7more teachers have been employed and the numbers of pupils have been falling. In
the 1980s as many as half of all teachers were not fully qualified and trained. Now
the qualification rate is claimed to be over 95 %.
Three points about teachers are important. First, these averages conceal very
large differences between and within local areas and schools. Our research in
1990 identified schools in the same areas with pupil teacher ratios below 10:1 and
over 50:1. In 2010 the variations were even wider between less than 10:1 and over
60:1 in underdeveloped areas. Second, historically class sizes have been large and
teaching loads low. Thus there may be more than two teachers per class in urban
schools with more than 50 children in each teaching group. The opposite can be
true in small and under enrolled primary schools where one teacher may be teach-
ing every lesson. Third, in 1990 there were still large numbers of minban (people
supported) and dai ke (substitute teachers) paid low salaries from local revenues.
Though the numbers of these teachers have fallen they are still employed in two of
our case study areas, despite new policy that is designed to ensure all teachers are
on the government payroll and salaries are guaranteed by county level authorities
independent of locally generated revenue.
In summary, growth in participation has remained uneven in terms of house-
hold income and reducing the gaps between rich and poor remains one of the
biggest challenges. Gender differences in participation have largely disappeared.
However, there are significantly more boys than girls in some population groups.
Rural children remain disadvantaged but gaps have been closing. There are differ-
ent patterns of participation by level in different provinces, with the lowest rates
remaining in the Western region. Highly urbanised areas can have more higher
education students than primary children, whereas rural Provinces have very few
tertiary enrolments. This issues of horizontal equity (participation at the same level
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3ULPDU\Fig. 1.3 Participation in different provinces. Source MoE statistics 2010
1.1 Introduction