A differentiated financial input mechanism is needed to push
compulsory education in rural areas, says a signed article in
Beijing News. An excerpt follows:
Compulsory education is a public good offered by the government
to the people. It should be free, compulsory and open to all
children of school age.
Being free of charge is a precondition to forcing parents to
send their school-age children to school.
However, because of the restraints of China's current economic
strength, it is unrealistic to promote completely free compulsory
education nationwide.
At the current stage, the central and local governments,
individual families, and some other social channels jointly
shoulder the costs of compulsory education.
Such an input structure, however, does not ensure lower-income
families can afford their child's education. As a result, some
children of impoverished families, especially those in poor rural
areas, miss out on compulsory education.
In such a situation, a differentiated fiscal input policy is
badly needed to reform the compulsory education system, especially
the compulsory education input system in the vast rural areas.
At a time when the nation is still not developed enough to
promote free compulsory education in all regions, priority should
be given to rural areas, especially impoverished rural areas. And
government finance, especially central finance, should shoulder the
cost of compulsory education in those regions.
After that, free compulsory education should gradually spread to
those regions with better economic conditions.
(China Daily February 22, 2006)