schools, the right to make regulations of private schools, the right to set up first sessions of decision-making bodies such as councils and boards of directors, the right to be the legal representative of private schools, the right to attend school-running and management activities in accordance with the authority and procedure stipulated in school regulation, and the right to get reasonable returns; the above rights need the compliance and implementation of governmental departments. Encourage private school founders to use school balances to improve school conditions and raise teacher wages. For ownership of the valueadded part of school assets, establish incentive regulations reversely linking to preferential policies in the period of school-running. Before the promulgation of relevant laws and administrative regulations, encourage local governments to do beneficial explorations. Third, protect the legitimate rights and interests of teachers in private schools. The central government shall reiterate the regulation of Article 27, that “teachers and the educated have the same legal status as those of a public school,” found in Private Education Promotion Law, formulate social security policy that teachers in private schools enjoy equal rights with teachers in public schools, and immediately correct the false regulation that includes teachers in private schools in the enterprise old-age insurance system. Before the promulgation

school characteristics, which provides private schools with realistic basis of embodying school-running autonomy, and reasonable and legitimate concept basis of deciding to charge tuition fees while getting financial support from governments.

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of relevant documents, encourage local governments to formulate a transitional approach to solve this problem. The state has started oldage insurance system reform in public institutions. The basic direction of system design is establishing a social old-age security system of public accounts being linked to individual accounts, which merges with the current old-age insurance system in enterprise unites. Under this background, national educational and administrative departments should actively promote the merger of the old-age insurance system of teachers both in public and in private schools, and prevent private schools and their teachers from being treated unfairly within the new social security system. Fourth, protect the legitimate rights and interests of students in private schools. Establish a modern public finance concept that students are the statutory beneficiaries of public financial expenditure on education. Provide private school students in the stage of compulsory education with public financial assistance based on student numbers in accordance with relevant provisions in Compulsory Education Law and Private Education Promotion Law, and solve the currently prevailing problem of institutional discrimination. Provide private school students in the stage of noncompulsory education with nondiscriminatory public financial assistance that is equivalent to government financial resource and protect legitimate rights and interests of the educated from being discriminated due to different school founders. Establish a multilayered national education voucher system and guarantee that migrant children enjoy equal rights to education. Fifth, make careful choices for the medium- and long-term development strategies of Chinese private education. Transform the traditional common development strategy of public-private separation (separately run) and gradually form the modern common development strategy of public-private integration; go beyond the limitation of ideology of public or private and establish a modern public education system in accordance with the socialist market economy system and modern governmental public governance structure. In reviewing policy evolution regarding private education in China during the last 30 years, the most important conclusion is that the local policy (system) innovation is the inexhaustible motivating force to promote the development of private education. For a long time, we always followed standardized educational development in all regions with a national uniformed policy on educational development, with

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the results often being bad with good intentions and completely opposite to what was expected. In macroideas of promoting the development of private education, the most important thing is to motivate the enthusiasm of provincial and country governments to develop private education and create a relaxed policy environment of institutional innovation for grassroots and civil society. Experience has proved that at this point, the practice of private education has no difference in terms of results when compared with practice exploration and theory research in all fields such as the economy, politics, and culture during the three decades of reform and the opening up in China.

INDEX

2 plus 7 357, 364 2 plus X 357, 364 211 projects 282 Accountability System 31 administration fees 113, 119 adult education 15, 18, 41, 169, 219, 375 Affirmative Action Plan 415–416, 418 alternative-system schools 138, 143– 144 arbitrary charges in basic education 139 Asian Financial Crisis 331, 333 Australia 262 Australian TAFE vocational education model 262–263 balanced development of compulsory education 111, 121, 133, 140, 144–146, 160, 173, 209, 220 bilingual education 380, 392, 394, 407 Bilingual Education in Inner Mongolia 399–400 bilingual teaching 390–395, 398 British inclusive studies 207 Canada 262, 416 case study 212, 249, 399 Case Study of Learning in Regular Classrooms 212 Certificate of Education Exams 161 China Academy of Social Science 349 college students to study abroad 323 Compulsory Education for the Disabled 176 converted schools 436–437, 451 n. 23, 462–466 county-based administrative system 120 cross-cultural education 410 Cultural Revolution 6, 167 n. 3, 170, 256, 258, 265, 270, 323–324, 374–375, 381, 391 Decisions on the Development of Vocational and Technical Education 273

demand-driven model 44–45, 47 Deng Xiaoping 27 n. 25, 31, 38, 133, 147–148, 271, 275, 322–324, 326, 382, 392, 463 nn. 42–43 development of vocational education in rural areas 269 drop-out rate 129, 230 early childhood care and education 28, 70, 72, 74–77, 81, 91, 95, 97, 107 Early Childhood Education and Care 61, 101 n. 17, 103 economically underdeveloped areas 105–106, 377–378 education 1–10, 12–22, 24–25, 27–32, 36–49, 51–56, 59, 61–62, 71–78, 80–87, 89, 91–95, 97–102, 104, 107–109, 111–140, 143–148, 150–163, 165–178, 180–212, 214–218, 228–251, 255–263, 265, 267–296, 298–341, 344, 346–357, 361 n. 41, 362 n. 43, 363, 365–402, 405–423, 425, 427, 431–434, 438–461, 462 n. 41, 463–475 education ecology 350 education fees 12, 299–301, 462 n. 41 Education Law 8, 118–119, 123, 128, 130–131, 146, 159, 171, 173, 176, 188–189, 193, 205, 234, 277, 384, 412, 414, 419, 438, 441–443 educational equality 2–3, 5–8, 15, 17, 19, 21, 32, 145–146, 192, 253, 298, 304, 310, 322, 378 Educational Equity for Migrant Children 228 educational expenses 119, 122–126, 128, 139 educational fairness 177, 195, 208–209, 329–330, 336, 340, 371, 427, 432 Eleventh Five-Year Plan 115, 282, 294, 296, 329, 347, 385–386, 406 enrollment expansion 320, 328, 331–337, 339–340, 346–351, 369–370 enrollment rates 28, 69, 76, 259, 331, 344, 409, 415

478

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entitlement 32–39, 42–44, 59, 326 entitlement theory 33, 36, 38, 43–44 equal education rights for the disabled 191 Ethnic Minority Education 15, 373–375, 377–378, 380–385, 388–390, 406–407, 409–411, 420–422 Ethnic Minority Education Policy 380–382, 384, 388–390, 411, 421 ethnic minority teachers 376, 383 EU countries 304–305

Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region 399, 401–402, 405–406 integrative education 195, 205 International Experiences 99, 106, 208, 304, 309, 410, 418 International Experiences with Minority Education 410 International Workers’ Organization 262

Fifth National Population Census 224 financial support 14, 46, 71, 94, 108, 113, 125–126, 243, 245, 252, 262–263, 284, 294–298, 300–302, 312, 350, 353, 362, 386, 396, 398, 427, 452 n. 27, 454, 473 n. 62, 473 n. 62 floating population 10, 427 Four Virtues and Three Catres 323 free compulsory education 7–9, 114–115, 120–122, 130–131, 159, 432 n. 5

key universities 133, 147, 289, 323, 326, 328, 341, 343–344, 347, 351–352, 355–356, 364 kindergartens 13, 52, 62–63, 66–67, 69, 71–77, 79–98, 103–105, 107–109, 168, 398, 400–401, 407, 409, 426, 448, 453, 465 n. 48

Gang of Four 6, 322, 391 gaps in the educational quality 133 German dual vocational education model 263 Germany 20 n. 18, 103, 262, 276 n. 18, 304, 308, 309 n. 41 Gini coefficient 291 grassroots-level governments 122 Han students 378–380 higher education 2 n. 1, 7, 12–15, 20 n. 17, 27 n. 25, 40–41, 116, 127, 144, 167 n. 4, 168–169, 174, 185, 194 n. 29, 195 n. 32, 201 n. 45, 262, 265, 275, 279, 281, 283, 295 n. 35, 298, 303, 311, 313, 315, 317–320, 322–337, 340–342, 344, 346–351, 353, 356, 365–370, 375–376, 397, 407, 409, 411, 415, 421, 434, 436, 455, 461, 466–467, 471, 473 Hukou 226–228, 233–236, 241, 246, 248 Implemental Regulations 443–446, 447 n. 15, 468–469, 472–473 inclusive education 16, 166, 195–196, 201, 203 n. 50, 204 n. 51, 206–208, 215 individual education 166, 200

Japan 29, 205, 262 Jiang Zemin 353–354, 355 n. 39

Latin America 29, 102, 207 Law of Vocational Education 81, 290, 295 learning in regular classrooms with ordinary children 166 living conditions 274, 290, 293, 409, 449 loans 284, 295, 297, 298 n. 36, 304, 330, 336, 339–340, 349–350, 375, 386 mainstreaming 166, 194–196, 200, 206 managers 94, 103, 342–345 market forces 273, 282, 285–286 Market Mechanisms 285–289, 451, 467 n. 53 Martin Trow 330, 370 mass media 18, 22, 190, 234, 300 massification of higher education 330–331, 337, 349, 351, 370 mechanisms of fund raising 124 MHK 395, 397–398, 407, 409–410 Migrant Children 91, 223–249, 251–253, 474 Migrant School Headmaster 249 Minister Zhou Ji 329 Ministry of Education 9–10, 13, 18, 23, 26, 52, 54, 77, 81, 83, 92, 113–115, 121–122, 125 n. 6, 127, 133–134, 136–138, 141–145, 148–149, 154–156, 167, 170, 183 n. 21, 187 n. 23, 188 n. 25, 199, 235, 238–241, 257, 260, 262, 264–267,

index 268 n. 12, 269, 271, 279–280, 283 n. 25, 284, 293, 295 n. 34, 299, 317 n. 1, 318, 319 nn. 2–3, 321, 324, 329–331, 337–338, 339 n. 20, 344, 346 n. 29, 352–353, 355–357, 360, 363, 366, 369, 374 n. 2, 381, 387–388, 399 n. 14, 412, 426, 436, 438, 443–444, 455, 457, 459 n. 37, 461, 462 n. 41, 464 n. 46, 465 n. 48, 467 n. 53, 469–470 multicultural education 410–412, 414, 416–417, 419 national college entrance examination 317 National Education Examinations Authority 455 National Mandarin Test 395 New Curricular Reform 151, 154–159 nine-year compulsory education 7–10, 61, 83, 111–113, 119, 123, 144, 151, 160, 171, 176, 185, 194, 196, 237–238, 376, 382–383 Ninth Five-Year Plan 77, 81, 97, 138, 277, 352 nongovernmental 19, 93, 118, 125, 271–272, 283, 288, 368, 390, 425 nongovernmental organizations 74–75, 79, 93, 117, 257, 262, 273, 275–276, 283, 298, 386 nurturing talents 333, 350, 363 old-age insurance 447–449, 472–474 one-fee system 129, 141–142 Operationalization 248 Outlines of the Reforms and Development of Education in China 275 overage schooling 229 overseas donations 386 Pearl River Delta Area 312 Peking University 136 n. 13, 321, 326, 341–342, 347 n. 31, 352–357, 361 n. 41, 362–364 people-oriented educational policies 3, 37 politicalization 326 postgraduates 45, 319, 321, 326, 334–335, 415 preferential admission policies 378–379 Premier Wen Jiabao 112, 114–115, 132, 242

479

preschool education system 13, 74 preserving cultural diversity 411 private businessmen 344 private education 16–17, 29–30, 425, 427, 431–434, 438–447, 449–450, 451 n. 23, 452–457, 459 n. 37, 461, 462 n. 41, 465–472, 474–475 Private Education Legal System 438 Private Education Promotion Law 438–439, 442–446, 447 n. 15, 448, 452–456, 460–461, 468–469, 472–474 private enterprisers 344 private kindergartens 66, 69, 71, 75, 83–86, 89–93, 95, 107–108 private schools 16, 29–30, 144, 146, 187, 232, 244, 425, 427, 431–433, 438 n. 8, 439–444, 446–449, 450 n. 22, 451–461, 463, 466, 467 n. 53, 469 n. 58, 470–474 professionals 337, 342, 344, 353 Project 211 321, 328, 351–356, 361–366 Project 985 321, 328, 351, 353–357, 361–366 Public Investment 78–80, 85, 88–89, 100–101, 106–107 public kindergartens 71–72, 76, 79–80, 84–86, 89–93, 107–108, 407 quality of teachers 259–260, 263

86, 213, 232,

Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Academic Degrees 318, 323 Responsibility Inquiry System 50–52 revenue-sharing scheme on educational expenditure 124 Rights 3–4, 10, 17, 21–22, 24, 28, 32–40, 42–43, 50–51, 59, 99, 123, 160, 166, 171, 173–174, 176–177, 189, 191, 193, 205–206, 228, 238, 240–241, 245, 276, 278 n. 20, 314, 322–323, 370, 382, 388–389, 413–415, 421, 432–433, 440–442, 444–446, 447 n. 15, 452, 454–455, 456 n. 53, 457–458, 459 n. 37, 460–461, 467 n. 54, 471–474 Rural China 7, 66, 112 rural compulsory education 120, 126, 130–131, 329–330, 432 rural laborers 223–224 rural-urban inequalities 69

480

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Salamanca Declaration 195, 207 school educational funding 177 school-running system of special education 184 school-selection fees 134–137, 139 scientific development viewpoint 322, 328, 330, 370 scientific foundation 387 secondary vocational education 82, 169, 187, 257–260, 261 n. 6, 267, 271, 277, 279–281, 285, 289, 293–294, 296, 300–305, 307–308, 312, 315, 351 Shanghai 25, 69, 89, 92, 94, 107–108, 132, 137, 155, 167, 182, 243–244, 247, 262, 344, 346, 349, 445 n. 12, 452, 463 Shanghai Education Science Institute 335 n. 15, 337 n. 17 Shanxi 152, 182, 399, 445 Shenyang 262, 464 social programs 92–93 special education 16, 61, 82, 165–178, 181, 183–189, 191–196, 199, 203–212, 215–216 Special Education Fund 186–188 special education system 16, 165–167, 170 special high schools 168 State assistantship 14, 296–297, 299–302 State cadres 342, 344 student movements 325 subsidies 9 n. 10, 104, 113–114, 123, 130, 132–133, 186, 188, 192–193, 211, 214–215, 251, 262, 289, 294, 300, 305, 314, 349, 375, 386, 406, 408–409, 419 subsidized student loan 334, 339 supply-driven model 44–45 surtax for educational expenses 126 Tang Min 331, 333, 336 tax decentralization reform 74, 76, 79–80, 88–89 Tearless Crystate Scholarships 18, 293 Tenth Five-Year Plan 146, 168, 200, 329, 332 township-based system 120 Tsinghua University 324, 341, 352–353, 355–356, 364 tuition 7–9, 12, 21, 30, 113–115, 119, 122, 124–125, 128, 131–132, 136,

231, 240, 250, 260, 268–269, 275, 278, 284, 292 n. 31, 294–295, 297–298, 303–305, 313, 333, 338–339, 346, 367, 427, 432, 461 n. 38 tuition fees 21, 132–133, 191–192, 267, 284, 300, 322, 328, 330, 335, 338–339, 341, 406, 427 n. 3, 432, 457–458, 473 n. 62 TVE 223 Two Exemptions and One Subsidy 8 n. 9, 9, 19, 114, 119, 131, 294 UK 104–105, 262, 307–308, 412–413 Unequal Development 133 unequal fee charging for migrant children 242 UNESCO 3 n. 5, 29, 40, 102, 115, 195, 255, 262, 304, 306 universalization of nine-year compulsory education 119 USA 27, 29, 262 Vocational and Technical Education 18, 293, 306 vocational education 7, 14–15, 18, 41, 44, 82, 169, 187, 255–260, 262–263, 265, 267–290, 293–296, 298, 301–316, 322, 329, 332, 335–336, 350–351, 383, 406, 471 Vocational Education Law of the People’s Republic of China 276 vocational education policies 270, 272–273, 276, 286 n. 25, 287, 290, 294, 304, 309, 311 vocational education reforms 278 vocational education system 13–14, 44, 256–258, 281, 289, 298 n. 36, 314 Wenchuan Earthquake 210 Western China 18, 21, 25, 112–113, 121, 182, 187, 293, 299, 310, 339, 364, 374, 378–379, 385, 389, 393 World Bank 262, 279 World Special Education Conference 195 Xiamen University

344

Yangtze River Delta Area Zhoukou experience

312

450–452