81As elsewhere the state grant is based on providing 350 yuan per student
and 500 yuan per teacher. Students in villages don’t need to pay for tuition and
textbooks, and those who are boarding in Zhaojue receive a subsidy. But the
money goes to the school instead of students themselves: the student has to pay.
Substantial expenditure on repairs and on school buildings has to be allocated on
request by the county government.
Zhaojue County was and is a poor county. It has benefited from the implemen-
tation of the “One Decade Action program of Minority Education”, and has seen
much investment in new school buildings. Junior secondary and central primary
schools are now mostly substantial multi storey buildings on campuses with sports
facilities. The new secondary schools have science laboratories and computer
rooms.
Though village schools have also been improved those away from communica-
tion channels can be very impoverished. They may not be purpose built structures
and are likely to have been constructed from local materials which have structural
weaknesses. Some would fail any health and safety inspection. There are large dif-
ferences in the quality of construction and the quality of space provided in dif-
ferent schools. Though some conditions have improved, and more children are
housed in appropriate school buildings, some remain seriously in need of reha-
bilitation or rebuilding. Too many children still appear to need more support to
maintain personal hygiene, and sanitary facilities often remain rudimentary. Clean
water is not available at all schools, and some remain without electricity.
4.6 The Development of Boarding Schools
Zhaojue County has recently embarked on a policy of rationalizing its school
resources. It has yet to reduce the number of small schools in villages by a sig-
nificant amount as has happened in Ansai because its conditions are different.
However, in the last five years 38 schools were dismantled and merged, and 14
schools were newly built. A pattern of “high schools concentrated in county, mid-
dle schools concentrated in rural junior middle school, primary schools concen-
trated in township central schools” has been established.
In 2010, there were 49 boarding schools in the county, which accounted for
19 % of all schools. Of these 40 were primary schools, 6 were rural junior middle
schools, one was a nine-year school and 2 were high schools. A living allowance
is paid for primary and secondary boarders of 50 yuan and 70 yuan per student per
month respectively. This does not cover the full cost of boarding which appears to
be closer to 200 yuan a month, and is less than is provided in Ansai.
Though the latest initiatives represent a new attempt to improve conditions for
many students by extending the amount of boarding provision, the policy has a
long history. In 1990 there were three levels of boarding—key point, general and
semi boarding. Children were selected for each type depending on examination
results and each stream had different levels of subsidy for students, costs were
4.5 Educational Funding and Infrastructure