Private Schools for Low-Income Families in Rural Gansu, China

European Journal of Developing Country Studies, Vol.2 2006 ISSN(paper)2668-3385 ISSN(online)2668-3687

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Private Schools for Low-Income Families in Rural Gansu, China

Qiang Liu, PhD

Assistant Professor, Institute of International and Comparative Education, Faculty of Education, Beijing Normal

University, CHINA, 100875

[email protected]

James Tooley, PhD

Professor and Director, E.G. West Centre, School of Education, Communications, and Language Sciences,

Newcastle University, UK, NE1 7RU

[email protected]

Abstract

Research found 586 private schools in villages in Gansu province, enrolling 59,958 pupils; 309 public schools

were located for comparison. Private schools had significantly higher female enrolment than public schools,

while pupil-teacher ratios were equivalent. Teacher salaries were significantly lower in private than public

schools, although fees charged in both were equivalent. Only a small minority of private schools received local

government subsidy. Private schools were reportedly established because public schools were too far away.

There was no significant difference regarding teaching activity in public or private schools. Implications of these

findings for national and international development policy are outlined (100 words).

Key words: Development Policy, Public-private comparisons, Poverty.

1. Background and context

It is widely accepted that a private education sector, charging low fees, has emerged in many developing

countries. For instance, the Oxfam Education Report suggests that ‘… the notion that private schools are

servicing the needs of a small minority of wealthy parents is misplaced … a lower cost private sector has

emerged to meet the demands of poor households’ (Watkins, 2000, pp 229-230). The phenomenon is widely

reported in southern Asia: for example, the Probe Team (1999) researching rural villages in four north Indian

states reports that ‘even among poor families and disadvantaged communities, one finds parents who make great

sacrifices to send some or all of their children to private schools, so disillusioned are they with government

schools’ (p. 103). For the poor in Calcutta (Kolkata) there has been a ‘mushrooming of privately managed

unregulated … primary schools’ (Nambissan. 2003, p. 52). Reporting on evidence from Haryana, Uttar Pradesh

and Rajasthan, De et al (2002) note that in urban and rural areas, a large number of primary schools charging

low fees have emerged (p. 148). Alderman et al, (2001, 2003) report on similar findings from Pakistan.

Venkatanarayana, (2004), notes the ‘growing demand’ for low fee private schools in rural Andhra Pradesh, India

(p. 40).

Is the situation similar in China? There is a growing interest in the rapid development of private education in

general in China. From being outlawed under Chairman Mao Zedong in the 1950s, it emerged after the policy of

‘Reform and Opening Up’ in 1978. Progress has accelerated to create a situation described by commentators as

‘mushrooming’, ‘flourishing’, ‘blooming’, and ‘thriving’, (Lu and Chen, 2001; Ma, 1998; Mok, 1996). There

have been numerous press reports on the growth of private schooling in China, (see for example, Bi, 2000; Chen,

2000, 2002; China Daily, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002a, 2002b; Dong, 1999, Dong and Huang, 2002, Gao, 2001,

Guangming Daily, 2002, Guo, 1999, Hao, 2002, Huang, 2002, Li, 2001a, 2001b, Lu and Chen, 2001, Lv, 2000a,

2000b, Xia and Xu, 2001, Xiong, 2001). Academic studies have pointed to the development and socio-economic

impact of private education in general (see for example, Chen and Li, 2001; Feng, 2001; He, 2001; Wang, 1997;

Wu, 1999, 2000; Xi, 1996; LaRocque and Jacobsen, 2000); the growth and impact of private education in

particular provinces, (e.g., Lin, 2001; Liu, 1998; Liu and Hu, 2000; Ma, 2002; Qu, 2001; Wen and Jin, 2001),

comparisons between this growth in different provinces (Wang, 1999) and discussion of desirable regulatory

frameworks (Hou, 2001; Wu, 2000; Zhang, 2002).

However, there is only limited information on the presence of a low-cost private education sector. Liu (2002)

points to the ‘booming’ of 100 private schools in villages in central Shaanxi Plain, accounting for one seventh

total primary school enrolment. Zhou (2001) notes the growth of private education in rural areas in North China.

Lin (1997) suggests that private educational initiatives are important in rural areas. It is also reported that low fee


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private schools have been opened for children of itinerant workers, most of whom were surplus labourers from

the countryside seeking jobs in big cities (China Daily, 2000).

The research reported here, funded by the John Templeton Foundation, aimed to supplement this limited and

mainly anecdotal evidence, by conducting a detailed survey of the nature and extent of private provision – if any

– in the villages of rural Gansu, one of the poorest parts of China, and to effect some comparisons between this

provision and that offered in state or public education. This research was part of a large international study,

conducted between April 2003 and December 2005 also in sub-Saharan Africa (Kenya, Ghana and Nigeria) and

India, reported elsewhere.

Gansu, one of China’s five northwest provinces, was chosen for the study because it is one of China’s least

developed provinces. In 2001, Gansu’s per capita gross domestic product (GDP) was 4,165 Yuan (US$518.03),

ranking 30th among China’s 31 provinces and autonomous regions. The average rural per capita income was only

1,500 Yuan ($186.57), 63% of the national average, ranking 28th. About 50% of Gansu’s rural population is

living below the poverty line of 1,000 Yuan ($124.38) per capita per year, compared to 3% nationwide (Asia

Development Bank, 2003, pp. 2-3). Gansu reported about 1.69 million people living under the absolute poverty

line of 637 Yuan ($79.23) per person per year. Gansu has 14 municipalities and prefectures that further

administer 87 counties and districts and 1,660 townships and sub districts, including 7 autonomous counties and

40 ethnic minority townships. Gansu’s total land area is 454,430 km. In the 2000 national census, the population

was 25.6 million people, 76% living in rural areas. In Gansu, 36.91% of the population have completed primary

school (Gansu Statistics Bureau, 2001, National Bureau of Statistics, 2006).

Before moving on, it is worth noting that there are three names for private education in current usage in China:

‘Shehui Liliang Banxue’ is used in official documents; literally translated it means schools run by ‘social forces’.

‘Si Li’, translated literally as ‘privately run’, is rarely used, perhaps because the first character ‘si’ has derogatory

senses besides the meaning of ‘private’, such as “selfish” or “illegal”. Finally, ‘Min Ban’, translated literally as

‘people-run’, is the most popular name, widely used by providers, researchers, and journalists. Tsang (2000)

suggests that ‘min ban’ are distinct from ‘private’ schools; the latter refers to schools sponsored and managed by

private individuals or groups, funded through student tuition and other private sources, while the former are

sponsored and managed by communities or collective organizations, and funded by the community and tuition

fees. Others deem that private schools run by individuals are one type of people-run schools (Meng, 2001;

Wang, 2001c). Lai (1994) suggests that the term ‘min ban’ is the preferred usage in China domestically, but that

this should be translated as ‘private school’ for international usage (Lai, 1994). This is the usage followed in this

paper.

2. Method

The research was conducted from September to December 2004. A preliminary visit was made by the authors to

check whether private schools could in fact be found in villages in Gansu. A week-long visit located five such

schools in the mountains of Zhang County, Ding Xi prefecture. Following this, the team recruited the Gansu

Yitong Marketing Research Company, a specialized research organization that utilizes a network of researchers

across Gansu, to assist. This research used 48 research supervisors and 310 researchers, distributed across all 14

prefectures. All researchers and supervisors attended a two-day training session. The aim was to locate all

private primary and secondary schools in rural Gansu. Pre-primary only schools were excluded, although this did

not preclude finding schools that catered for nursery and primary or secondary sections. For purposes of

comparison, researchers were asked to locate a public school ‘nearby’ to each located private school, defined as

being within a maximum of one day’s travel for the researchers, who were travelling mainly on foot.

Researchers were allocated to areas which they knew reasonably well and were permitted to obtain lists of

private schools from the local education bureau, although they were warned that such lists may not be complete,

and in addition they should inquire of local residents, e.g., in markets or on the street, the possibility of other

schools existing, unacknowledged by local authorities. Researchers were trained in the use of an interview

schedule for the school principal. They were also trained in the use of an observation schedule, which catalogued

the facilities within the school – either in Class 4 (or, if there was no Class 4, the nearest other class to this) or

available in the school as a whole (Only one aspect of this is reported below). Once the researchers identified the

location of a private school, they were required to visit unannounced, and conduct the interview, which took

approximately 15 minutes. After that, they asked to visit the school, to observe school inputs.

During the implementation of the research, all researchers were strictly monitored. They were required to sign a

Quality Guarantee Contract, which amongst other things confirmed that any researcher found guilty of fraud


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would be dismissed without payment. All questionnaires from the school had to be stamped with the official

school stamp and contact telephone number. Researcher were required to take a photograph of each school to

prove that they had visited it. All schools were subsequently telephoned by the supervisors to check that the

researchers had in fact conducted the survey and observation. Spot telephone and field checks were also

conducted by one of the authors together with a smaller team to 30% of the schools located, in all 14 regions, to

ensure that questionnaires had been correctly filled in, and also to check for any other private schools that may

have been missed.

3. Results

3.1 Schools

In total, the researchers found 688 private primary and secondary schools. Of these, the vast majority, 589

(85.6%) were located in villages, as opposed to cities or county towns, of interest to this research project.

However, three of these were found to be not for villagers themselves, but were located in villages apparently to

take advantage of cheap land, and functioned either as boarding schools or by bussing day pupils from the capital

city. These three schools charged fees ranging from RMB 1,500 ($186.57) to 20,000 ($2487.56) per term – far

above the fee range for the schools serving village people. We eliminated these schools from our analysis. That

is, we analysed data from 586 private schools, located in the villages and serving village populations. We define

these as ‘private schools for the poor’. This figure is a lower bound, as we cannot be sure we found all of the

schools, which were not on the provincial list of schools: Officially in Gansu province there were only 82 private

primary and secondary schools (senior high, five junior high and 26 primary), all of which are based in the cities

and larger towns, not in villages (Gansu Statistics Bureau, 2004, p. 738). The researchers also identified 309

government schools that were in villages “nearby” (as defined above) to the private schools; these form the basis

of comparisons here. (The number is smaller than the total private schools because in some areas, the researchers

found no “nearby” public schools). It was observed by the research team that the public schools were normally in

the less remote and larger villages. These were only a very small fraction of the total in Gansu – there are

15,635 primary schools alone (Gansu Statistics Bureau, 2004).

Table I Pupil enrolment in all village private schools and sample public schools, Gansu

Total

Students

Number of Schools

Reporting

Mean Number of

Students

Private

Schools

total students pre-

primary 3157 586 5.39

total students primary 54807 586 93.53

total students junior

secondary 403 586 .69

total students senior

secondary 1591 586 2.72

total students 59958 586 102.32

Public

Schools

total students pre-

primary 3764 309 12.18



secondary 25150 309 81.39


secondary 446 309 1.44


Total

total students pre-

primary 6921 895 7.73



secondary 25553 895 28.55


secondary 2037 895 2.28


Source: Census of schools


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Table II Pupil enrolment by gender

Number of schools

reporting

Mean percentage

of girls Std. Deviation

Private

Schools

proportion girls pre-primary 176 48.26 17.456

proportion girls primary 578 46.76 11.149

proportion girls junior

secondary 4 37.44 13.214

proportion girls senior

secondary 7 33.25 15.732

Public

Schools




secondary 50 42.38 9.342


secondary 1 19.06 .

Total




secondary 54 42.02 9.606


secondary 8 31.48 15.405


Table III Pupil-Teacher Ratio by School Management Type

Count Maximum Minimum Mean Median Mode

Private Schools 586 71.67 3.33 25.03 23.59 18.00

Public Schools 309 263.00 3.86 25.08 23.65 24.00


3.2 Pupil enrolment

Researchers asked school principals for the number of children enrolled, by class, checking this data against

registration documents. In the 586 private schools there were 59,958 children enrolled, a mean of 102 children

per school (Table I). The largest school had 540 students, while the smallest had five. The majority of children

(54,807) enrolled were at the primary level. Officially, there are only 6,788 students studying in private primary

schools (which did not include the schools we found, as they were not on the official Provincial list), and

3,227,592 pupils in government primary schools in Gansu (Gansu Statistics Bureau, 2004, p. 738). That is, we

suggest a total enrolment of 3,289,187 in primary schools, of which about 1.87% of children (61,595) are in

private primary schools. For purposes of comparison, in the 309 public schools researched, total enrolment was

reported to be 115,008, of which 85,648 were in primary sections.

3.3 Gender of Pupils

Enrolment was broken down by gender (Table II). At all levels apart from junior secondary (although there are

only a small number of reporting schools here), we find that the private schools have a higher percentage of

female enrolment than public schools. At primary level, the mean percentage of girls in a private school is 46.76%

compared with 44.54% in a public school. Using the t-test for independent samples shows a significant

difference between private and public schools for the mean proportion of girls at primary school (t=3.116,

df=676.675, p<0.05).

3.4 Teachers, Pupil-Teacher Ratio and Teacher Salaries

There were 2,480 teachers reported in private schools (and 5,029 in the 309 public schools). The mean number

of teachers in the private schools was four, (compared to 16 in the public schools). In both private and public

schools, the minimum number of teachers was one, while the maximum number was 38 (private) and 102

(public). Regarding pupil-teacher ratios, these were similar in public and private schools: 25.03 in private,

compared to 25.08 in public schools (Table III).

Teacher salaries, however, were very different in private and public schools (Table IV). We asked school

managers for the minimum monthly, maximum monthly and average monthly salaries paid to the teachers. In the

private schools, the mean reported values were RMB 173.95 (minimum), RMB 750.81 (maximum) and RMB

479.37 (average). In the public schools, however, the mean reported values were RMB 302.73, (minimum),


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RMB 1217.26 (maximum) and RMB (789.48) (average). The mean average teacher salary was thus nearly twice

as high in the public as the private schools.

Table IV Average Minimum and Maximum Teacher Monthly Salary by Management Type

Count Maximum Minimum Mean

Private

Schools

Minimum 586 1500.00

($186.57)

14.00

($1.74)

173.95

($21.64)

Maximum 586 2700.00

($335.82)

15.00

($1.87)

750.81

($93.38)

Average 586 6362.20

($791.32)

15.00

($1.87)

479.37

($59.62)

Public

Schools

Minimum 309 1100.00

($136.82)

15.00

($1.87)

302.73

($37.65)

Maximum 309 1900.00

($236.32)

200.00

($24.88)

1217.26

($151.40)

Average 309 1300.00

($161.69)

180.00

($22.39)

789.48

($98.19)


3.5 Age of schools

The school managers were asked when their school was established. 571 of the private schools (and 306 of the

public schools) provided this information, which has been tabulated in intervals of five years. Although

differences between school types are significantly different overall, we can see that the vast majority of both

types of schools are greater than 20 years old – 81.7% of private and 91.2% public – that is, dating back almost

to the policy of ‘Reform and Opening Up’ in 1978. Around 8% of the private schools are aged 16-20 years,

while about 4% are aged 11-15 years. Only a small proportion (7%) was established between 1995 and 2004

(Table V).

3.6 School Fees and other charges

We asked school managers for the fees charged in their schools. Six private schools (1.0%) and three public

schools (1.0%) reported that they did not charge any fees. The vast majority of the schools charged fees, by the

semester (i.e., twice annually). The results for primary and pre-primary sections are shown in Table VI. The

mean fees in private schools ranged from RMB 68.79 ($8.56) in Grade 1 to RMB 78.66 ($9.78) in Grade 6. In

public schools the mean fees were slightly higher at all grades except 5 and 6. However, using the t-test for

independent samples, we see that there were no significant differences between private and public schools in the

mean fees charged, except at pre-primary level (pre-primary: t=-2.485, df=269, p<0.05; grade 1: t=-0.965,

df=861, p>0.05; grade 2: t=-0.920, df=837, p>0.05; grade 3: t=-0.938, df=697, p>0.05; grade 4: t=-0.572,

df=586, p>0.05; grade 5: t=0.250, df=525, p>0.05; grade 6: t=1.347, df=123, p>0.05).

3.7 Type of Management of Private Schools

The majority of private schools were reportedly managed by a group of villagers (68.8%), while the remainder

were predominantly managed by individual proprietors (30.5%). Only tiny numbers (one school in each case)

were managed by a religious organization or charitable trust, while none were managed by commercial

companies (Table VII). In terms of the definitions of private schools in China given above by Tsang (2000), we

could say that the majority of schools were min ban, while a significant minority were si li.

We asked if schools received any subsidy from government – in all cases this was reported as from local

government. Only a small minority reported that they did – 70 schools (11.9%, Table VIII). The rest reported no

subsidy from government. The mean amount of government subsidy was reported to be RMB 14,935 ($1857.59)

per annum. Considering government subsidies per teacher and per pupil, taking into account all private schools

(i.e., including this with zero subsidy) we find that the mean subsidy per teacher was RMB 408.82 ($50.85) per

annum, while per pupil it was RMB 18.64 ($2.32) per annum. If we consider only those schools receiving

government subsidy, then this rises to a mean of RMB 3,422 ($425.62) per teacher per annum and RMB 156.06

($19.41) per pupil per annum.

Comparing schools run by villagers and proprietors only, there is a significant difference between these in

whether they receive government subsidy or not – with significantly more schools run by the villagers receiving

subsidy (χ2 = 5.219, df=1, Significant, p<0.05): 13.9% were run by villagers reported some local government

subsidy, compared to 7.3% of those run by proprietors.


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Table V Age of Schools by Management Type

Management

Type

2000 – 2004

(0 – 5

Years)

1995 –

1999 (6 –

10 Years)

1990 – 1994

(11 – 15

Years)

1985 – 1989

(16 – 20 Years)

1984 and Older

(Greater than 20

Year)

Total

Private

Schools

23 17 21 44 470 575

4.0% 3.0% 3.7% 7.7% 81.7% 100.0%

Public

Schools

4 9 5 9 279 306

1.3% 2.9% 1.6% 2.9% 91.2% 100.0%

Total 27 26 26 53 749 881

3.0% 3.0% 3.0% 6.0% 85.0% 100.0%

Note: χ2 = 15.226, df=4, Significant, p<0.05


Table VI Semester fees in private and public schools

Number of Schools

Reporting Mean Term Fee Std. Deviation

Private

Schools

Pre - Primary 172 72.10 ($8.97) 32.476

Grade 1 577 68.79 ($8.58) 19.117

Grade 2 553 68.91 ($8.57) 18.873

Grade 3 416 69.43 ($8.64) 18.961

Grade 4 305 70.65 ($8.79) 16.576

Grade 5 253 71.94 ($8.95) 15.521

Grade 6 44 78.66 ($9.78) 25.914

Public

Schools

Pre - Primary 99 83.15 ($10.34) 39.619

Grade 1 286 70.07 ($8.72) 16.482

Grade 2 286 70.12 ($8.72) 15.904

Grade 3 283 70.71 ($8.79) 15.750

Grade 4 283 71.43 ($8.88) 16.244

Grade 5 274 71.59 ($8.90) 16.496

Grade 6 81 73.27 ($9.11) 18.438

Total

Pre - Primary 279 76.13 ($9.47) 18.438

Grade 1 863 69.21 ($8.61) 36.373

Grade 2 839 69.32 ($8.62) 35.927

Grade 3 699 69.95 ($8.70) 35.950

Grade 4 588 71.03 ($8.83) 35.582

Grade 5 527 17.76 ($2.21) 18.286

Grade 6 125 75.17 ($9.35) 17.915

Source: Census of Schools

Table VII Type of Management in Private Schools

Frequency Valid Percent

Villagers 403 68.8%

Proprietor 179 30.5%

Religious group 1 0.2%

Trust or charity 1 0.2%

Other 2 0.3%

Total 586 100.0%

Source: Census of Schools

3.11 Reasons for Establishing Private Schools

Private school managers were asked an open question to give their reasons for setting up their school. 582

schools responded to this question. The answers were coded under ten headings(Table IX). The most reported


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reason was for overcoming problems of children traveling great distances to public schools, thereby eliminating

parental worries, reported by 438 schools (75.3% of total private schools reporting). It was clear from follow-up

interviews with school managers that the public schools were too far from their village – sometimes requiring

children to walk for five or six hours to reach – so this was the major reason for setting up a private school in the

village itself. Other frequently reported reasons came under the headings ‘Eliminating illiteracy’ (28.2%) and

making up the shortcomings of public education (24.7%). Only a very small number of managers reported that

they had set up the school in order to make a profit or surplus income (0.5%), to solve problems of village

unemployment (presumably by employing teachers), (0.3%), or because the government had requested villagers

to open a private school (0.3%).

3.12 Activity of the teacher

During the survey, after interviewing the school managers, the researchers also asked to tour the schools in

person. In particular, he or she was asked to visit Class 4, or the nearest class, during a time when teaching

should have been taking place (e.g. if there was an assembly or break period, the researchers waited until after

these had finished). Observations were allowed in all 895 of the schools taking part in the Census. How much

teaching activity was going on when the researcher called, without prior notice, in classrooms when there was

timetabled teaching supposed to be going on? ‘Teaching’ was defined as when the teacher was supervising the

class in some activities, including the teachers supervising pupils reading aloud or doing their own work, or

pupils themselves leading the class at the blackboard, under supervision of the teacher. If the class teacher was

absent, two situations could arise. Sometimes, no teacher would be present with the class, in which case, the

teacher would be marked as ‘absent’. However, if a substitute teacher had been put to supervise the class, in any

of the above ways, then this was noted by the researcher as ‘Minding the Class’, and included in the table below

as ‘teaching’. Non-teaching activities are therefore defined as where the teacher is not present in the classroom

when he or she should have been – e.g. being in the staffroom, sleeping, eating, talking, or engaged in some

other non – teaching activity around the school.

Analyzing the survey results, we found that 92.2% of teachers in private schools were teaching, compared to

89.3% of government teachers. However, these differences were not statistically significant (Table X).

Table VIII Subsidies from local government by private school management type

Subsidies from local government Total

No Yes

Villagers 347 56 403

86.1% 13.9% 100.0%

Proprietor 166 13 179

92.7% 7.3% 100.0%

Other 3 1 4

75.0% 25.0% 100.0%

Total 516 70 586

88.1% 11.9% 100.0%


Table IX Reasons for Establishing Private Schools in Villages of Gansu Province

Reasons of Establishing the PUA School Number of

the Schools

% of private schools

reporting

Overcoming problem of children traveling great distance to public

school 438 75.3%

Eliminating illiteracy 164 28.2%

Making up shortcomings of public education 144 24.7%

A devotion to the common good 90 15.5%

Increasing educational opportunities 18 3.1%

Making up shortcomings of family education 14 2.4%

Making profit/surplus income 3 0.5%

Solving problems of village unemployment 2 0.3%

After “Open – Up and Reform” Policy, the government asked every

village to set up a school. 2 0.3%

Raising standards of English 1 0.2%



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Table X Activity of Teachers by Management Type

Activity of the Teachers Total

Teaching Non - Teaching Absent

Private school Count 540 40 6 586

% within public or

private schools 92.2% 6.8% 1.0% 100.0%

Public School

Count 276 31 2 311

% within public or

private schools 89.3% 10.0% .6% 100.0%

Total

Count 818 71 8 895

% within public or

private schools 91.2% 7.9% .9% 100.0%

Note: χ2 = 3.121, df = 2. Not Significant, p>0.05

Source: Survey of Inputs

4. Conclusion and discussion

The phenomenon of private schools serving the poor, charging low fees, has been widely documented

internationally. However, apart from press reports, there does not seem to be much data available on the

existence of the sector in China, particularly in rural areas. This research, part of a large international study,

examined the nature and extent of private schools in villages in Gansu province, one of the poorest regions of

China. A team of researchers found 586 private schools in the villages of Gansu, serving village people,

(‘private schools for the poor’) enrolling a total of 59,958 pupils.

What are the implications of these findings? First, we believe that this research has indicated the existence of a

private education sector that appears to have previously been unnoticed, and which could usefully be brought to

the attention of the national and international communities. Second, it would seem that the existence of this

sector has implications for development policy, both for the Chinese government and for international

development agencies. Regarding the latter, it is notable that the large aid efforts for education in Gansu

province by the European Union (totalling Euros 15 million (about $18 million) over a five-year period and the

British Department for International Development totalling £12.5 million, ($20.83 million) over an 6 year period

are both aimed solely at improving public schools. The EU project includes teacher training, improving facilities

and providing scholarships to ‘disadvantaged but excellent students’, (EU-China Gansu Basic Education Project,

no date, p.2), with the aim of reducing educational inequity (p. 4). The DfID project also aims to ‘reduce the

inequalities which exist in the education system’ (Gansu Basic Education Project, no date, p. 1), through the

introduction of school development plans (SDPs), teacher training and scholarships for the ‘poorest and most

disadvantaged pupils’, especially girls (p. 5). However, it was notable in our research that we came across

public schools under these programmes that were situated in the less remote and larger villages. The private

schools that were in the most remote and inaccessible villages did not receive any of the funding – and it was

suggested by our respondents that the public schools, including those receiving development aid, were too

inaccessible to pupils in these remote villages to be of any benefit to them. One implication of the research

findings is that, if reaching the poorest is a development goal, then using at least some funds to raise the quality

of, and improve access to, private schools may be more effective than targeting only public schools.

Similarly, the Chinese government is particularly concerned with improving basic education in Western China,

including Gansu. It earmarked funds of 10 billion RMB ($1.2 billion) in 2004 for rural compulsory education,

and will invest 10 billion RMB ($1.2 billion) over four years to build 7,730 boarding schools for 2.03 million

students in poverty-stricken areas, including Gansu. Further funds will go to improving public school

infrastructure and facilities in these areas (China Education and Research Network, 2005). The emphasis on

boarding facilities suggests that the government recognises that existing public schools are too remote to serve

some of the poorest communities, and so moving children to the larger villages where there is a public school is

one way of improving access for the most disadvantaged. However, such a policy will clearly have other

implications for rural and family life – particularly if young people contribute to the economy in terms of helping

around the home and farm after school.


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An alternative policy is suggested by this research. That is, to recognise that private schools currently exist to

serve the most remote villages, and that development funding could be channelled to help these improve,

through grants or loans, to facilitate access to the poorest children through targeted scholarships, and/or to assist

other villagers to open schools in areas not served by public schools. It was found that a limited amount of local

government subsidy was already directed towards such private schools; it is suggested that this assistance might

be extended. In this way, the poorest might be assisted without having to engage in a mass movement of children

away from their home villages, with all its possible disadvantages.

5. References

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Private Schools for Low-Income Families in Rural Gansu, China

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