71all children many of whom live in remote villages and settlements away from main
roads and sometimes in settlements in the high mountains. They include eight cen-
tral primary schools.
Though many children walk for long periods to school the pattern of settlement
is such that without small schools access would be very limited. Though many
new schools have been established it is also true that many have very limited facil-
ities often without electricity or drinking water, and without safe, dry, warm and
light space for learning and teaching. Zhaojue County officials indicated that they
were at the beginning of a process of consolidation of teaching points and merging
schools. This process was going to result in an increase in boarding because of the
demographics of the population and the physical topography. Ten small schools
were closed between 2006 and 2010 and the process was set to continue as board-
ing places were made available. Before 2004 there were 9 primary schools in Bier.
After 2004 there was only one central primary school and 3 incomplete primary
schools as a result of mergers to increase efficiency and reduce costs.
Zhaojue has two complete secondary schools—Zhaojue County Secondary
School and Zhaojue County National Secondary School. Both are located in
Zhaojue Township and both existed in 1990. These two schools are widely seen
as the best secondary schools in the county because of their location and ability
to attract and retain the best teachers. The number of junior secondary schools
has increased from one in 1990–1996 in the academic year 2009. The Bureau of
Culture and Education in Zhaojue has the county government’s mandate to sup-
port education and, for secondary schooling, it devolves the responsibilities to the
lower district level authorities. There are six districts in Zhaojue County and each
now has a junior secondary school.
Across Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture in which Zhaojue is located
teaching follows one of two models. In Model 1 all subjects in grades 1 to 6 are
taught in the Yi language and Chinese is taught as a major subject. In 2010, there
were only 14 schools using Model 1 with 1400 students and 80 teachers. In Model
2 all subjects of grades 3–6 grades are taught in Chinese, and Yi language is
treated as a major subject. Grade 1 and 2 are taught bilingually in Yi and Chinese.
All schools in Bier and Sikai belong to Model 2. Generally, teachers teach in
Chinese and the textbooks are the same as those used in non-ethnic minority
regions. In these schools teachers indicated that in lower grades much teaching
had to be in Yi. At higher levels Chinese was used most of the time. Most pupils
from incomplete schools come from a non Chinese language spoken environment,
both at home and outside the school. Children cannot understand Chinese at all.
Learning is more difficult for these children as textbooks are in Chinese. This is
one reason why learning achievement is low.
Patterns of enrolment in Zhaojue have resulted in significant growth in num-
bers since 2007 when over 26,000 were enrolled. This can be compared with 1990
when enrolments only reached 11,500. At that time there were only 250 children
in grade 6 and 4500 in grade 1. Not much more than one in twenty children who
started school completed grade 6, and there were more than twice as many boys as
girls enrolled.
4.3 The Evolution of Nine Year Compulsory ...