152 7 Marginalised Children and Universal Basic Education
Second, some ethnic minority parents are not only poor, but also have a stub-
born belief in son preference, early marriage and early child-bearing. All these are
related to the problem of early drop out of school of girls. In general in these areas:
(1) the drop-out rate of primary school is quite low, the drop-out rate from second-
ary school is higher and the employment rate is low; (2) the drop-out rate of girls
is higher than that of boys with the main reasons for boys dropping out of school
being low achievement and lack of interest in studying. The main reason for girls
dropping out of school are cost, and parental disinterest linked to traditional val-
ues; (3) drop out rates are highest at the end of primary school and in the first two
years of lower secondary; (4) the drop-out rate of students with disability is high.
Third, historically education in ethnic minority areas developed slowly because
of the laggard economic growth. Most people believe economic difficulties are the
main reason for drop out from school. Since many students have to become part
of the labor force for their families to do farm work, or became migrant workers.
Though this is changing the pattern persists. In contrast to Zhaojue in the rapidly
developing Tongzhou even the remaining agriculturally based parents appear to
share similar opinions to city dwellers and treat sons and daughters more equally.
The reasons include the facts that younger childbearing age couples pursue their
own high quality life and development goals and do not want to be like their elder
generations to spend all their time on the child. In addition parents have realized
that where their child lives and works is unpredictable, so they cannot rely on the
child for future security and care. If the first child is a girl in an agricultural area,
the parents will want to have a second child within the limits permitted by policy.
But in Xiji town of Tongzhou, even if the first child is a girl, parents will accept
her happily and will not be looking for a second child.
Ansai county has a preponderance of boys in its population with a ratio of
119/100 boys to girls. Since the middle of the last decade the birth rate has been
falling from over 20 ‰ to less than 10 ‰. The number of new born boys has
fallen from 55 % of the total births to 45 % over a ten year period reversing the
historic pattern. It is not clear how these trends will develop and it is clear that
patterns vary between locations. Yanhewan town consistently has more boys than
girls being born and has not experienced the reversal seen in the county statistics
for reasons that are not clear.
At county level girls were very under represented in primary schools in the
1980s with only 30 % of total enrolment with girls concentrated in the lowest
grades. By 2000 the proportion of girls had reached nearly 48 % since when it has
remained at the same level. Huaziping town has consistently achieved 99 % enrol-
ment rates for girls against a pattern of shrinking total enrolments as the birth rate
falls and migration takes place. There is some evidence that girls continue to have
a smaller share of enrolments at lower secondary school and drop out more before
completion but the differences are not large and not always consistent between
years. Similarly girls who remain enrolled are a little older than boys but the dif-
ferences are not large and the samples small.
In Zhaojue County it remains the case that girls are under enrolled and account
for only 42 % of those in primary school. At lower secondary girls account for