Analysis of Education Inequality in China: Urban and Rural Areas

This report delves into the significant education gap between urban and rural areas in China, exploring the complexities of the Chinese education system. It begins with an overview of China's demography, including population, ethnicity, language, and urbanization, setting the stage for an examinati...Read More

Running head: INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND EDUCATION
Research on the Gap-caused Inequality of education in China: An analysis of Urban and Rural
Areas
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
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Abstract
Education is one of an important aspect in terms of ensuring the development of an individual.
Receiving proper and refined quality education enhances the personality of the individuals,
uplifting his social status. Herein lays the conjoined significance of the two variables:
“education” and “development”. Almost all of the countries are in the process of reforming their
culture, customs and traditions. Among these, china is one of the countries, which is in the
process of re-structuring their educational system and methods. As a matter of specification, this
assignment delves deep into this process, with the focus on the challenges encountered by the
administrative personnel of the schools, institutions and the government in terms of providing
quality education to the students. Plans regarding the adoption of latest and modern software act
as an address to the challenges of inequality within the education system of china. Effective and
judicious utilization of these software and technologies would create wonders in terms of the
academic establishment of the children in china.

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Discussion........................................................................................................................................3
China’s demography....................................................................................................................3
Population....................................................................................................................................3
Ethnicity.......................................................................................................................................4
Language......................................................................................................................................5
Urbanization................................................................................................................................5
Education.....................................................................................................................................5
China’s education system in the rural and the urban regions..........................................................8
Issues faced....................................................................................................................................10
Recommendations..........................................................................................................................12
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................14
References and bibliography.........................................................................................................15

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Introduction
Education and development are interrelated with each other. Receiving elementary
education leads the individuals towards their development. The concept of internalization is
related with advancement of the preconceived skills and knowledge. This assignment focuses on
the education systems followed in the urban and rural areas of China. Progressing towards the
main subject matter, the assignment attempts to excavate out the inequalities, which persist in the
urban and rural areas of China. The consideration of Programme for International Students
(PISA) makes china the focus area of the assignment. In spite of such an initiative, variation in
the educational needs of the students, remains a greatest challenge for the educational
institutions of China. The recommendation of policy transfer from the developing countries
addresses this issue, which seems necessary in terms of the career establishment of the students
(Hayhoe, 2017). Discussion of the dynamic mechanism of Chinese education would act as an
agent for this assignment in terms of enhancing the quality and standard of education as a whole.
Along with this, transnational education attains an important position in this mechanism. In this
discussion, China’s demographic details, educational reforms would be emphasized. The
intensity of these details contradicts the limitation of the rural and urban areas of China.
Discussion
China’s demography
Population
Officially known as Peoples Republic of China, China is the world most densely
population country. This is because 1.404 billion people have preferred to settle there. This data

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makes the census of 2010 seem insignificant as the statistics readings for the total population was
1, 370, 536, 875. Within this, 16.60% belong to the age group of 14 years or younger. 70.14% of
the people are between 15-59 years. 13.26% are the people belonging to the age range of 60
years and above (Oecd.org, 2018). According to the data of 2013, the growth rate for population
was estimated to be 0.46%.
Ethnicity
Among the total population, 91.51% are Han and 55% belong to the minority group. In
terms of religion, 98% of the Chinese folk follow Buddhism, Taoism. This is according to the
statistics established by the Chinese government in the census of 2018. Han is accounted as
world’s largest ethnic group. Delving deep into the aspect, Han overpowers the ethnic group of
provinces, excepting Tibet and Xinjiang. According to the census of 2010, the minority group
has been accounted as occupying 8.49% of the total population (Oecd.org, 2018).
Figure 1: China’s ethno linguistic groups

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(Source: English.gov.cn, 2018)
Language
The people speak standard Chinese language other than Mongolian, Uyghur, Zang,
Zhuang and others. 70% of the population speaks Mandarin and Yue mixed. Standard Mandarin
is considered as the official language of china. Ancient manuscripts consist of the evidence
regarding the writing of Sinitic language. This evidence reflects writing as the form of
communication. 1956 was the era when government introduced characters, which were advanced
than those of Mainland china (Oecd.org, 2018).
Urbanization
In the recent decades, the population of the urban areas in china has increased from 20%
in 1980 to more than 50% in 2014. According to the data of 2012, more than 262 million
workers came to china in search of employment. As a matter of specification, china takes pride
in possessing over one million population in 160 cities. These even include seven megacities-
chongquing, Shanghai, Beijing, Ghangzhou, Tianjin, Shenzhen and Wuhan (English.gov.cn,
2018).
Education
Ministry of Education is entrusted with the responsibility to look after the provision of
quality and standardized education to the students. According to the government, the citizens are
compelled to attend school for at least nine years. Government funds have made the program,
Nine years compulsory education, a grand success.

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Figure 2: Transformation in Chinese online education
(Source: Yan, Mao & Zha, 2016)
Education for a Chinese child begins at the age of 6 or 7. In the age of 12-15, the children
are enrolled into three years of junior secondary education. Here, there is an exception. Some of
the Chinese provinces may extend the primary education to five years and junior middle school
to four years. Secondary education is completed once the child attends three years of senior
middle school after the junior middle school.
The Ministry of Education reported 99% percent attendance rate in the primary schools
and 80% in both the primary and middle schools. The major drive behind this is the abolition of
tax funded higher education by the government in 1985 (Oecd.org, 2018). This abolition resulted
in the competition between the students to expose their academic skills and capabilities.

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Allowance regarding the set up of private schools between 1995-2015 escalated the number of
undergraduates and those holding doctoral degrees.
Figure 3: Chinese education system
(Source: English.gov.cn, 2018)
In 2003, china government approved 1552 institutions of learning. This is the evidence
regarding the governmental initiatives regarding the provision of quality education to the
students. Approval of 725,000 professors and 11 million students was a gradual progression
towards enriching the knowledge, skills and capabilities of the population. The presence of 100
universities was assistance in terms of providing higher education to the school students. Such an
educative environment possessed flexibility for progressing towards the professionalism. Typical
evidence of this fact lies in the growth of China’s spending capacity by 20% in the era of 1999
(Mohrman, 2015). According to the current statistics, china’s spending power has reached over
$100 billion. In 2006, 1.5 million students from science and engineering background completed

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their graduation. 2008 was the era when Chinese government published 184,080 papers written
by these students.
During the cultural revolution (1966-1976), government of china was at extreme loss
difficulty as the college students, academicians and professors resigned. This was due to the
malfunctioning, which shunned the systems. Lack of adequate knowledge in terms of operations
management added to the complexities. In this process, the educational needs of the students
were compromised, stalling the economic and technological development (Zhao & Deng, 2015).
This necessitated the need for a policy.
Chinese educational policy emerged in after the Mao period. At this stage, the
government planned policies related to the adoption of latest and modern technologies for
providing modernized education to the students. An example here is the replacement of entrance
examination with the policy of mandatory enrolment to the students based on their residence.
China’s education system in the rural and the urban regions
The education system of China is supposed to be more advanced and the largest in the
world. The diverse system of the primary and the secondary education system of the nation is
comprised of over 260 million students (Chen & Feng, 2013). According to the 2014 reports of
the National Bureau of Statistics of China, the education that is being delivered through the
schools are run by the states and are highly decentralized in nature. In the recent years of the
progress made by the education system of the nation, the Ministry of Education has taken steps
in order to shift direct control to the macro-level monitoring of the system (Nytimes.com. 2018).
The growth of the population is supported with the view of the education system undertaken by
the nature. However, there are discrepancies and certain biasness in the system that overlooks the

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rural areas of the nation. Apart from the biasness, the education system of the nation is highly
integrated (Yang, Huang & Liu, 2014).
The education system of the nation makes it mandatory for the students to attend a pre-
school, which is regarded as a compulsory education scheme. The primary education is a
compulsory element that all the children must involve in. the policy of mandatory enrolment that
is being undertaken by the government is therefore undertaken in order to emphasize on the
compulsory approach of the primary education system (Tarrow, 2014). The enrolment of the
students in the primary schools was reported to be 103% in 2006, whereas the enrolment ratio for
the secondary education was reported to be 94% (Li, Liu & Zhang, 2012). The various aspects
of the education system and the mandatory clause that was enforced by the government has
helped promoting proper education across the nation. The National Bureau of Statistics of China
has reported that the growing need of the education has helped the nation in making its progress
in the fields of making schools for providing the necessary education to the citizens of the nation.
The urban societies of China are privileged with the advanced technologies that has
helped in the undertaking the best possible measures for continuing the educational progress. The
financial development has helped in the undertaking of the proper educational schemes based on
the policies that are being formed by the government. On the other hand, the poverty and the
other migration issues faced by the rural regions of the nation have affected the education system
of the regions. The growth of the schools in the nation and the other facilities that are being
provided to the urban residents cannot be provided to the rural residents. It has affected the
education of the students residing in the rural areas of the nation. According to a report published
in The New York Times (2014), the stellar performance of the Chinese students is portrayed in
the international tests. However, there are paradigms to the element where the rural students are

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deprived of the facilities that are being given to the urban students through the advanced
technologies and the best educational schemes prepared by the government. The gap that is being
created by the policies of the government has resulted to the inequalities in the urban and the
rural dwellers. Some 60 million children, according to the report, are left behind (Turner &
Acker, 2017). This has given rise to the unequal states of education in various regions of the
nation. The most important consideration that is being undertaken by the governments is based
on the development of the urban dwellers with the provision of the technologies and the
development of the schools. On the other hand, the standardization of the laws and the
legislations of the mandatory education do not fit in the scenario of the rural areas.
Issues faced
The issues that are faced by the rural regions of China resulting to the gap in the
education are based on certain factors. The factors are aimed at the lucid understanding of the
discrepancies that are faced by the people living in the rural regions of the nation. It also helps in
understanding the areas of the lag based on the circumstances and the other policies that are
being undertaken by the government for ensuring the providence of the proper education. The
issues also help in the understanding of the paradox of the educational system prevalent in the
nation and the paradigm that is being created by the nation to the world for delivering the proper
education. The issues challenge he policies that are being planned by the government for
ensuring that the proper education is mandatory until nine years.
The unemployment of the people in the rural areas forces them to migrate to the urban
regions of the nation in search of jobs. They leave their kids to their grandparents. Migrating
from the rural areas to the urban areas affect the livelihood of the children and thereby affects

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their education system too (Postiglione, 2015). The migration of the parents to the far cities in
search of jobs leaves the kids in isolation to their rural schools where little facilities could be
found for proper education. The lessons that the students learn in their dilapidated schools in the
rural regions are by no means a match to the education that are received by the urban dwellers.
According to a report, the facilities in the rural area schools include a blackboard and a council
of teachers to guide the students with their lessons (Yang & Welch, 2012). However, the
development of the students is constrained due to the high tuitions fees that are charged from
them.
The rise in the population in the rural areas has resulted to lower opportunities for the
children to attend the schools. There is a rising competition in the schools of the rural regions
based on the requirements of the education. On the other hand, the policy of the government
based on the mandatory education has toughened the competition in the schools in the rural
regions of the nation.
The quality of the education is again another important factor that differs greatly in
between the rural and the urban regions of the nation. The quality differs based on the skills of
the teachers and the equipments that are required for providing the value added education
facilities to the students. According to a report, the institutions in the nation discriminate between
some 65% of the population for providing the proper educational services. The main reason for
the discrimination is based on the overgrowing population of the nation (Yeung, 2013). The
institutes undertake various tests and assessments for assessing the various credibility factors
before enrollment of the students. The admission tests that are being designed by the institutes
are hard enough for the students coming from the rural backgrounds. Therefore, the education
system of the nation experiences a gap in the system. Based on the requirements of the students

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for fulfilling the policies framed by the government, the schools and the institutions in the urban
have taken steps for improving the education that is being provided to a global scale. On the
other hand, the rural schools and institutes have taken steps in order to adhere to the policy of
mandatory education framed by the government with a little consideration of the quality of
education that is being provided to the students (Zhao, 2014). This approach of the government
towards the development of the education system has greatly affected the development of the
rural areas, which remained uneducated mostly. It is also because of the high tuition fees that the
people are unable to afford and the education is being compromised in the regions.
Recommendations
Variability in the educational needs stresses on the introduction of effective policies. This
covers both the rural and the urban areas, where the quality of education is also of varying
nature. This variation nullifies the concept of one to one policy in the nations and proposes the
recommendation of policy borrowing or policy transfer. In order to upgrade the standards and
quality of education, the administrative personnel of China need to borrow educational policies
from the developing nations like United Kingdom. For example, china government can transfer
mediclaims from the developing countries like UK. This would include the wellbeing of the
children within the educational curriculum.
Higher tuition fees would compel the personnel of the educational institutions to
encounter instances of abseentism, reducing the academic growth rate largely. This would create
disparity in the financial parameter of Australia. Indulging in alliance with the members of the
trade union would help the administrative personnel to set reasonable price for the courses. Here,
the focus needs to be placed on the rural areas. This is because the rural people tend to migrate

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and take the children along with them. This migration puts an ombre shade to the career of the
children as well as the parents. Therefore, accommodation facilities along with education would
help the Chinese government to increase the trafficking of audience, especially from the foreign
countries.
Variability of education in the rural and the urban areas indicate the inequal treatment,
which is displayed to the foreign students. The foreign students are not familiar with the culture,
tradition and customs of china. Taking due advantage of this, they are deceived, which deviates
them from their goals of establishing a sound career. This creates a negative image about the
Chinese culture in the minds of the foreign students, coming to enhance their preconceive skills,
knowledge and capabilities. Herein lays the effectiveness and appropriateness of PISA, which
would enable the Chinese administrative personnel to become aware of the approaches of the
foreign students to the education, which they are receiving. Typical components of this
assessment are the audits and evaluation of the proposed curriculum.
The families of the rural areas are already suffering from poverty. In these circumstances,
educational needs of the children attain second preference. Therefore, the schools and institutions
need to introduce peace-building education, which would prepare the children for facing the
conflicts. This preparation would make the children physically and mentally in terms of ensuring
the security and safety of their motherland. For this, carrying out campaigns would produce
positive results. This is because campaigns would make the people aware of the importance of
education in terms of promoting peace and democracy.
Indulging in meetings with the shareholders would enhance the perspectives of the
administrative personnel regarding making beneficial investments in the field of education. As

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an example, holding seminars and lectures by renouned personalities would promote the brand of
Chinese education to the foreign investors. Along with this, if social media is considered for
levying the information of the newly launched scholarship programs, the schools and institutions
would be able to attract large number of audience towards the brand.
Conclusion
This assignment emerges successful in providing an insight into the Chinese education.
As a matter of specification, the assignment attempts to find out the challenges and inequalities
within the education system of china, which has entrapped the future of the children. The issues
of migration in search of employment; political unrest, economic instabilities and varying needs
of the students contradict the true essence of the term education. The intensity of these issues
nullifies the limitations of the Chinese threshold.
The recommendation of policy borrowing or transfer indicates a hope for development in
the education system. This is possible if the educators and administrative personnel expose a
conscious attitude towards the career establishment of the students. As a matter of specification,
if the personnel introduce mediclaims, the parents would be assured about the refined quality of
the education in the schools and institutions. For this, the schools and the institutions need
financial flexibility.

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