A new report on the conditions of Chinese education reveals a
severe shortage of quality education resources. With few choices
available, thousands of Chinese parents have to buy quality
education for their children. The price, as a result, has
skyrocketed. There are now concerns that the practice causes
corruption in the education system.
One of the problems of the Chinese education system has been an
unequal distribution of resources and educational provisions
between schools. In consequence, a climate of corruption exists
where no one will speak out as no one wants their child's education
compromised. Schools participate by raising fees in line with
application expectations over and above national standard
requirements. This is called sponsorship.
Corruption
Today, nearly all developed provinces and big cities have abolished
the key ranking school system, where allocated resources would
differ between schools, for the compulsory education phase, yet the
system unofficially remains.
The official principle now in operation is for a student to attend
a school within the district where they live. Along with improved
living standards, there is a higher expectation for a child's
education in China which creates popularity amongst schools. Being
the envy of parents, the popular schools have allowed a corrupt
system to flourish by making admissions a flexible procedure.
What is of concern now is the fact that schools with limited
resources cannot produce good results and that what seems to make a
school good is provided by school management policy in increasing
its funding level. This inequity calls for standard procedures and
greater transparency in the educational system.
For example, insiders in education say that the popular middle
schools gain advantage by enrolling large numbers into the junior
school through high-fee scales but keeping senior-school enrolment
based solely on performance.
In
Guangzhou, the capital city of south China's Guangdong
Province, this practice unofficially still continues with
school-chosen fees or "sponsorship" being paid up to 30,000 yuan
(US$3,625) for a once-off payment for a provincial key primary
school and 50,000 yuan (US$6040) for a provincial key junior high
school. It is said that in Beijing it is even higher.
While donations to such schools by parents is incomprehensible,
some enterprises appropriate large sums of money precisely, so they
claim, to provide and support quality education, in turn making
room for the children of those that make the donation.
Transparency
One of Beijing's most prestigious schools has a yearly intake of
400 students for junior middle schooling. Among them 300 come from
compulsory education area intake with no additional charge and the
remainder creating annual revenue of 4 million yuan (US$483,000)
from 40,000 yuan per student.
This figure appears surplus to local government budgets and remains
hidden from accounts and therefore beyond control or supervision.
The local authority advise that it be used according to the needs
of the school and not the teachers though, it is common knowledge
that the teachers will benefit too.
This system is not without its detractors. The criticism centers on
the fact that it creates a culture of corruption rather than a
culture of education and runs counter to a fair system where
progress depends on putting in the work, reaching set goals and
beginning at a new level.
Huang Taikang, a deputy to the 10th National
People's Congress, China's legislative body, noted that it is
not the intention of the government to allow education development
to happen in the face of corrupt methods; without supervision and
correction.
Accountability
It
has been the advice of educational advisors to make the system more
accountable and transparent. Thus, a system could be created where
school management takes place in plain view of the public and where
a legal system would allow the listing, implementation and
standardization of all school management practices.
According to this view, the parents and teachers should not ignore
what takes place nor keep silent or take part in this corruption.
It has also been suggested that the authorities concerned should
take prompt action to drive out the source of a culture of
corruption in schools and make sure there is a reallocation of all
resources in a fair and balanced manner.
(China.org.cn translated by Wang Zhiyong, April 2, 2003)