praveen007
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The state of rural schools in China and the broken educational system | Seeing Red in China
.
.
Yesterday we saw fist hand the
condition of a single school in
rural Guangxi, today well be
getting the bigger picture of the
state of education in rural China,
and some of the systemic
problems. Even Global Times (a
State run paper) says that
Knowledge no longer power for rural poor
Facts and Figures
Currently the majority of primary
and secondary teachers in rural
schools do not have 4-year
degrees.
Level of education of rural
teachers 2003
These statistics though do not
capture the full problem, as it
does not account for the divide
between rural areas in the east
and west of China (the Eastern
parts are much richer). For many
of my students in Guangxi, none
of their teachers prior to college
would have attended a 4-year school. Primary school teachers would be less educated as well.
-.
This means that children in the
countryside start further behind
their urban counterparts.
Rural schools also lack modern equipment and facilities.
Equipment in classrooms Urban
vs. Rural 2008
This means that most rural
teachers still lecture for the
majority of the class. Students
also remain cut off from
materials that may spark an
interest in learning. In Ningxia
province 17% of primary schools
and 15% of middle schools do
not even have libraries, so it
should not be surprising that the
average scores on the English
portion of college entrance exam
in the province are half of what
is required for Chinas major
universities.
Another study showed that
virtually every rural school
teacher had used physical abuse
in their classroom. These
teachers are rarely punished for
their actions as I showed in my
post Abuse in Rural China | Seeing Red in China .
Systemic Problems
The major cause of this gap is
due to a significant lack of
funding for education.
While Chinas goal is to invest 4% of the GDP in education (world
average is 7%), many provinces
fall short of even that low bar.
Through the 80′s and 90′s
national funds were targeted at
developing education on Chinas
east coast, and local governments (the lowest level), were responsible for funding
local schools. These local govts
diverted funds (and still do) to
projects that they thought would give them better returns on their investments. Rural schools were so short on funding that
teachers were often paid in
locally produced goods, like
baijiu and cigarettes, and left to resell them. Good teachers fled as fast as they could. This
resulted in a major rural/urban gap in education.
By the late 90′s it was clear that
major reforms were necessary,
and the responsibility of funding
these schools moved up one
level to the county govt, and national funds were to be more
evenly disbursed. Provinces were
also supposed to facilitate the
transfer of funds to their poorer
regions.
Yet, major problems remain.
Poor counties still are expected
to educate students with
incredibly limited resources. In
rural areas salaries usually make up 80-90% of their budgets, and the remainder is spent on classroom supplies. This results in
crumbling buildings, where
teachers are left to scrounge for
chalk and erasers so that they can use their blackboards which are actual boards painted black (I know this from personal experience).
Without proper funding, it is hard to imagine the countryside ever catching up with the urban
areas. China must once again re-evaluate its policies, or doom millions to substandar education, and a bleak future.
Next we will be looking at teachers in Chinas rural schools
.
.
Yesterday we saw fist hand the
condition of a single school in
rural Guangxi, today well be
getting the bigger picture of the
state of education in rural China,
and some of the systemic
problems. Even Global Times (a
State run paper) says that
Knowledge no longer power for rural poor
Facts and Figures
Currently the majority of primary
and secondary teachers in rural
schools do not have 4-year
degrees.
Level of education of rural
teachers 2003
These statistics though do not
capture the full problem, as it
does not account for the divide
between rural areas in the east
and west of China (the Eastern
parts are much richer). For many
of my students in Guangxi, none
of their teachers prior to college
would have attended a 4-year school. Primary school teachers would be less educated as well.
-.
This means that children in the
countryside start further behind
their urban counterparts.
Rural schools also lack modern equipment and facilities.
Equipment in classrooms Urban
vs. Rural 2008
This means that most rural
teachers still lecture for the
majority of the class. Students
also remain cut off from
materials that may spark an
interest in learning. In Ningxia
province 17% of primary schools
and 15% of middle schools do
not even have libraries, so it
should not be surprising that the
average scores on the English
portion of college entrance exam
in the province are half of what
is required for Chinas major
universities.
Another study showed that
virtually every rural school
teacher had used physical abuse
in their classroom. These
teachers are rarely punished for
their actions as I showed in my
post Abuse in Rural China | Seeing Red in China .
Systemic Problems
The major cause of this gap is
due to a significant lack of
funding for education.
While Chinas goal is to invest 4% of the GDP in education (world
average is 7%), many provinces
fall short of even that low bar.
Through the 80′s and 90′s
national funds were targeted at
developing education on Chinas
east coast, and local governments (the lowest level), were responsible for funding
local schools. These local govts
diverted funds (and still do) to
projects that they thought would give them better returns on their investments. Rural schools were so short on funding that
teachers were often paid in
locally produced goods, like
baijiu and cigarettes, and left to resell them. Good teachers fled as fast as they could. This
resulted in a major rural/urban gap in education.
By the late 90′s it was clear that
major reforms were necessary,
and the responsibility of funding
these schools moved up one
level to the county govt, and national funds were to be more
evenly disbursed. Provinces were
also supposed to facilitate the
transfer of funds to their poorer
regions.
Yet, major problems remain.
Poor counties still are expected
to educate students with
incredibly limited resources. In
rural areas salaries usually make up 80-90% of their budgets, and the remainder is spent on classroom supplies. This results in
crumbling buildings, where
teachers are left to scrounge for
chalk and erasers so that they can use their blackboards which are actual boards painted black (I know this from personal experience).
Without proper funding, it is hard to imagine the countryside ever catching up with the urban
areas. China must once again re-evaluate its policies, or doom millions to substandar education, and a bleak future.
Next we will be looking at teachers in Chinas rural schools
