Make compulsory education easier and fairer

The education authority needs to do more to ensure the fair distribution of public education resources, says an article in Southern Metropolis Daily. Excerpts:

The Ministry of Education required recently that education authorities at various levels guarantee that all primary school graduates can enjoy the convenience of entering a nearby junior middle school without taking selective exams.

This is not the first time the education administration has made such a requirement in recent years. But the competition for key middle schools among elementary school students remains fierce.

The competition is not only based on the students’ academic records and talent, but also decided by their parents’ power, wealth and social status.

The Compulsory Education Law, newly amended in 2006, clearly stipulates the principle that children should enter a nearby primary school and middle school without selective exams. But this principle is not well-implemented, especially by some key schools in cities.

Some key schools like to enroll students with special talents in arts and math, which is permitted by relevant rules and laws. Rich parents also have the means to buy houses close to the key schools and register their children as local residents.

There is big difference among public schools in terms of both software and hardware education resources. The education authority should try its best to bridge the gap among different schools, which is the root cause of the competition among students and parents.

The college entrance exam should also be reformed to diversify the student evaluation system to give students more space to pursue and develop their interests and talents, and give them more freedom to make a choice among different schools.

Students from low-income families and poverty-stricken regions deserve more education input from the government. Improving the payment for teachers working in poor areas is the first step to attract good teachers to go there to teach local students.