Current Situation of Basic Education in Poverty-Stricken Counties of China in the New Era and New Rural Construction
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Zhou Zhiwu, IJSR, 2017; 1:9 Research Article IJSR (2017) 1:9 International Journal of Social Research (ISSN:2576-5531) Current Situation of Basic Education in Poverty-stricken Counties of China in the New Era and New Rural Construction -Take County Zijin of Heyuan City in Guangdong Province as an example Zhou Zhiwu Academy of Marxism, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, Guangzhou, China ABSTRACT Basic education in rural areas is an important part of China’s ba- *Correspondence to Author: sic education system. It plays a significant role in improving the Zhou zhiwu quality of the rural population and promoting the economic and Academy of Marxism, Guangdong social development in rural areas, and is of great importance to University of Foreign Studies, the new countryside construction. Although China’s rural basic Guangzhou, China education has made great achievements since reform and open- ing up, many problems still exist. On the basis of a comprehen- sive analysis of the above problems, this paper takes the case How to cite this article: of basic education in County Zijin of Heyuan City as an example, Zhou Zhiwu.Current Situation of and proposes some practical countermeasures for the reference Basic Education in Poverty-stricken in better development of basic education in rural areas. Counties of China in the New Era and New Rural Construction-Take Keywords: Basic education, Current situation, Countermea- County Zijin of Heyuan City in sures, New Rural Construction Guangdong Province as an exam- ple. International Journal of Social Research, 2017; 1:9. eSciPub LLC, Houston, TX USA. Website: http://escipub.com/ Http://escipub.com/international-journal-of-social-research/ 0001 Zhou Zhiwu, IJSR, 2017; 1:9 Zijin, a county of south-east Heyuan City, is locat- were uneven. Since then, with the introduction ed in the east-central of Guangdong Province. It of relevant policies of rural education and the is a traditional agricultural county and one of the great importance county government attached main Poverty-stricken counties in china. At the to building a high quality teacher team, some pri- beginning of the 21st century, the economic and vate teachers with low teaching capability have social development of County Zijin has devel- been gradually eliminated in the late twentieth oped rapidly due to the industrial transfer in the Century. The same with rural teachers all over Pearl River Delta region, and the comprehen- the country, County Zijin government constant- sive strength has increased continuously. With ly perfects the rural teachers’ income security the growth of economic strength, County Zijin mechanism and rural teachers’ income continu- has put more investment in rural basic education ously increases, pension insurance, medical in- and achieved great results. The development of surance and other aspects also have a complete rural basic education plays an important role in guarantee. After more than 10 years of contin- improving the quality of rural population and pro- uous supplement and optimization, the over- moting the development of rural economy and all quality of teachers in County Zijin has been society. It also has precursory, foundational and greatly improved. comprehensive impacts on the built of a harmo- 1.3 With the popularization of compulsory nious and moderately prosperous society. nine-year schooling, the number of illiteracy 1.Achievements of rural basic education and semi illiterate has dropped off signifi- development in County Zijin cantly. In recent years, there is a sharp decrease in the 1.1 Rural basic education facilities have been number of children in rural areas of County Zi- improved significantly jin due to the implementation of family planning With the development of economy, local gov- policy and changes in farmers’ fertility concept. ernment begins to attach great importance to in- Coupled with the improvement of living condi- frastructure construction in rural schools. Since tions and more attention paid to education in ru- 2002, County Zijin has started the reconstruction ral ares, parents generally require their children project of dilapidated buildings in rural schools, to complete nine years of compulsory education. and reformed the dilapidated buildings in rural According to the statistics of the educational ad- primary and secondary schools throughout the ministrative department of County Zijin in the be- county. Refurbish the habitable buildings and re- ginning of the semester in the autumn of 2015, built the demolished ones. In addition, a number the gross enrollment rate of primary school ed- of school buildings have been built in many rural ucation in the rural areas of the county is about schools to ensure the normal teaching and learn- 98.9%, and the gross enrollment rate of junior ing life. County Zijin invested a total of 86 million middle school is about 93.6%. This shows the Yuan in this project, the reconstruction project popularity of the enrollment of school-age chil- was also commended by the higher authorities. dren in rural areas of County Zijin, but attention County Zijin has carried out the construction of also should be paid to the drop out problem of sports field at the same time to implement the minority students. “national fitness” spirit, basically each school has a basketball court, a number of badminton courts 2. Problems existing in rural basic education and table tennis tables, some junior high schools in County Zijin also have built plastic runway which provides a Although the rural basic education in County good place for students to exercise. Zijin has achieved good results in the years of development, there are still some problems. The 1.2 The overall quality of rural basic educa- main problems are as follows: tion teachers has improved a lot Before 1990s, there were a large number of pri- 2.1 The gap between school facilities in ur- vate teachers in the rural areas of County Zijin, ban areas and rural areas still exists. and their personal quality and knowledge level In recent years, County Zijin has invested a lot Http://escipub.com/international-journal-of-social-research/ 0002 Zhou Zhiwu, IJSR, 2017; 1:9 of money to improve the infrastructure of rural of the comparative smaller number of teachers schools, but in a whole, there are still gaps be- in County Zijin, many teachers have to give oth- tween the school running conditions of rural ar- er lessons except for the one they are major in. eas in County Zijin and urban areas in County For example, Chinese teachers have to give Zijin and Heyuan City. students physical education and music lessons. This unreasonable phenomenon has been con- Found during the visit of Yizhen Maotian primary sidered as a common in County Zijin. 2.3 Junior school and Jidong primary school in this county, high school dropout phenomenon needs atten- some school offices have only one or two com- tion. puters and no office machines such as copier and printers. There is also no multimedia teaching Despite the substantial improvements in basic equipment in the classroom, and teachers have education in rural areas, due to various sub- to use the original way to give lessons that is jective and objective factors, the drop-out rate writing on the blackboard according to the mate- among students in rural junior high schools in rials in the textbooks. Schools have no library, art County Zijin has been extremely high, making room and music room, and the number of sports it difficult to complete the nine-year compulso- equipment is limited, so students’ after-school life ry education. For example, in Fong’an Middle is boring. During the visit of rural middle schools School in County Zijin, a total of 316 students such as Yirong and Longwo middle school, we were enrolled at the beginning of the fall of 2015, found that computer rooms, chemical laboratory with 298 students remaining at the beginning of and physics laboratory are generally only one in the spring of 2016. The number of students in these schools and can’t meet the corresponding the second grade dropped from 285 to 253, 264 teaching needs. What’s worse, most computers people reduced to 202 people. It can be found in the computer room can’t function properly be- that the higher the grade, the more dropouts. It cause they haven’t been used for many years. is understood that there is such a phenomenon Two or three students have to share one com- of dropping out of schools in other secondary puter in the computer class once a week. schools in County Zijin. 2.2 The overall quality of rural teachers is not 2.3 Junior high school dropout phenomenon high enough and schools are lack of profes- needs attention sional teachers Despite the substantial improvements in basic Although the construction of high-quality ru- education in rural areas, due to various sub- ral teachers team in Heyuan has been greatly jective and objective factors, the drop-out rate promoted in recent years, many problems still among students in rural junior high schools in be found through interviews, mainly as follows: County Zijin has been extremely high, making firstly, the age structure of rural primary school it difficult to complete the nine-year compulso- teachers is unreasonable. Because of the back- ry education. For example, in Fong’an Middle wardness of economic and social development School in County Zijin, a total of 316 students in County Zijin, living conditions and teaching were enrolled at the beginning of the fall of 2015, environment are quite hard, and it is difficult to with 298 students remaining at the beginning of introduce excellent young teachers to the rural the spring of 2016. The number of students in schools, especially primary schools. Teachers the second grade dropped from 285 to 253, 264 are mainly of middle-age and conservative.