107demography. In the case study areas pupil teacher ratios have fallen but teach-
ing groups have remained about the same size as in the past. There has been no
significant reduction in class size or change in teaching methods that are feasible
with lower pupil teacher ratios. Instead some teachers have become non-teaching
staff, especially in the central primary school. The proportion of non-teaching
staff has grown and the surplus teaching resource have not been redirected to the
complete primary school and village school where teachers are in shortage. The
student-teacher ratio has remained very unbalanced in different areas. Efficiency
may therefore be decreasing when it should be increasing and managing contrac-
tion effectively has become a general issue.
5.6.1 Student-Teacher Ratio and Optimizing
Human Resource
Pupil teacher ratios determine a large part of the recurrent costs of educational
provision and are a general indicator of efficiency. They do not determine work-
loads since these depend on how teaching is organized but they do offer a proxy
measure of efficiency. Current regulations indicate that pupil teacher ratios should
be for primary school is 23:1; and for junior secondary school 18:1.
In 1990, the student-teacher ratio for primary schools in Tongzhou was 18:1,
and for junior secondary schools 12:1. This was below the national guidelines and
lower than the national average level, which was 21.1:1 for primary school and
14.4:1 for junior secondary school. By 2008 the average student-teacher ratios in
Xiji primary school, in Xiji central school, in Xiaolin primary school and in Xiji
junior secondary school were 9:1, 12:1, 10:1 and 11:1 respectively. These ratios
were very low and a result of the number of pupils falling faster than the number
of teachers.
In 1990, the student-teacher ratio was 15:1 for primary school in Ansai county,
15:1 for Huaziping primary school and 18:1 for Yahewan primary school. The
ratio was 9.4:1 for secondary schools at county level, 13:1 for Huaziping second-
ary school and 11:1 for Yanhewan secondary school. The utilization level was
therefore low. In the early 2000s the pupil-teacher ratio in primary schools fell
further due to the decrease in the number of students and increase of the num-
ber of teachers to 14.1:1 in 2005/06 which is lower than 15:1 in 1990. In 2009,
the student-teacher ratio in Huaziping secondary school remained low at 13:1,
and was only 11:1 for Yanhewan central primary school; and 7:1 for Chafang
primary school. The present ratio is lower than the level in 1990. Thus as noted
above class size and deployment of teachers are not being adjusted to reflect fall-
ing enrolments.
In Zhaojue, from the school year of 2006/07 to 2009/10, the average student-
teacher ratio for county town primary schools was 19:1, it was 25:1 in rural
schools and 24:1 in the county town secondary school. In all cases these ratios
are a above the national norm. Changes in pupil teacher ratios in Zhaojue indicate
5.6 Efficiency and Use of Human Resources