City Report and Action Plan

Weihai

Ms. Chunjie Song
Vice-chairman, Weihai Education Society,
Weihai Municipal Government
China

CITY REPORT

Education System

The government of China is a vertical organization with the central government at the top of the pyramid, descending down to the level of the township. The government structure consists of the following in descending order: Central, Provincial, City, County, and Township.

The central government exercises macro guidance over basic education system, while the local government manages the day-to-day activities. The education system includes Basic, Higher and Adult Education. Basic education includes Pre-school, Primary (compulsory), Junior Secondary (compulsory), and Secondary levels. The city and the county level governments bear the main responsibilities for implementing compulsory education.

Current States and Challenges

Weihai achieved the universalization of 9-year compulsory education in 1993. All the school-age children, no matter boys or girls, either in urban area or in rural areas, have equal rights to go to school. The completion rate is about 99 percent. The government has implemented a series of actions to guarantee that none of the school-age children will drop out due to economic difficulties, and tried many ways to ensure the students stay at school.

The enrollment and completion rate are not problems. Weihai has an attendance rate of 100 percent for basic education. There is no dropout rate. The literacy rate in China, with schooling over 6 years old is 100 percent, starting from 30 years ago. Yet comparing with the education in the developed countries like Japan, it's quite a long way to achieve quality education.

Problems which Weihai faces include inadequate financial input to meet goals and needs of schools.

The biggest problem is that there are too many students in one classroom - in average more than 60 students in the urban areas. With the rapid increasing of the urban population, nowadays 83 percent of the urban classes have more than 45 students, seriously surpassing the rated number; while the rural population is decreasing rapidly. The number of students gets smaller and smaller, and to keep so many schools with fewer and fewer students in rural areas is a waste of material and human resources for such a developing city as Weihai. So actions must be adopted to make education more effective and economical.

Another current issue is that the stress of students is too heavy. This stress comes from parents who want their children to excel. There is too much homework and too little time for children to play.

Another problem is the quality of the teachers. Teachers need more training. Parents pay for books and transportation. About 5 percent of the students' support comes from the government.

As for gender equality, the ratio of male/female is fairly equal. There is no gender gap apparent due to the one child rule. Parents want their children to succeed whether they are male or female.

Another factor for China's success is that China has no child labor. Children are expected to go to school and they do. This is supported by the government and the parents.

Generally speaking, in the next five years, the scope, structure and quality of education will accommodate the developments of the economy and society. A modern system of education of different categories, of urban and rural areas will develop harmoniously, and in a high-quality and balanced way. Teaching conditions should achieve standardization, while teaching methods modernization. The teachers' qualification should be improved. Education evaluation should be more humanized.

ACTION PLAN

Activities

1. Rearrengement of the school allocation

(1) To build more schools in the city.
   To build 4-6 primary schools, 3 junior secondary schools in the urban area, to keep the student number of each class under 45, to make sure that more students are closely concerned. These schools should be built near the places where the factories are located. Because the immigrants usually come to work in factories and they are usually not rich people. That would make it easy for the students of the immigrants to go to schools.

(2) To adjust the school allocation in rural area.
   To keep 2 junior secondary schools and 3-5 primary schools for a town with a population over 50000, and 1 secondary and 2-3 primary schools for a town with a population under 50,000, to use the education resources effectively. In order to make it easy for the students go to school, school buses should be free for students.

Implementing sector:
The municipal government and district governments

Duration:
One or Two schools should be built each year and completed by 2010. The adjustment of school allocation should be finished by 2008. In this way, the city government should make overall plans and take all factors into consideration, to ensure that the education develops in a balanced and economic way.

2. Optimizing all aspects of education.

(1) To improve the teaching situation.
   All the primary and secondary schools will reach the standards of the city levels, and 50 percent of the schools will reach the standards of the provincial level. In order to achieve the above, more financial support from the government, both city and district are important. Although the county-level government takes the main responsibilities for management of compulsory education, the city level, even the provincial and central government should support financially. And more contributions from the communities and enterprises should be encouraged.

Implementing sector:
City, county government, Financial Bureaus, every school

Duration:
Every year, for 5 years

(2) All the school teachers must have the equivalent qualification.

1. Train all teachers in vocation time with new ideas, new curriculum and new materials and teaching methods to make the classes more enjoyable. Train 30 percent of the teachers at the city level. Train 70 percent of teachers in city level.
2. Encourage the teachers to improve their abilities, both theoretically and practically. Every year, the teachers should take part in at least one item of self-improvement programs, such as a self-study test for qualification, distance education for ability improvement, and practicing their ability to operate modern teaching instruments, to ensure that all modern teaching instruments are effectively used, and all that classes are lively and interesting.

Implementing sector:
The above activities should be implemented by various levels of education bureaus and teaching and research centers, as well as various schools.

3. Realizing free compulsory education

Enlarge the scope of students remitted and subsidized by the government gradually and realize free compulsory education by 2010 in Weihai.

Implementing sector:
City level and county level governments: Financial and education bureaus and NGOs.

Since the government invested $552,707,359 in education in the last five years, the constructions of schools have been greatly improved. In the next five years according to the Compulsory Education Law of PRC the investment should be reasonably increased to consolidate both software and hardware facilities.

Activity Time Frame

Nov. 2005 - Dec. 2005:
Presenting to the Mayor and Director of Education Bureau

Jan.- Mar. 2006:
Discussing or negotiating with the integrated departments

Apr.- June 2006
Investigating the needs of the pertinent departments and persons

July - Aug. 2006
Contacting the different departments, and making a concrete plan for implementation

Sept - Oct. 2006
Monitoring the implementing