Education ministry: Only 831 dropouts seen this year so far

The number of school dropouts from China's nine-year compulsory education system had fallen to 831 by the end of November, marking a monumental 99.9 percent decrease from last year, the Ministry of Education said on Thursday.

The achievement is another significant step in the nation's goal to have zero dropouts among primary and middle school students.

Last year, the dropout figure was 600,000, said Lyu Yugang, director of the ministry's department of basic education.

Meanwhile, the number of dropouts from registered impoverished families has been reduced from 200,000 last year to zero, he added.

Ensuring all students have access to compulsory education is an important part of the country's poverty alleviation efforts, and the ministry has made great efforts to prevent students from dropping out of school, Lyu said.

After thorough research and comparison with records from public security authorities, the ministry has set up records on all dropouts, he said.

The data has been verified by local poverty alleviation and education authorities and double-checked by the ministry, Lyu said.

Moreover, special measures have been taken to prevent students from dropping out due to child labor, difficulty learning, early marriage and childbearing, religious beliefs and disabilities, he added.

Cui Changhong, deputy director of the Department of Education in Sichuan province, said that through government financial aid, the province has made sure all students can take advantage of free nine-year compulsory education while students from ethnic groups can get 15 years of free education from kindergarten to high school.

"Each county, township, village and school has its own record of dropouts," he said.

"All dropouts are given options to join their original class, form a new class or attend vocational schools based on their situations, and they are assigned mentors to assist them in their studies and make sure they will not drop out again."

Separately, the ministry said that schools should not ask parents to grade students' homework after several provinces and cities, including Liaoning province, Shanxi province and Changsha, capital of Hunan province, banned the practice in response to parents lashing out over it on social media platforms.

Yu Weiyue, deputy director of the ministry's department of basic education, said the ministry's position on the matter is clear and consistent.

Asking parents to grade students' homework, do homework for students and assigning punitive homework are prohibited and will be punished once they are exposed, he said.

Schools should strictly limit the amount of homework to reduce academic burden and assign innovative and inter-disciplinary homework, focusing on developing students' practical skills, he said.

He added parents still shoulder the responsibility to work with schools and guide their children to finish their homework.

Zhang Zhiyong, executive president of the China Education Policy Research Institute at Beijing Normal University, said homework is part of teaching and the responsibility of assigning, making sure students finish and grading homework falls completely on schools.