Time to reverse rural education decline

One of the unexpected by-products of China's urbanization is the decline in rural education over the past decade.

The impact cannot be overestimated since it concerns the future of millions of children.

The number of rural students has dropped to a ten-year low with 63 primary schools and three middle schools closing every day from 2000 to 2010.

This is partly a result of the excessive merging of rural schools during the decade, according to a report released by Yang Dongping, director of the 21st Century Education Research Institute.

The number of rural primary schools decreased by 52 percent from 2000 to 2010 while the number of countryside pupils dropped by 37.8 percent, the report said.

It is time to stop the trend of education decline in the countryside as it will prompt rising disparity between rural and urban areas, a long-time headache for the Chinese government.

The decrease of rural schools began ten years ago when educational authorities advocated the merger of facilities in light of the shrinking rural population, due to China's urbanization. The policy was meant to improve study conditions for pupils and save educational resources.

It was a rational move at the time. But it has gone too far and caused a series of problems.

The concentration of schools has made the pupils' journey to school farther and more expensive, especially in remote mountainous areas.

The average distance from home to school for rural pupils is 5.4 km and 17.5 km for middle school students, according to Yang's report. The students either choose to live in school where the accommodation is simple, harsh and costly or they have to walk a long distance or take a risky ride on a tricycle, motorcycle or shabby school bus to school.

Malnutrition is also common among rural students living in boarding schools.

The difficult access to school due to the drastic merger of rural schools also raised great concerns about rising illiteracy in some areas.

The dropout rate of rural pupils rose to 8.8 out of 1,000 in 2011, almost the same level as in 1997, said Han Qinglin, inspector of the Hebei provincial department of education and the director-general of the rural education branch of the Chinese Education Society.

The continuous merging of schools has resulted in not only the dropout of lower grade students, but even worse, a great deal of students cannot enter school which means it is possible more than a million illiterate people will appear every year.

The lack of care from their parents has also caused psychological trauma for lonely students living in schools.

The merger of schools cannot take into account only the economic benefits, but also needs to give consideration to educational equity and quality.

In the developed regions with convenient transportation, the merger of schools can play a more positive role. But in underdeveloped regions, merging does not optimize the resources but affects the students' right of being educated. They should never be left behind in the urbanization process.

It's relieving that authorities have realized the shortcomings of the merging policy.

The general office of the State Council unveiled "The Opinion of Managing Rural Education Compulsory Schools Layout Adjustment" in September which called for the policy of merging schools to be halted.

Keeping necessary rural schools in place and improving the food and accommodation in boarding schools are crucial to prevent education in the countryside from declining.

It's high time for the government to take actions to reverse the trend.