Two Decades of Basic Education in Rural China

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Summary

This study traces education and change over two decades in three areas, Tongzhou
on the periphery of Beijing chosen as one of the richest 300 counties in 1990;
Ansai in Yan’an which was one of the poorest 300 counties and a famous base for
the 8th Route Army at the end of the Long March, and Zhaojue a poor Yi national
minority area in the Liangshan mountains in southwest of Sichuan. Two of the
case study areas have developed beyond recognition, whilst the third has improved
but still lags behind. Many issues are highlighted by the rapid transformations
including the impact of large-scale demographic change and migration, which has
seen falling numbers enrolled and increasing numbers of left-behind children in
sending areas and inbound migrants in receiving areas; the disappearance of com-
munity supported teachers; large-scale boarding of children from grade 4 and
below in rural areas; recentralisation of responsibilities for school financing and
teachers’ salaries; and growing concerns for horizontal and vertical inequalities
in access and participation between regions, urban and rural areas, and different
types of schools.