Sowing the seeds for better education Updated: 2004-01-07 07:28
With the central government identifying expansion of China's pool of human
resources as a priority, the time was right for Education Minister Zhou Ji to
share his views with the public.
While there's no shortage of opinions on
whether China's economy is overheating, few think the development of education
has been hot enough. For all the financial resources that can be employed for
education, the majority of Chinese agree there should be more.
All
Chinese citizens, from workers on ultra-modern production lines in the new
development zones to those toiling on remote farms, count on education, both
their own and their children's, for future increases in household
welfare.
National leaders have repeatedly stressed that education is one
of the keys to sustaining China's momentum of world-record economic
progress.
Education authorities have also been candid, as Minister Zhou
was yesterday, when they talk about the enormous opportunities and challenges
they face, and the need for major adjustments of the system.
For all this
awareness, however, there remains one problem that will not go away easily:
meagre funding.
The inherent difficulty of funding education for a
society of 1.3 billion can never be underestimated. And the problem is partly
reflected from the complaint that surfaces from time to time about some schools
trying to ask their students to pay for the services they are supposed to get
for free.
The funding problem is particularly acute here, because
education has traditionally been financed solely by government
coffers.
In recent years, although not a small number of private schools
have been set up, there's still much room for progress in mobilizing
non-governmental resources. There are a few national foundations to raise
donations, but their fund-raising activities have not been among the nation's
most popular public relations campaigns. By-laws are enacted for co-operation
with overseas entities in education projects, but successful examples are still
few and far in between.
One of the important lessons from China's
market-oriented economic reform is that something that was once the sole
responsibility of the government can, given a proper arrangement, be shared by
society and private investors.
Education is not entirely a business, and
nine-year compulsory education is the constitutional right of every Chinese
citizen. But education will see healthier growth if it can mobilize greater
participation and support from society, from more widespread donations to more
significant investment from non-governmental entities.
(China Daily )
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