Luo Dan

I. Since 1990s, the Basic Education Input in Rural Areas Has Witnessed a Rapid Increase.

In order to investigate into the grassroots financial input in education, we have chosen the Shishi City of Fujian Province, Wenjiang District of Chengdu City, Liling City of Hunan Province, Helinge’er County of Inner Mongolia and Yanchi County of Ningxia to respectively represent regions of very high, relatively high, medium, relatively low, and very low economic development levels and serve as samples for our investigation and study.

The findings show a constant rise of the grassroots financial input in educational fund for most years since 1990s. During 1990～2003, the educational fund of Shishi City increased at an average annual rate of 17.81%. During 1990～2003, the average annual increase rate of the educational fund of Wenjiang District reached 20.14%. Between 1992 and 2002, the educational fund of Liling City increased at an average annual rate of 14.08%. Between 1995 and 2003, the educational fund of Helinge’er County increased 17.28% annually on average.

II. Educational Input in Regions of Medium, Relatively Low and Very Low Economic Development Levels Is Still Inadequate; Regional Disparity Is Relatively Huge; Floating Population Lacks the Conditions to Receive Basic Education.

Viewed from the total amount of input, the basic education input in the rural areas of regions of very high and relatively high economic development levels can be guaranteed, however, educational input in regions of medium, relatively low and very low economic development levels is still inadequate. Due to the scant input, the number of persons deprived of education in the rural areas of these regions are relatively large, the ratios of teachers to students are improper, and quality of the teachers needs prompt improvement, wage and welfare are still insufficient, teaching and studying conditions are relatively poor, the average floor area of school building per student is not adequate, the burden in renovating dilapidated buildings is still heavy, and in order to come up to the standards of "basically realizing universal nine-year compulsory education and basically eliminating young adult illiterates", the educational departments and schools have incurred heavy debts.

There is a relatively huge disparity between different regions in terms of the average educational fund per student, especially for junior high school students. For example, in 2003, the average educational fund per pupil in Shishi City was RMB 326.41 and RMB 565.89 more than those of the Helinge’er County and the Yanchi County respectively, and the average educational fund for each junior high school student in Shishi City was RMB 1053.56 and RMB 1394.74 more than those of the Helinge’er County and the Yanchi County respectively, which was over twice as much as those of the latter two.

Viewed from the educational phases, shortage of educational input in senior high schools does deserve great attention. At present, the number of pupils enrolled in the primary schools of the Liling City is decreasing at a rapid rate, reduced by 75.45% during 1997～2003. At the same time, the number of students at junior high schools increased by 52.90%. By 2007, the number of students at senior high schools will reach a peak, with over 20,000 students annually. Judged from the current situation, senior high education is regarded as private service with less support from the government.

Unauthorized charges imposed by the public primary and high schools on the children of peasants has not been banned. The overcharge for transient primary school students varies from RMB 200 to RMB 400～500 for each semester, which may be paid in the form of a lump sum of "donation", usually RMB 1200 for primary schools, and several thousand for junior high schools.

III. Relevant Policy Recommendations

1. Increase the proportion of fiscal expenditure in basic education input. In China, the proportion of education expenditures from the central budget in GDP is not only below the level of the developed countries（4.8% in 1998） but also is much lower than that of the developing countries （3.5% in 1995）. It is necessary to further reinforce the role of the public function of the central financing in respect of the basic education in rural areas.

2. The central budget should undertake more responsibilities in respect of the basic education input in the rural areas. Presently, the proportion of the state financial revenue and provincial financial revenues in the total financial revenue is getting larger and larger, however, the responsibility in respect of education input has not been transferred to the higher-level authorities. To reform the fiscal system in rural areas, the Central Government and the people’s governments at the provincial and municipal levels should shoulder more responsibilities in rural education.

3. Establish a standard payment transfer system. It is necessary to make greater efforts in respect of general transfer payment. Apart from the requirement that it must be used for basic education in the rural areas, there is no specific prescription as to whether the general transfer payment shall be used for capital construction or the payment of teachers’ salary, and supporting fund shall not be demanded from the local government.

4. Continue to intensify efforts in respect of the basic education input in the poor areas, and include the basic education in the rural areas of the medium-level developed regions in the range of payment transfer. In the upcoming several years, apart from transfer payment in the form of salary, the annual special transfer payment used for rural education of the western region will amount to 10 billion Renminbi, which will contribute a great deal to the development of the basic education in the western region.

Actually, the educational fund in the central region is also in short supply, therefore, it is necessary to include the educational fund in the central region in the payment transfer framework of the central budget. The level of basic education input from the local budget shall be appraised and decided on the basis of calculating the basic educational fund demanded by the regions of medium and lower economic development levels. The insufficiency shall be made up by the transfer payment of the Central Government and the higher authorities.

5. The governments of the cities and towns of influx and public schools shall be mainly responsible for the compulsory education of the children of peasants seeking employment in the cities. Apart from the tuition and incidentals, it is forbidden to collect "donations" and overcharge for transient students.

6. At the present stage, the senior high school education shall be taken as quasi public service, and shall have the vigorous support from the government.

September 2004