The Party Chief of?Hunan Normal University and former
deputy director of Hunan Provincial Education Department said that
fair and even provision of education should be the priority for all
levels of education departments.
"The focus should not be on building flagship elementary schools
with high entry requirements, especially in providing compulsory
education. The higher education sector should also be developed in
a more balanced way when possible," said Zhang Guoji.
Zhang said a great imbalance in standards exists between
elementary schools in cities and the countryside, the key reason
being the difference in capital input. As a result, qualified
teachers are attracted from rural areas to towns and from counties
to cities, so already disadvantaged schools become weaker.
Zhu Shangtong, former Party chief of the Hunan Provincial
Education Department, agreed, saying that this had been a
longstanding problem and something of an open secret.
Well known senior high schools in Changsha City charge fees as
high as 15,000 yuan (US$1,812) and junior high schools as much as
12,000 yuan (US$1,449), and elementary schools are increasingly
taking their lead. These kinds of fees exclude students who may be
high achieving but are from low-income backgrounds.
More disturbingly, some former officials from Hunan educational
departments said, basic principles of fairness have been completely
lost in some places. Schools that used to enroll the children of
people who held important posts in enterprises and gave them small
bribes now collude with property developers, only admitting
students whose parents purchase houses from them.
Zhang said fairness in education can only be realized when Party
and government departments take concrete measures, such as
arranging the funds and teaching staff necessary to those
disadvantaged schools.
He said inequitable education results in children growing up to
face unfair opportunities in employment and other areas, producing
real social problems. In European and American countries, the issue
of unequal education is viewed in this way. Fair provision of
education is strategically important for a nation and for a
rational and people-oriented concept of state administration.
Zhang refuted the idea that a lack of resources means that equal
education is simply not possible yet, saying that conditions are
already in place in the form of a booming economy, high demand and
a decreasing birthrate.
He said the government should set down policies to rectify
imbalances in the allocation of resources and how schools are
funded. Appraisal methods should also be changed to focus on
fairness.
Since last fall, the central government has taken measures to
ensure greater fairness, including the allocation of 3 billion yuan
(US$362.46 million) for construction of rural boarding schools,
implementation of a "one-time fee" policy to curb arbitrary
charges, allocation of 700 million yuan (US$84.57 million) for food
allowances, free textbooks for over 24 million poor students in
rural areas of?central and west China, and launching the "One
College Student in Each Village" rural program to develop 4,963
young people through TV universities into sci-tech and management
personnel.
(China.org.cn by Yuan Fang, February 5, 2005)