| 
|
 Overview
World Bank Program
| | | | Quick Facts | | Figures show the most recent available data and the year. | | | Source: World Development Indicators 2006 |
Overview China's economic growth rates have remained at around 9 percent during the last decade, and have resulted in a significant reduction of poverty.  The reduction of poverty has translated into an overall improvement in the standards of living for the average Chinese. This has led to an improvement in the access and quality of basic education in China.
Economic development has also led to a rising demand for tertiary education and a tertiary education system that is reforming to become more research-oriented. Despite impressive economic gains, there are still very significant areas of extreme poverty in the western regions of China where access to education services is difficult. The Government is looking for ways to improve service delivery to the poor in these disadvantaged communities. Back to top World Bank Program Basic Education  China has made good progress in the expansion of primary and secondary enrollments and in increasing adult literacy levels; however, key challenges remain in ensuring equitable access for the last 5-10 percent of the disadvantaged population, enhancing quality and improving the management and efficiency of government spending and expenditures for basic education.
Rising disparity in Access and Equity. The high enrollment rates conceal sharp local and regional disparities. Rural poor, minorities, girls and migrants are clearly disadvantaged in accessing education. Poverty and the excessive burden of private financing, coupled with an ineffective inter-governmental transfer/equalization scheme, continue to exacerbate the access of these groups.
Gaps in Quality and Assessment. Quality has been a system-wide concern in the transition from examination focused teaching and rote learning to student centered learning for broad based competencies and creativity. A lack of a solid student assessment scheme also weakens the basis for decision making.
Challenge of Financing Basic Education. Fiscal decentralization in the absence of an effective equalization scheme continues to penalize the poor counties for their ability to finance basic education. Improving the effectiveness and efficiency of national government spending through a more equitable transfer system which incorporates demand-side financing to help poor students and leverages local government resources and private sector financing is critical.
Government Strategy. The government’s 11th Five-year Plan emphasizes education and human capital development as central to its economic development strategy. The central government announced a policy of free basic education in the poorest regions last year with a commitment of US$1 billion for building schools, providing free textbooks and eliminating miscellaneous fees.
Back to top Projects  The Bank, in cooperation with DFID, is currently supporting the Basic Education in Western Areas Project, which focuses on education in poor areas. The project is implemented in Sichuan, Yunnan, Guanxi, Ningxia, and Gansu provinces, and approximately 19 percent of the affected children come from minority areas. DFID provides important support for the project, including grant money that is blended to improve the repayment terms of Bank loan funds, experience in designing a highly participatory project preparation approach, and a school-based management model for education development in poor areas.
Analytical and Advisory Services An upcoming report Gansu: Implications for Policy and Future Research, looks at education services in China's poorest province, Gansu. The report is based on primary survey and interview data collected in Gansu over the past five years. By focusing on the needs of children in the disadvanged interior of China, the report will provide information and recommendations to the Government on how to provide better education access to disadvantaged children.
Back to top Higher Education Projects Higher education has become an important topic for the government and the World Bank as the economy continues to grow and there is a strong demand among households for higher education. The Higher Education Reform Project's overall objective was to improve the quality and relevance of undergraduate basic science and engineering programs through integrated reform activities in curriculum and teaching methodology.
Some major results of the project include: 1) establishment of a modern and integrated system of experiment labs that facilitate cross-discipline teaching and learning; 2) institutionalization of the credit system providing students a flexible choice of majors and multiple modes of assessing student learning achievements; 3) establishment of a quality assessment system; and 4) system-wide adoption of a graduate tracer study to track student employment after graduation.
Back to top June 2007 |
RSS