59secondary school senior teachers is 6 yuan, primary school senior teachers 5 yuan,
primary school first class teachers is 4.5 yuan, and primary school second class
teachers 4 yuan. Structural wages are distributed at the end of each term. The for-
mula for calculating structured wages is as follows:
The structured wage system reflects the principle of pay for work, but this system
has some problems. First, the structured part of the pay comes from the salaries
of teachers themselves and this decreases the pay of teachers each month. Thus
the monthly income of a teacher in Huaziping Primary School is 1200 yuan, but
the actual pay is 840 yuan. The rest of the income will be re-paid after 5 months
(at the end of term) when the teacher meets the standard. As one teacher said
“the school actually rewards us with our own money, it is something like getting
wool from the sheep”. The structural wage system does not obviously provide a
strong positive incentive to work harder and more effectively, rather a negative one
to conform. Second, since substitute teachers already have relatively low wages,
the implementation of structural wage system will further adversely affects their
treatment.
In 1990, non-governmental sources accounted for 31 % of the education fund-
ing in Ansai County. Now government funding is the main source of school
income and the proportion of the county budget allocated to education has risen
from about 19 % in 1990, to over 40 % in 2008. In addition there are contributions
from the central, provincial, and prefectural level through various special funds.
An illustration indicates how schools are financed. Yanhewan Primary School
is largely funded through two main tracks. The first is the recurrent fund of 350
yuan per student per school year. This is about seven times more than the capita-
tion of 58 yuan in 1990. Second, there is the recurrent fund paid per teacher of
500 yuan per school year. In addition there is a 60 yuan subsidy per boarding stu-
dent per school year. Thus for example the income received by Yanhewan Central
Primary School for a year is: 350 × 972 + 500 × 85 + 60 × 972 = 441,020 yuan.
This excludes teachers’ salaries which are paid directly. It amounts to about 20 %
of the salary bill. Secondary school financing is similar with 550 yuan per student,
500 yuan per teacher and 75 yuan per boarder. Under the ‘two exemptions and one
subsidy’ tuition and textbook fees are waived, and poor students are paid a subsidy
of about 100 yuan a month.
Non-salary school expenditure has four main parts. First, office supplies and
equipment including purchase of teaching aids and sports equipment. Second,
home teacher allowances, with 500 yuan per term for a village school. Third,
maintenance and reconstruction of school buildings. Fourth, performance related
incentives for teachers. The financial income of the school is supplemented for
large infrastructure projects and major building maintenance through application
to a special fund.
Actualpay=personalsubsidiesreserved+teachingperiodfees
×(actualnumberofteachingperiodoftheterm− 360 )