Shortly after the founding of the PRC, the
Chinese government took education as a matter of primary importance, and made
enhancing the cultural quality of the people the basis of the construction of
the nation. Before 1949, China had a population of nearly 500 million, of whom
80 percent were illiterate. Proceeding from reforming the educational system,
the Chinese government made an overall plan and adjusted its educational
policies, with the result that the number of students increased rapidly.
Currently, 91 percent of the country has instituted compulsory primary
education, nearly 99 percent of school-age children are enrolled in schools,
the dropout rate has decreased and the illiteracy rate of young and middle-aged
people has declined to less than seven percent. Since the initiation of the
reform and opening policies in 1978, marked by the restoration of the
higher-education examination system, China’s education got on the road to
accelerated development. As one of the priorities of China’s economic and
social development, education is a matter of great concern to the government.
The decisive guiding principle that “Education should be geared to the needs of
modernization, of the world and of the future” (Message written for Jingshan
School by Deng Xiaoping on October 1, 1983) has promoted the speedy development
of China’s educational undertakings.
China has attained considerable achievements attracting worldwide attention in
education. According to the latest statistics, by the end of 1998 there were
1,022 universities and colleges in China, with 3.41 million students, of which
1.08 million were the year’s new recruits; 736 graduate training units with
199,000 students, of which 73,000 were the year’s new recruits; 962 adult
higher-learning institutions with 2.82 million students, of which one million
were the year’s new recruits; 13,948 ordinary high schools, with a total of
9.38 million students; 17,106 secondary special and technical schools and
vocational high schools, with 11.26 million students (of which, 1.73 million
were technical school students), accounting for 55 percent of the total
students in high schools. And there were 54.5 million junior middle school
students nationwide, with an enrollment rate of 87.3 percent; 139.54 million
primary school pupils, with 98.9 percent of the school-age children enrolled.
The dropout rates of the students of ordinary junior middle schools and primary
schools were 3.23 percent and 0.93 percent, respectively. There were 2.51
million people studying in vocational secondary schools for adults; 86.82
million persons trained in adult technical training schools; and 3.21 million
illiterate people became literate.
The cross-century period is an important phase in China’s economic and social
development. Giving priority to the development of education is the basis of
the two major national strategies of improving the quality of the people and
rejuvenating the nation by relying on science and education and realizing
sustained development. As human society enters the knowledge and information
age, education is expected to play an increasingly important role.
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