Blog written: 19.04.2019
With the surge of economic growth this has resulted to more profits and income, which has enabled the Chinese government to spend more on merit goods. Education has been strongly linked to increased in quality of life and it is a component of the Human Development Index (HDI) and linked to economic development.
The importance of education is reflected in government policies where Deng Xiaoping believed that education was the foundation of a ‘strong nation’. It was further reinforced with compulsory schooling in 1986 and since the beginning of the 21st century, China’s government investment in education has increased by more than 20%. However, rural areas are struggling to keep students in school, with Stanford University Professor Dr Scott Rozelle’s studies finding that the cumulative dropout rate in rural living areas between 2007-13 was 63%. The main reasons for kids dropping out was due to the cost of schooling compared to the income the kids could bring into the family by working in factories. With 60% of China’s labour force not retaining an education as far as high school and the rate higher in rural areas, the gap of education between rural and urban areas have become an economic problem. Hence, this reinforced Dr Scott’s studied on how education affects a country’s GDP, which with the lack of completing education, becomes a drag and burden on economic growth.
Due to the increase advancement in technology and the labour force needing high-skilled workforces with expertise in math, language, computing skills, which are skills attain in high school education. Hence, in order for the future generations, which are the working force of China’s economy, education is a crucial part for them to meet the demands of the workforce.
As a result, the implementation of government’s subsidising schools fees, technology and touch enforcement from the government has kept students in school. This is further highlighted through the rural region of Luquan that has not had a student drop out of school yet in 2018. Since 2006, Luquan’s education department has had objective of improving education with technology. It saw a link for schools in rural areas to get education via a live-broadcast from an urban school. Currently, Luquan now has 24 live broadcasted classes in two of its public high schools and more than 400 schools across China are using this program in order to narrow the inequality between rural and urban education. Dr Scott commented on this program believing that this is the only place in the world right now where we are able to see if long distance education can be applicable to achieve successive results for education.
Hence, the development of the education system has enabled more professional and skilled workers to meet the demands of the changing economy. Thus, education in China is not only a big business for public and private sectors, but it is the key to China’s economy dynamism.
keeping up with economics 