“The nine-year compulsory education in rural China is really not optimistic.” said Pan Yunliang, a professor in the Economics Teaching and Research Department of the Central Party School of the Communist Party of China. In 2004, 15 teachers from the "China Rural Nine-Year Compulsory Education Survey Research Team" of the Economics Teaching and Research Department of the Central Party School went to 16 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities including Heilongjiang, Liaoning, Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, and Guangxi to conduct surveys.

Today, Pan Yunliang provided reporters with an investigative report titled "The Dilemma and Solution of Nine-Year Compulsory Education in Rural China". The report pointed out that in 2000, the country announced that it had achieved the tasks of “basically universalizing nine-year compulsory education” and “basically eradicating illiteracy among young and middle-aged people” as scheduled, and achieved basic universalization of nine-year compulsory education nationwide. In 2002, the primary school and junior high school enrollment rates reached 98.6% and 90% respectively. The survey found that this was not the case and that the dropout rate had rebounded significantly.

The dropout rate in rural areas has rebounded, and some schools rely on fraud to complete their tasks

The investigation report disclosed a report submitted by a middle school in Guangxi to the town party committee and government. "According to the spirit of the notification from the relevant departments at the higher level, in November 2004, the state conducted a re-inspection and acceptance of the 'universal nine-year compulsory education' in our county. Although we worked overtime and worked hard, the work of improving the 'universal nine-year compulsory education' materials from 2004 to 2005 was still The main reason for this dilemma is that the number of students in junior high schools in 2003 and 2004 was 2067, and the dropout rate of the "universal ninth grade" students could not exceed 3%, that is, the maximum number of dropouts could not exceed 62. There are 140 people in the third and second grade of junior high school who have dropped out of school, and the dropout rate has reached 6.67%. The party committee and the government are now requested to consider it."

Pan Yunliang said that the results of "taking it into consideration" are. Just to deal with the large amount of fraud detected by superiors. As a result of the fraud, the dropout rate increased significantly after the examination. "Although students in some schools are registered, they are not in school. In some schools, students can buy junior high school diplomas as long as they pay money, but the students have not actually studied at all. What's more, students are borrowed to make up the number during the acceptance inspection by superiors. .”

The report pointed out that the results of the “universal education program” are of low standards and quite fragile. On the one hand, the so-called "basic universal access" means that 85% of the population coverage areas have achieved this requirement. There are still 15% population coverage areas - mainly in the poor areas of the west - this goal is far from being achieved; on the other hand, On the other hand, even in areas where the universal nine-year education system has been accepted, the dropout rate has rebounded significantly. In recent years, the dropout and attrition rate of rural students has been relatively high, and the dropout rate of junior high school students has increased. In some places, the rural dropout rate is as high as more than 10%. According to actual observations in many places, the dropout rate of rural students is much higher than the statistics.

It is "difficult" for farmers to send their children to school

The survey shows that the majority of farmers say it is "difficult" or "very difficult" to charge for rural education. In Anxiang County, Hunan Province, the annual income of a peasant family is 1,200 yuan, and it costs 800 yuan to send a child to school. Most families have two children, which means that it is almost impossible for both children to go to school. What's more, 40% of the per capita net income of farmers is income offset in kind, and 20% is used to pre-purchase production materials such as fertilizers and pesticides. The monetary income at the farmers' discretion is far less than 1,200 yuan per year.

The report said that the "treatment" of rural children enjoying nine-year compulsory education is far lower than that of urban children. While the government stipulates that tuition fees are exempted, it also allows for the collection of miscellaneous fees. This provision essentially cancels the unconditional nature of the "obligation." In the absence of national financial allocation support, rural education departments have to turn miscellaneous fees that exceed tuition fees into the main source of income due to financial difficulties to maintain the normal operation of schools. In Manjing Township Middle School in Heilongjiang Province, 141 students from the first to third grades dropped out of school due to poverty. The middle school has 827 students and the dropout rate is about 17%.

However, in addition to economic reasons, students in some areas drop out of school out of hopelessness about their learning prospects. According to surveys in Heishan County, Zhangwu County, Liaoning Province, Kulun Banner, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and other places, the actual average annual net income of farmers is about 5,000 yuan to 20,000 yuan. Almost all children have the conditions to receive compulsory education, but the actual completion No more than 30% of students are in junior high school education. Due to the limited local education level, many students have no hope of going to college. After graduating from primary school, they work at home or work in the city. Some students spent money to buy a junior high school diploma and then signed up to join the army.

Rural schools are unsustainable

The report also said that most counties (cities) in China have very limited funds for education, making many rural schools unsustainable.

First of all, the school buildings are insufficient and crude. According to statistics, at the end of the 20th century, there were about 13 million square meters of dilapidated buildings in primary and secondary schools across the country, concentrated in rural areas in the central and western regions. Although dilapidated buildings account for less than 1% of the total primary and secondary school buildings nationwide, this proportion is higher in economically underdeveloped regions in the central and western regions. A considerable number of primary schools in Mengshan County, Guangxi have no school gates or walls, and the campus environment is poor; most of the teachers' desks and chairs are from the 1960s and 1970s, and are old and shabby; the dormitory conditions for junior high school students are extremely poor, with three people sleeping on one bed. , the room leaks air everywhere. The walls of some schools are cracked and the foundations are seriously sinking, which is shocking.

The second is serious debt. In the 50 counties audited and investigated by the National Audit Office in 2003, the basic education debt at the end of 2001 was 2.384 billion yuan, which rose to 3.1 billion yuan at the end of 2002, an increase of 30%; by the end of June 2003, it had increased by 25% in only half a year. .7%, reaching 3.898 billion yuan. The total liabilities are equivalent to 80% of the annual fiscal revenue of these places. Educational debt is first related to the acceptance of the “universal nine-year education” program in 2000. This forced grassroots governments and education departments, which were already in difficulty, to borrow external loans or advance funds from construction teams, burdening them with huge debts.

The third is the arrears of teachers’ wages. According to a survey by the China Education Union in the first half of 1999, two-thirds of China's provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) were in arrears with teachers' wages, and the total arrears now exceed 10 billion yuan. Even in Guangdong Province, which has a relatively developed economy, teachers' wages were owed 640 million yuan from 1996 to 1999.

In addition, the overall quality of teachers in rural schools is not high, which is also a very prominent problem in rural primary and secondary schools. Public teachers have bad ideas, while private teachers (substitute teachers) can only "work as farmers and teach."

Many towns and villages have financial difficulties. Even if schools are seriously short of staff, town and township leaders will not recruit teachers. They would rather hire low-quality substitute teachers because this can save money. There are also some village-level primary school teachers who came from private teacher surprise training and became regular teachers. Their overall quality does not meet the current requirements of educational development.

In a county in Gansu Province, there are more than 100,000 students and less than 4,000 teaching staff; in a county in Henan, there are 700 substitute teachers in the county, and a considerable number of primary schools There are no public teachers. Basically, junior high school graduates teach in primary schools. Some have not even graduated from junior high schools. The quality of primary school education can be imagined.

Pan Yunliang told reporters that the investigation report will be used as a teaching material directly for middle- and high-level leading cadres studying at the Central Party School. "Nowadays, when many local leaders make decisions, they often rely on experience and do not understand the actual situation. Schools use surveys as teaching materials, which will help improve their ability to make scientific decisions and improve their ability to connect theory with practice."

The reporter learned that , the report of the Central Party School has attracted great attention from the Ministry of Education. Yang Jin, deputy director of the Basic Education Department of the Ministry of Education, said that the investigation report is consistent with the actual situation and will send experts from the Central Party School to conduct in-depth investigation and research. He also revealed that the Ministry of Education will begin to gradually adjust the content of nine-year compulsory education in rural areas and introduce more vocational skills education. (Reporter Li Jian)