156 7 Marginalised Children and Universal Basic Education
support for HIV/AIDS orphans is very weak and often non-existent. Children
affected by HIV/AIDS should have access to psychological support to help them
get rid of fear and despair, build their confidence and give them the courage to live.
Current practices may not benefit psychological welfare or be pedagogically
efficient. For example, one of the orphan classes we observed in LiangShan, con-
sisted of more than 40 orphans, in which the youngest is 5, the oldest is 13. The
younger students are still bed-wetting, but the older students have entered puberty.
Teaching is greatly affected by the wide age spread in the class. If the teaching
focuses on the younger students, the older ones feel impatient and want more in-
depth knowledge. If the focus is on the older students the younger students cannot
keep pace and cannot learn. The end result is that after four years achievement is
low and many children do not reach their potential. The children’s backgrounds
and capabilities vary widely so a “one size fits all” approach to teaching is inef-
ficient and ineffective. Some teachers apparently favour “hitting the reset button”
so that the orphans who have completed the third grade or even fourth grade, start
over from the first grade when entering a new school. Others ignore the student’s
limited educational experience and let children “leapfrog development”, and enter
into grades above the level they have completed successfully according to their
age. Neither approach appears appropriate.
7.6 National Minority Children in Remote and Backward
Areas
China is a country with various different nationalities. Non Han national minor-
ities make up about 9 % of the total population and are mostly located in large
areas with low population density outside the main fertile plains of China.
Education for ethnic minorities is an important part of the socialist modern edu-
cation system with Chinese characteristics, which promotes education in ethnic
minority areas (autonomous regions, prefectures, counties and the provinces with
more minority people), as well as the education for minority people in other parts
of the country. Education for ethnic minorities is related to the political issues
of national equality, national unity and common prosperity, and it is also impor-
tant for the construction of a harmonious socialist society. The majority of ethnic
minority areas are affected by remoteness, economic backwardness, cultural pref-
erences, and poor infrastructure.
7.6.1 Lags in Educational Development
There are three main reasons for the lags in educational development of many
national minorities. First, the primary reason for undeveloped education in eth-
nic minority areas can be attributed to low levels of economic development and
social economy. In the economically developed areas, the government, society and