2 1 Introduction to the Development of Basic Education in China
with the development of teachers in rural areas, the management and sustainable
financing of rural education, provision for marginal groups and disadvantaged
children, and school mapping and location planning. The last chapter identifies
policy issues from the case studies and from the analytic chapters which can be
used to inform policy dialogue about the next generation of investment in educa-
tion. This is timely since China will soon become the world’s largest economy
with the greatest needs for human resources and the greatest ability to ensure that
rights to basic education are realised for all its children. As the period of most
rapid development growth reaches a plateau the priorities will shift to improving
quality, enhancing equity and promoting sustainable patterns of development that
value the future over the present and plan educational development with this is
mind.
The first case study is located in Tongzhou which is urban and close to Beijing.
In 1990 it was one of the richest 300 counties but still had a rural character in
many parts and some small scale industry. Now Tongzhou is a modern city with
multi lane highways and many commuters living in high rise apartments, and
much inward migration from the countryside driven by employment opportunities
generated in special development zones. The second area is Ansai in Yenan. This
was one of the three hundred poorest counties in 1990 but it has been transformed
by the exploitation of oil under the Loess Plateau. Its infrastructure has been mod-
ernised and new roads and railway lines mean that villages that were remote are
now accessible. At the same time there has been both urbanisation and outward
migration so the rural population has shrunk fast and the number of schools has
fallen to less than a quarter of the original number. Zhaojue is located on a high
plateau in Szechuan and is in the centre of the area where the Yi national minority
live. Historically this area was both poor and educationally neglected with very
low enrolment and completion rates. Since 1990 there has been some development
around the main road onto the high plateau and new villages and schools are being
built to encourage Yi people to move off the mountains. But most schools remain
small and difficult to access, and some are in very poor condition. The main tran-
sitions have been the development of many boarding schools and the outward
migration of parents to seek work on the plains in more developed parts of China.
In summary, 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. The numbers of small and incomplete schools in two of
the areas have fallen dramatically. The total number of children enrolled has also
fallen steeply as a result of much lower birth rates and, in some counties, because
of outward migration. Community supported teachers paid from local taxes have
gradually disappeared. There is now large scale boarding of children from grade 4
and below in rural areas. The old system of pushing the financial burden of com-
pulsory basic education down to the local level with a series of local taxes has col-
lapsed and been replaced by more centralised funding. Inequalities have grown as
development has been uneven between areas and there is growing concern for hor-
izontal and vertical inequalities in access and participation between regions, urban
and rural areas, and different types of schools. Though most children go to school,