|
November 10, 2005 Ministry of Education, China |
|
Since the Dakar Conference in 2000, new breakthroughs have been made in the education for all in China: historic advancement in the compulsory education, great progress in tackling problems for the “two basic moves” (namely basic popularization of the nine-year compulsory education and basic elimination of illiteracy of the youth and middle-aged), major improvement in literacy of adults, and much reduction of gender differences in receiving education. Moreover, the rural compulsory education in rural areas is emphasized and has been promoted unprecedentedly, such as increased education input, upgraded teachers’ quality and improved conditions of schools. Educational development supports energetically the fast development of China’s economy and society. At present, there are some 180 million children at the age of six to 14 in China. Since 2000 when basic popularization of the nine-year compulsory education and basic literacy of the youth and middle-aged were fulfilled, policies for tackling problems for the “two basic moves” are implemented, especially those for funding students from the poor families in rural areas, playing an important role in consolidating the quantity of students at schools, decreasing the dropout rate, guaranteeing the timely enrolment for children at school age in rural areas, and pushing forward the compulsory education in those areas. In 2004, there were 2,774 counties (cities and districts at county level) met the standards of the “two basic moves” all over the country, with the increased coverage rate from 85 percent in 2000 to 93.6 percent of the populated area. The “two basic moves” have been also pushed forward for complete implementation in the twelve provinces (municipality) in western China as scheduled. In 2004, pupils at the elementary schools were 112 million in the whole country; the net enrolment rate for children at school age was up to 98.95 percent; the rate of admission into junior middle schools reached to 98.1 percent, increased by 3.2 percent over that of 2000. Therefore the differences between the rural areas and cities were further narrowed down. While there were 65.28 million students in junior middle schools, with gross enrolment rate of 94.1 percent, 5.5 percent higher than that of 2000. Great achievements have been made in literacy. From 2001 to 2004, there were 8.03 million people becoming literate, that is, annual average two million people being literate. The illiteracy rate of the youth and middle aged was about four percent. The literacy rate of the adults is among the first in the developing countries with large populations. It was 90.9 percent in 2000. From 1984 to 2004, China received 14 awards such as “Noma Literacy Prize” and honor prize of “Noma Literacy Prize,” “N.K. Krupskaya Prize,” “International Reading Association Literacy Award,” “King Sejong Literacy Prize” and mention award of “King Sejong Literacy Prize,” and mention award of “International Literacy Awards” in the “International Literacy Awards” of UNESCO. Bazhong County of Sichuan Province, Wulian County of Shandong Province, Xiping County of Henan Province, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, the National Women’s Federation, Tianshui City of Gansu Province and Qinghai Province were awarded the “International Literacy Awards” with bonuses. The vocational education and technical training for adults in rural areas have been developed further, and training in practical skills and for migration labor has been launched extensively. Now basically all the children at school age can receive education. In 2004, the enrolment rate for girls at primary schools was 98.93 percent, with gender differences further reduced from 0.70 percent in 1995 to 0.04 percent. In addition, the gender differences for junior middle school students were narrowed down clearly; the difficulty for girls to enter junior middle schools has been resolved basically. Education of minority nationalities and special education have also grown further. Progress has been made in coping with problems for the “two basic moves” in ethnic regions. By the end of 2004, 474 counties out of 699 minority autonomous counties had realized the objectives of the “two basic moves,” covering 67.8 percent of the total. Special care of the government and the society is shown for the handicapped children of China. In 2004, there were 1560 schools for special education, the disabled students at schools were 372,000. The handicapped children studying at general schools were 243,000, representing 65.3 percent of the total number of students at schools for special education. The Chinese government always places the education for all on a strategic position to be developed with utmost priority. In order to carry out the objectives specified in Dakar Framework for Action, the Chinese government has worked out an overall plan for the educational development in early 21st century, emphasizing on three aspects such as speeding up the rural education development, promoting literacy work of the adults and eliminating the gender differences, which propel the education for all practically. Meanwhile, a road for rural educational development of China has been found. Taking consideration of the characteristics of the country, the Chinese government undertakes the following work: planning according to regional reality and giving specific categorized instructions, which guarantees the conditions for implementing the nine-year compulsory education in rural areas; strengthening the capacity building of the teachers at the middle and primary schools in rural areas, which is the key to popularization of the nine-year compulsory education; making full use of distance education facilities to improve educational quality; insisting on combination of agriculture, technology and education and overall coordinated development of basic, vocational and adult education, which drives forcefully the economic and social development in rural areas. Furthermore, the Chinese government increases input for rural and poor areas and establishes a system of cooperation, that is, the developed regions assist the under-developed regions and cities help the countryside. People are mobilized and encouraged on a large scale to give financial contribution to education. At the same time, the international cooperation is full used to support the development of education for all in a balanced way. II The UNESCO Fifth High Level Group Meeting on education for all, jointly hosted by the Ministry of Education of China and UNESCO, will be held solemnly on November 28 in Beijing, China. As a grand international education meeting, it will be attended by some heads of states, more than forty education ministers or ministers for international assistance, and CEOs of major international organizations (including non-governmental organizations and civil society), who will extensively exchange opinions and discuss issues on education for all, in particular the rural education and literacy so as to jointly promote development of the cause of education for all in the world. This meeting is characterized by the following: based on the prior meetings, making a serious commitment on EFA development, striving for substantial results and endeavoring to set forth feasible measures and actions for development of education for all. The Beijing Communiqué to be released is not only a solemn commitment which is iterated to achieve six major goals by the international community, but also comprises of an important approach to promote the development of education for all as top priority. For this reason, it is expected that this meeting will become a new milestone in the history of education for all development. In 1990, at the world conference on Education for All in Jomtien of Thailand, UNESCO put forward the concept of “education for all” for the first time. The basic connotation of this concept is as follows: to wipe out illiteracy, to popularize primary education and to eliminate the gender differences in education. Since that conference on education for all, all countries have taken a series of measures, such as enrolment of 10 million children per year, the literacy rate of the male and female adults up to 85 percent and 74 percent respectively, the enrolment of children for basic education from 599 million in 1990 up to 681 million in 1998, and the dropouts down from 127 million to 113 million. However, there are still 100 million dropouts and 875 million illiterate adults. In 2000, the Dakar Framework for Action was adopted at the UNESCO’s World Forum on Education for All, confirming six goals for fulfilling education for all people and the society. Therefore the goals are specified and the timetable is determined. Since then, a High Level Group Meeting on education for all has been held each year, in which one of the six goals is examed. The High Level Group Meeting is considered a major mechanism to supervise and direct implementation and development of achieving the goals for education for all. The first to the fourth High Level Group Meetings were respectively convened in 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004 in France, Nigeria, India and Brazil, while the fifth is hosted by China. The theme of the meeting is “Literacy with special focus on education for rural people.” The main content of this meeting is as follows: summarizing the achievements made during fulfilling the goals of education for all; the education effects in realizing the millennium goals for rural population; bringing about gender equality of education so as to ensure the coordination of the millennium goals and Dakar goals; raising fund for education for all and releasing joint communiqué and joint action plan. Education for all is the priority of UNESCO’s five major programs. It is a joint effort by World Bank, UNICEF, UNDP, UNFPA, FAO and UNAIDS. Education for all is not only an education issue, but first a development one. Among the six major goals for education for all (illiteracy, early child care and education, popularization of primary education, promotion of equal gender opportunities for education, life skill training, and improvement of education quality), two of them (popularization of primary education, and promotion of equal gender opportunities for education) have been listed in the “millennium development goals” (MDGs) adopted at the UN general assembly. The goals for education for all and for the millennium development goal of “eradication of poverty and equality between men and women” are inseparable. III Sino-African Education Minister Forum which is to be held on November 27 is a measure of the Chinese government to promote the development of the education for all of China and to enhance exchange and cooperation with other countries and organizations so as to jointly drive healthy development of the cause of education for all in the world. Hosted jointly by the ministries of Education, Foreign Affairs and Commerce of China, this forum is one of the follow-up actions of the “Sino-African Cooperation Forum” and a new attempt to launch multilateral cooperation in education within the framework of the “Sino-African Cooperation Forum.” Present at this forum will be 19 ministers of education from 19 African countries of Benin, Congo, Egypt, Mali, Kenya, South Africa, Nigeria, Guinea, Mauritius, Sudan, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Algeria, Mozambique, Tanzania, Djibouti, Mauritania, Senegal and Cameroon and the leaders from ministries of Education, Foreign Affairs, Commerce and Finance and the Development and Reform Commission of China. Centering on the theme of “strategy for educational development in China and African countries and international exchange and cooperation” at the forum, the participants will conduct dialogues and exchange of ideas on such content as strategic plan and basic policies for popularization of the compulsory education in the developing countries, the development direction and mode of the vocational technical education, training and professional development of the elementary and middle school teachers, the guarantee mechanism and measures for higher education quality, the major fields and successful mode of educational exchange and cooperation between China and African countries. During this forum, China will put on exhibitions of educational instruments, remote education and rural education. Sino-African Education Minister Forum is a contribution to the educational development of the developing countries. China is the largest developing country, while Africa is the continent with most developing countries. Thereupon, China and most African countries have the similar historical development courses and extensive common interests. Particularly in education, as the overall level of the educational development in China and most African countries still lags behind, they are confronted with the same difficulties and problems during seeking education development, and they bear common development tasks and face similar challenges. For that reason, there is much for them to learn from each other, exchange and cooperate. China’s experience in the education for all may be consulted and used by African countries. This forum will bring a new idea to the educational development of China and African countries, open up new space for exchange and cooperation in all education fields between them, and provide broader vision further for solving educational development problems in vast developing countries. IV Since 1990s, as a member state of UNESCO, the Chinese government has
first made a commitment to popularize “education for all”
in China. For this reason, the Chinese government has always put education
on a strategic position to be developed, pushing forward actively popularization
of the nine-year compulsory education, illiteracy of the youth and middle
aged and greatly developing rural education. Therefore, the overall
quality of China’s population has been further improved, making
positive contribution to education for all in the world. However, it should be noticed that with development and continuous progress of the social economy, the rural education cause and literacy education in China are also confronted with new problems. With a large population and a weak economic development, there are still 87 million illiterate adults in China, of which 23 million illiterate are youths and middle aged. The areas having not popularized of the nine-year compulsory education, are mostly in the poor western region of China, covering 8 percent of the country. The most important task is to achieve for the “two basic moves” in the west part of China. The current government is determined to fulfill it within the tenure. China should not only keep the gained progress, but also face and settle
the continuously emerging problems. And this high level meeting is just
to provide the right platform for representatives from all countries
for exchange and discussion. Although we have our own cultural traditions,
social systems and national conditions, and obvious educational differences
exist between countries, we possess common goals to struggle for education
for all. We believe that this high level meeting will find the solutions
to the problems concerning education for all in the world, and that
this high level meeting will bring new vitality and energy to the sustainable
development of education for all in the world! |