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Since the reform and opening up, our country has achieved the "two basics" (basically universal education) under the conditions of a large population and low productivity development level. The historic task of nine-year compulsory education and basically eliminating illiteracy among young adults) should be said to be a remarkable achievement. However, compulsory education, especially rural compulsory education, still faces many difficulties. The burden of compulsory education on farmers is heavy, and the gap between urban and rural education is still widening. The ability of education to serve rural economic and social development urgently needs to be strengthened. In order to understand the situation of rural compulsory education in our province, we recently conducted a survey on compulsory education and existing problems in rural compulsory education in our province with the assistance of the Agricultural Adjustment Team of Yuhang District, Hangzhou City, the Agricultural Adjustment Team of Jinhua City, and the Agricultural Adjustment Team of Longquan City. The survey results show that our province's rural compulsory education has made great improvements in standardizing fees, but there is still a long way to go to eliminate illegal fees; farmers, especially those in underdeveloped areas, have a relatively heavy burden of compulsory education; the treatment of rural primary and secondary school teachers It is still relatively low; rural compulsory education still faces many difficulties in quite a few areas.
1. Basic situation of the survey
For this survey, we selected Yuhang District, Wucheng District and Jinhua City (hereinafter referred to as Jinhua City), and Longquan City as our research areas respectively. Representatives from developed, moderately developed and underdeveloped areas of the province surveyed 100 parents of rural students and 10 principals of primary and secondary schools in each area in the form of questionnaires. The entire province surveyed 300 parents of rural students and 30 principals of primary and secondary schools in townships. Among them, parents of middle school students, primary school students, middle school principals and primary school principals are evenly distributed. Parents in Yuhang and Longquan are distributed in 5 towns. Parents in Jinhua are distributed in 10 towns in the two districts. Principals of primary and secondary schools are distributed in more than 5 towns. Townships.
The "rural areas" defined in this survey refer to all towns and villages outside the county. This is consistent with the rural middle-level rural areas referred to in the Zhejiang Price Fee (2003) No. 21 document issued by the Zhejiang Provincial Price Bureau and other departments. There is a distinction between "rural areas" in primary schools, which means that in this survey, rural areas refer to all towns and villages outside the urban areas where the municipal governments or district governments of the three places are located. The time frame of the survey was spring 2003.
The average number of students in the 15 middle schools surveyed this time is 727, which is 21.7% less than the provincial average of 928. There are 677 full-time teachers (including 18 substitute teachers) , with an average of 44 students per school, the teacher-student ratio is 1:16.7, slightly lower than the provincial average ratio of 1:18.3. Of the 15 primary schools surveyed, 13 are township central primary schools and 2 are village primary schools in Jinhua City. The average number of students enrolled is 465, which is 21.1% more than the provincial average of 384. There are 452 full-time teachers. (including 2 substitute teachers), with an average of 30 per primary school. The teacher-student ratio is 1:16, which is lower than the provincial average ratio of 1:21.5.
2. Current status of rural compulsory education fees
(1) Rural primary and secondary school fee standards stipulated by relevant provincial departments
Provincial Price Bureau, Department of Education, Finance At the beginning of this year, the Department jointly issued the Zhejiang Price Fee (2003) No. 21 document, which stipulates the fee standards for compulsory education in our province: starting from the spring semester of 2003, the miscellaneous fee standards for urban primary and secondary schools (including township junior high schools and township central primary schools) are: The price per student per semester for primary school shall not exceed 80 yuan, and the price per student for junior high school shall not exceed 110 yuan per semester. The specific standards shall be determined by the price department of each city and county (city, district) in conjunction with the finance and education departments. Primary and secondary schools that have implemented multimedia education or offered information technology courses may charge an additional 20 yuan for miscellaneous fees upon approval. The miscellaneous fee standards for rural primary and secondary schools (referring to village primary schools, completed primary schools and central primary schools in villages and middle schools in 100 provincial key poverty alleviation towns) are: RMB 20-45 for primary schools and RMB 40-70 for junior high schools. Escrow fees (textbook fees and homework book fees for rural primary and secondary schools, and five audio-visual teaching material fees, handout fees, and class meeting fees for urban primary and secondary schools) are subject to quota control. The specific standards are determined by each city, county (city) , district) relevant departments shall determine before the start of each semester. The borrowing fee is 300 yuan for primary schools and 600 yuan for junior high schools.
(2) The actual fee paid by each student in rural junior high schools per semester is 657.9 yuan
According to surveys in three places, the average fee paid by each student in rural junior high schools per semester is 657.9 yuan (excluding food expenses) , the same below), accounting for 15.5% of the per capita net income of the surveyed households, with Yuhang, Jinhua and Longquan accounting for 806.8 yuan, 659.0 yuan and 512.0 yuan respectively. Among them, miscellaneous fees are 113.5 yuan (including information technology courses in some schools), accounting for 17.3%. Yuhang, Jinhua, and Longquan are 99.3 yuan, 128.0 yuan, and 113.1 yuan respectively; escrow fees are 247.6 yuan, accounting for 37.6%. Yuhang, Jinhua, and Longquan are respectively The average tuition fee for loan students (***9 people) is 954.4 yuan, and the fees for Yuhang and Longquan are 1,115 yuan and 633.3 yuan respectively. There are no loan students among the respondents in Jinhua; students living on campus (** *64 people) The average accommodation fee is 158.7 yuan, and the average accommodation fee is 266.0 yuan, 118.0 yuan and 92.1 yuan in Yuhang, Jinhua and Longquan respectively.
In Yuhang District, some schools implement apartment management in their student dormitories. With the approval of the relevant district departments, the accommodation fees can appropriately exceed the district standards.
(3) The actual fee paid by each student in rural primary schools per semester is 339.0 yuan
According to a survey of 150 parents of primary school students, the average fee paid by each student in rural primary schools is 339.0 yuan per semester. About half of junior high school students, accounting for 8.2% of the per capita net income of the surveyed households. Yuhang, Jinhua and Longquan were 379.1 yuan, 336.1 yuan and 299.0 yuan respectively. Among them, miscellaneous fees are 62.9 yuan (including information technology courses in some schools), accounting for 18.6%. Yuhang, Jinhua, and Longquan are 50.6 yuan, 69.1 yuan, and 69.0 yuan respectively; escrow fees are 158.6 yuan, accounting for 46.8%. Yuhang, Jinhua, and Longquan are respectively The borrowing fees for Yuhang, Jinhua and Longquan are 400 yuan, 300 yuan and 60 yuan respectively, with an average of 253.3 yuan; for students living on campus (*** 2 people, Longquan) Accommodation fee is 60 yuan per person.
(4) Basic evaluation of the current status of fees
Judging from the above survey results, the payment standards for rural primary and secondary schools in the three places are 100 yuan higher than the borrowing fee for Yuhang Primary School. There is no breakthrough in the provincial standards (see table below), and each school strictly abides by the local charging standards. During the on-site investigation, it was basically not found that schools charge fees exceeding the standard. Most parents of students also gave affirmation to the charging work. According to the survey, 52% of parents believe that the current fees for rural primary and secondary schools are more standardized than one or two years ago, and only 1.3% hold negative opinions; 21% and 43% of parents believe that the cost burden of primary and secondary students after the rural tax reform will " Significantly lessened" and "Somewhat lessened (but not significantly)." This shows that after governance and rectification, overall, the fees for rural compulsory education in our province are standardized, healthy, and mainstream.
Standard unit of fees for junior high schools and primary schools in the three towns: Yuan
Yuhang Jinhua Longquan
Primary school rural miscellaneous fees 45 45 45
Escrow Fees 120 100 176
Borrowing fee 400 200
Accommodation fee 100 80 60
Firewood fee 80
Urban miscellaneous fees 80 80 70
Hosting fee 200 Grade 1-2 1203-Grade 6 150 210
Loan fee 400 300
Accommodation fee 100 100 60
Firewood fee 60 for grades 4-6 in organized towns 80
Junior high school rural miscellaneous fees 110 70 100 Longnan Township 70
Host fee 250 180 260 Longnan Township 226
Borrowing fee 800 600 Longnan Township 400
Accommodation fee 200 80 75
Chaihuo fee 80 for organized towns 60 for unincorporated towns
Urban miscellaneous fees 110 110 110< /p>
Hosting fee 250 260 260
Loan fee 800 600
Accommodation fee 200 120 Township 75
Firewood fee 80 non- 60 organized towns
Note: Longnan Township is one of the 100 key poverty alleviation towns in the province. Township middle schools and township central primary schools fall within the urban fee range
3. Teachers’ salaries and benefits
At present, teachers’ salaries in our province are uniformly distributed monthly by the county (city, district) finance. Judging from the 30 rural primary and secondary schools surveyed, all teachers can receive their wages on time, and there are no cases of arrears. However, the contents of unified wages at the county level vary greatly due to different levels of economic development in various places. Some are only national wages, while others include assessment awards, job allowances, job subsidies, etc. For example, Yuhang District teachers’ food and meal allowances, job allowances, price subsidies, medical insurance, provident fund, etc. are all borne by the district finance. Longquan City also solved the teacher’s medical insurance and provident fund expenses last year. Jinhua rural teachers’ attendance bonus, year-end bonus, medical insurance , provident fund and other finances have not yet been resolved. The provident fund financial subsidy of 800 yuan per teacher per year will start in the second half of this year. The pension and unemployment insurance funds of contract teachers have not yet been arranged. In order to improve teachers' welfare benefits, some schools raise part of their own funds to provide teachers with monthly allowances ranging from dozens of yuan to one or two hundred yuan in the name of assessment awards, perfect attendance awards, etc.
Judging from the survey data, the average annual income (all wages and welfare income) of teachers in the three places is 17,528 yuan, of which junior middle school teachers are 18,031 yuan and primary school teachers are 17,025 yuan, which is not much different.
Comparing the three places, teachers in Yuhang have the highest salary, with an average of 21,455 yuan, 22.4% higher than the average. Among them, junior high schools and primary schools have 22,294 yuan and 20,616 yuan respectively; Jinhua is second, with an average of 16,980 yuan, slightly lower than the average of the three places. , among which the junior high school and primary schools are 17,400 yuan and 16,560 yuan respectively; Longquan is the lowest, with an average of 14,150 yuan, 19.3% lower than the average of the three places, and 34.0% lower than Yuhang. Among them, the junior high schools and primary schools are 14,400 yuan and 13,900 yuan respectively. According to analysis, the income gap between different regions is mainly caused by various subsidies, allowances, bonuses, etc. besides the national salary. According to the principals' own estimates, teachers' incomes are about 30% lower than those of local civil servants.
In some underdeveloped areas, teachers’ lives are still relatively poor. During our investigation in Longquan, we learned that there is a teacher couple who have been teaching for more than 20 years. They have accumulated more than 40,000 yuan in savings after working for more than 20 years. Their daughter will be admitted to college this year and will have to pay off the loan after four years of college. For teachers in some schools in underdeveloped areas, in addition to the salary paid by the finance department, various bonuses and benefits throughout the year only add up to a few hundred yuan. Some young teachers who have not worked for a long time have an annual income of only about 10,000 yuan. However, to obtain a college diploma through correspondence courses costs up to 15,000 yuan, an average of 5,000 yuan per year, which is almost half of the annual income. If you want to obtain an undergraduate diploma, you will have to spend another three years and 15,000 yuan. Some local education bureaus can provide a certain amount of subsidies to teachers after they obtain diplomas. In some places, schools can provide a small subsidy. In some places, due to financial difficulties, teachers must bear all the costs themselves.
4. Main problems existing in current rural primary and secondary education
Judging from this survey, there are still many problems that need to be solved in current rural primary and secondary education, mainly including: < /p>
(1) Education costs are still a relatively heavy burden for farmers
In surveys, farmers generally reported that through radio, television, newspapers and other news media in recent years, they have felt the influence of the Party Central Committee , the State Council and party committees and governments at all levels care about them and attach great importance to rural compulsory education. However, due to various reasons, they have still spent more and more on their children's education in recent years, and their burden has become heavier and heavier. According to survey estimates, the average cost of a primary school student for one semester is about 500 yuan (including lunch fees paid by some students), and nearly 1,000 yuan for a junior high school student. If you live on campus, it will be even higher. For farmers in areas with average economies and farmers in underdeveloped areas, it is a heavy burden, especially for families with two children (families with two children in underdeveloped areas tend to have higher wages than those in developed areas). Therefore, 44% of the surveyed households in our survey felt that the cost burden for their children to go to school was heavy or relatively heavy, and 7.4% of the parents also reported that they were unable to pay tuition and miscellaneous fees in full and on time. Among them, households in Jinhua and Longquan were unable to pay on time. to 10% and 11%. To finance tuition and fees, these families have to borrow money from relatives and friends. Some schools agree to defer payment or pay in installments, but the teacher must be personally guaranteed. If parents cannot pay in full by the end of the semester, the guarantor teacher will bear the responsibility. Some parents really can't pay cash, so they use eggs, grains, vegetables and other agricultural and sideline products to sponsor teachers to offset tuition and miscellaneous fees. According to reports from surveyed households, in one of the places we investigated last year, students committed suicide because they could not pay their tuition and fees. Survey data from 2,700 rural households in our province also show that farmers’ education burden is heavy and growing too fast. In 2001, the per capita tuition and miscellaneous expenses of rural residents in our province was 269.91 yuan, an increase of 14.1% over the previous year. In 2002, it increased to 337.42 yuan. It increased by 25.0% compared with 2001, which was much faster than the growth of revenue.
The education burden on farmers is still heavy. There are many reasons, among which the following two problems are very prominent.
1. There are more charges outside the provincial fee range. The survey results show that in addition to miscellaneous fees, custody fees, loan fees, and accommodation fees, primary school students have to pay an average of 111.6 yuan per semester in other fees, accounting for 32.9% of the total fees; junior high school students have to pay an average of 111.6 yuan per semester. Pay other fees of 175.4 yuan, accounting for 26.7% of the total fees. Among the charges other than the four fees, insurance fees, school uniform fees, and holiday training fees (weekend and summer training classes) account for the vast majority. In some places, with the approval of the price, education, and finance departments, students who live on campus charge 60- 80 yuan for firewood. In addition, some schools also charge a wide range of fees, such as drinking water fees, tuition fees for outstanding students, tutoring fees for poor students, test paper fees, materials fees, audio-visual teaching fees, late self-study fees (or late self-study teacher attendance fees), parking fees, and computer training Fees, “June 1st” school building sponsorship fees, etc. Some schools also print their own postcards and ask students to buy them on the grounds of promoting the school and expanding its influence.
In terms of the "legitimacy" of fees, such as school uniforms and insurance premiums, from province to county (city, district) all emphasize the principle of voluntariness, but the school authorities pay attention to school appearance, ease of management and student accidents. Considering the rescue capability, in practice, many schools mobilize students to buy, which gives parents a sense of coercion. As a result, one-third of parents feel that the purchase behavior is out of helplessness or embarrassment.
It should be said that holiday training is not in line with the spirit of the provincial documents, but in the three places we investigated, it is relatively common in two of them. The cost of weekend training ranges from 50 to 200 yuan depending on the number of courses. Courses also include music, physical education, art, etc., but most of them are still Chinese, mathematics, foreign languages ??and nature. Two-week training during summer vacation occurs in all three places, and in some places it is more common. These holiday trainings have been recognized by relevant local departments. In order not to conflict with the spirit of provincial documents, some social education institutions come forward or entrust them to organize and charge fees. Some have special holiday training centers, but in fact the students are still taught by their own teachers. Some students do not want to participate but are afraid that teachers will teach content that is not covered in class during holiday training, so there are many students who participate involuntarily.
In addition to the above-mentioned school uniforms, insurance and holiday training fees, other charges are obviously arbitrary charges. The drinking water fee is already included in the miscellaneous fees. Even if the school provides bottled water, it cannot be charged separately. However, it is common in some cities (districts) to charge drinking water fees.
2. There is a mismatch between the local charging standards and the local economic development level. Taking into account the large gap in economic development levels among counties (including county-level cities and districts) in our province, the provincial price, education and financial departments only stipulate the maximum limit or range of some fees, and set the fee standards. The power is decentralized to the county (county-level city, district) level, so that each locality can determine the charging standards according to its own economic development status and the income level of the people. But in fact, all localities have not implemented this requirement well, and basically adopted the highest standard charges set by the province, especially the miscellaneous fees and management fees that everyone has to pay, which does not reflect the gradient corresponding to the level of economic development. (see table above).
Taking Yuhang District and Longquan City as examples, according to a rural household survey, the per capita net income of farmers in Longquan in 2002 was only 47% of that in Yuhang; the parents surveyed this time estimated that the per capita net income of farmers in Yuhang was 6914.5 yuan, Longquan is 2558.8 yuan, Longquan is only 37% of Yuhang. However, the total miscellaneous fees and custodial fees for rural primary schools (hereinafter referred to as the "two fees") are 221 yuan in Longquan and 165 yuan in Yuhang. Longquan is 33.9% higher than Yuhang; borrowing fees and accommodation fees are higher in Yuhang than Longquan, but due to The ratio of loan students to students living on campus is not high (especially the loan students), and the impact on the masses is not large. As a result, the cost burden for primary school students in Longquan for one semester accounted for 11.8% of farmers' per capita annual income, and that for junior high school students accounted for 19.9%. Although the absolute fees for primary school students and junior high school students in Yuhang are 80 yuan and 295 yuan higher than those in Longquan, they only account for 5.6% and 11.6% of farmers' per capita annual income, which is obviously much lower than the burden level of Longquan. This shows that if education fees do not take into account the level of local economic development, even if the fees are fully standardized, farmers in some places will still feel a heavy burden.
In addition, some schools do not do a good enough job in charging fuel fees and reducing or exempting tuition and miscellaneous fees. For example, most parents believe that the cost of fuel for one semester is only around 30 yuan at most, but the standard charged by schools is mostly around 60 yuan. Another example is that it is difficult to reduce or exempt tuition and miscellaneous fees for poor students. According to parents' own declarations, only 2.3% of students have enjoyed the exemption, which is far lower than the 10% requirement stipulated in the provincial "One Bureau and Two Offices" document.
Faced with a heavier education burden, the majority of farmers (especially in underdeveloped areas) hope to reduce the cost burden of their children's education, especially compulsory education, so that it lives up to its name. Families with financial difficulties hope that they can truly voluntarily purchase school uniforms and insurance. Schools should not require uniforms to be worn during flag-raising ceremonies and other group activities. Otherwise, it will be a blow to the self-esteem of children from poor families who cannot afford school newspapers. .
(2) School funds are in short supply, and the phenomenon of running schools with debt is common
At present, rural primary and secondary schools, especially those in less economically developed areas, generally have a serious shortage of funds. Even in Many developed areas do not have sufficient funds. The operation of rural compulsory education schools is mainly maintained by miscellaneous fees. Although some local education bureaus or town governments have a small amount of public funds per student, they are allocated to the school as a supplement (generally between 20-50 yuan per student per year). , but it cannot fundamentally solve the contradiction of shortage of education funds. Therefore, many principals of rural primary and secondary schools now focus on begging for money, asking for money from the education authorities and township leaders. If they really have no choice, they charge students arbitrarily. For arbitrary education fees, all sectors of society often attribute it to the school and blame the principal. In fact, to a certain extent, the principal is "sharing the government's worries and taking the blame for the government."
Due to the shortage of school funds, many schools are currently in varying degrees of debt. Among the 15 middle schools investigated, 11 were in debt, with the largest debt exceeding 8.22 million yuan, an average of nearly 750,000 yuan per school. Among them, 2 in Yuhang had an average debt of 190,000 yuan each; 5 in Jinhua had an average debt of 820,000 yuan each; and 4 in Longquan had an average debt of 930,000 yuan each. Among the 15 primary schools investigated, 6 were in debt, with the largest debt being 1.43 million yuan, with an average of nearly 240,000 yuan per school. Among them, 1 in Yuhang has a debt of 180,000 yuan; 3 in Jinhua have an average debt of 310,000 yuan each; and 2 in Longquan have an average debt of 150,000 yuan each.
The reasons for debt include: some are in debt due to the construction of education buildings, comprehensive buildings, canteens, dormitories, playgrounds, etc.; some are in arrears for book and material fees such as Xinhua Bookstore, printing plants, and education bureau reference rooms; some are due to the creation of green schools , To create a strong education town in the province, the need to renovate the campus and purchase instruments, equipment and books has resulted in arrears; some are in debt for purchasing computers and building campus networks to offer information technology courses; others are in arrears for office fees and teacher bonuses. Jinhua No. 1 Middle School even owes 600,000 yuan in personal loans.
Still because of the shortage of funds, many school education facilities cannot be improved, and school buildings cannot be repaired and added in a timely manner. In the survey, 51% of parents believed that the school's educational facilities and equipment were average or not very good; only 8 of the 30 schools had standard playgrounds. Although great achievements have been made in renovating dilapidated buildings in primary and secondary schools in recent years, schools in many rural areas still have insufficient housing for teaching and living. According to the Longquan Municipal Education Bureau, if compared with our province’s standards for building Category III schools (minimum standards), the city still lacks 110,000 square meters of school land and 86,000 square meters of school buildings. In Jinhua, some teachers joked that the accommodation conditions for their students who live on campus are not as good as those for cows. Some principals know that their teachers' dormitories are in dilapidated condition but dare not report it, otherwise they will have to seal it up, leaving teachers without a place to live.
(3) There is a large loss of outstanding teachers, and the quality of the teaching staff needs to be improved
According to reports from various places, the current loss of outstanding teachers in rural primary and secondary schools is relatively common. According to statistics from the 30 primary and secondary schools surveyed, in the past three years, 21 teachers (including 19 in junior high schools and 2 in primary schools) have left the teaching team to pursue other careers due to low remuneration, and 45 teachers have moved to cities with better remuneration ( town) school. Nowadays, some private and private schools often go to rural primary and secondary schools to recruit talents. The annual salary can often be doubled, and the workload is relatively small. For example, Yuhang Tangqiyi Middle School reported that four teachers from their school have left this year, and the annual salary offered by private schools is 50,000 yuan a year (currently, their teachers’ annual salary is only 25,000 to 30,000 yuan). In their school, an English teacher has to teach three classes, but in a private school, he only teaches one class. Some local private schools do not even require files and can create new files for teachers recruited; some places also stipulate that the files of teachers who go to private schools can be placed in the education bureau. In some places, the education authorities conduct examinations and assessments for teachers every year, and transfer some outstanding teachers to urban schools or other schools that are close to urban areas, have good education quality, and have high salaries. Most of these teachers are backbone teachers at the county (city, district) level or rookies in the teaching field. They are the backbone of the school's teaching staff. The school often spends a lot of manpower, material and financial resources to train them. Their departure not only brings a huge impact on the school's education The plan has caused a certain degree of chaos, and has also had a certain impact on the quality of education. It has also dealt a blow to the school's confidence in cultivating teachers. Some principals say that in the future, when training teachers, they only need to train them into "semi-finished products", that is, they will not be reported as "key teachers" or "rookies in teaching" after they are trained, so as not to be poached, but this will also frustrate the teachers. of positivity.
The loss of key teachers has led to a decline in the quality of rural education and a loss of rural students. In some places, the problem of rural student loss has become serious. Some relatively outstanding students or students from relatively wealthy families have gone to better schools in urban areas. For example, there were 142 graduates from the Central Primary School in Lingxia Town, Jindong District, Jinhua City this year, and only 75 were promoted to local junior high schools. There were 54 students in one class, and only 9 were promoted to the local junior high school; more than 90 people from Yuhang Tangqi No. 3 Middle School went to other schools last year, and more than 50 people left this year; more than 70 people from Yuhang Chaoshan Central Primary School went out to study, accounting for 10% of the total. 10% of school students.
While excellent teachers are being lost, rural primary and secondary schools have relatively poor conditions and difficult lives, making it more difficult to attract highly educated and high-level teachers to work. The quality of the teaching staff is also low. protrude. Judging from the feedback from students' parents, 45% of parents think that the school's teaching conditions are average or not very satisfactory. Some parents think that teachers have a weak sense of responsibility and insufficient professionalism. The problems reflected include: some teachers have shortened their education time and often let students study on their own; some teachers do not mark homework and let students mark it for them; some even do not mark examination papers and only give marks based on their usual impressions; some teachers are quick to Corporal punishment of students, etc. In terms of teachers’ academic qualifications, the proportions of junior high school teachers in Jinhua and Longquan with a bachelor’s degree or above are 13.9% and 22.5% respectively, which are 16.4 percentage points and 1.9 percentage points lower than the provincial average of 30.3% respectively; primary schools in the two places The proportions of teachers with a college degree or above were 23.1% and 28.4% respectively, 11.3 percentage points and 6 percentage points lower than the provincial average of 34.4%.
(4) The task of collecting subscriptions for newspapers and periodicals is important
In our survey, principals of rural primary and secondary schools generally have great opinions on collecting subscriptions for newspapers and periodicals. We investigated the newspaper subscription situation in 9 middle schools and 9 primary schools in 2003. The average newspaper expenditure of each middle school is 13,459 yuan, accounting for 14.1% of the total miscellaneous fee income, of which 7,273 yuan is involuntary subscription, accounting for 54.0% of the newspaper expenditure; the average newspaper expenditure of each primary school is 6,099 yuan, accounting for 19.4% of the miscellaneous fee income. %, of which 1,974 yuan is involuntary subscription, accounting for 32.4%.
Involuntary subscriptions are mostly due to tasks from superiors or greetings from leaders of relevant departments. There are various newspapers and magazines subscribed to, including party newspapers at the central, provincial, municipal, and county levels (the lower the level, the more party newspapers), evening newspapers, "Seeking Truth", "Communist Party Members", "Qianjiang Lian Chao", "Half Moon Talk", "Pioneer of the Times", "Zhejiang Propaganda", "Zhejiang Today", "New Countryside", "People's Public Security", "Jiangnan" "Police Circle", "Price Bulletin", "Quality Times", "China Education News", "Education Information News", "China Teachers", etc. Some city (county) level party newspapers have more than one copy for faculty and staff. . During our investigation, an industry insider who had served as a middle school principal also reported that in order to complete the task of collecting newspaper subscriptions, a leader of the local propaganda department came to the school in person and asked him to subscribe to the newspaper. Seeing that he was a little reluctant, he said I am here You always have to entertain when you have dinner. If you don’t order, won’t your entertainment expenses be too much if I come a few more times? The implication is that it is better to actively subscribe.
(5) Ineffective implementation of the education fee card system
In order to effectively reduce the education burden on farmers and prevent arbitrary education fees, in recent years, the education department has introduced an education fee disclosure system and fee cards The system means that not only education fees must be publicized, but every parent must also have a fee card. But in fact, the implementation of this system is not ideal enough. Among the 300 primary and secondary school parents surveyed this time, 66.8% reported that the school did not implement the charge card system. Some schools believe that since fee disclosure has been implemented, there is no need to issue fee cards; others use the excuse that students can easily lose the cards if they are kept, and the school will "keep them on their behalf" after parents sign. Without a charge card, it is difficult for parents to supervise charges in the middle of the semester. The province has strict regulations on the expenditure of custody fees, but many schools include water and electricity fees, newspaper fees, etc. in the custody fees. It is impossible for these schools to issue a "charge list" to parents at the end of the semester. Yes, if the hosting fee is too high or too little is refunded but not reimbursed, it loses its practical meaning.
5. Some suggestions for the development of rural compulsory education
The 16th National Congress of the Communist Party of China put forward the goal of building a well-off society in an all-round way. 80% of my country's population is in rural areas. The key to achieving this goal lies in rural areas. The focus is in rural areas, and the difficulties are also in rural areas. Rural education plays a fundamental, leading and overall important role in building a moderately prosperous society in an all-round way. Rural compulsory education is the main body of rural education. Developing rural compulsory education so that rural school-age children have the opportunity to receive a good education is an important aspect of realizing educational equity and reflecting social justice. It is also an essential requirement of socialist education, and it is also an important step in improving education. The quality of farmers is an important guarantee for achieving a comprehensive well-off society. It should be said that since the implementation of compulsory education in 1985, our province's compulsory education has achieved remarkable results. At present, the enrollment ratio of six-year primary schools in the province has reached 99.8%, the primary school enrollment rate has reached 99.99%, and the enrollment rate of primary school graduates has reached 99.98 %, and the junior high school enrollment rate and consolidation rate reached 98.36% and 99.79% respectively. As an economically developed province, our province is at the forefront of rural compulsory education, but the educational level of farmers is still lower than the national average. According to the fifth census data, the average number of years of education for rural residents aged 6 and above in our province was 6.62 years in 2000, which was lower than the national average of 6.78 years. This is not commensurate with the economic status of our province. If our province wants to realize a moderately prosperous society in all respects ahead of schedule, the key is to improve the quality of farmers. High-quality rural labor resources are a great impetus for the modernization of our province, but a large number of rural labor who do not meet the requirements of modernization will surely become a burden for building a comprehensive moderately prosperous society. Rural compulsory education is the basic work to improve the quality of farmers. The current situation of rural compulsory education is gratifying from a "quantitative" perspective (such as primary school enrollment rate, primary school graduates' enrollment rate, junior high school enrollment rate, consolidation rate, etc.), but We still face many difficulties and problems in improving the quality of education, and there is still a lot of work to be done. To this end, we put forward the following suggestions:
(1) Reform the official evaluation method and truly attach importance to and develop education
Since investment in education does not produce results as quickly as tangible investment, the impact of education on Not everyone recognizes its importance, but economic development, social progress, and the enhancement of national strength all reflect the importance of education. There is also a lack of experience and lessons in this regard internationally. Britain is the birthplace of modern industry and was once an established economic power. Around 1850, a large number of workers in Britain migrated from the countryside to the city to work in new factories. But the British government did not build schools for the children of these workers. By the end of the nineteenth century, Britain's mastery of technologies such as electricity, metallurgy, and chemistry fell far behind Germany's emphasis on investment in education due to a lack of a well-educated workforce. As a result, Britain entered the twentieth century without retaining its original huge advantages in technology and productivity. Ireland, on the other hand, is another example. Ireland is a small European country with an area of ??70,000 square kilometers and a population of just over 3.8 million people. When it joined the European Union (the predecessor of the European Union) in 1973, it was still an agricultural country and the poorest country in Europe.
After joining the European Community, the Irish government attached great importance to education and significantly increased education funding. The ratio of education expenditure to GDP ranked among the best in Western countries. This resulted in rapid technological advancement. In less than twenty years, it was transformed from The transformation of Europe's poorest country into its richest country is rare in the world. Currently, Ireland has the highest school attendance rate among people aged 15 to 29 in the world and one of the highest per capita education levels in the world. Software development surpassed the traditional United States and India and became the world's number one, with annual exports reaching US$12 billion. These two examples illustrate the importance of education from both positive and negative aspects.
Currently in our country, the importance of education has been recognized by the vast majority of parents, including illiterate parents. They live frugally and invest a large part of their family income in their children's education. During our investigation, we learned that in order to provide their children with a good education, some parents in impoverished mountainous areas do not hesitate to go down to the mountains to set up very simple shacks on the edge of cities (towns), and use the money they earn from working or even scavenging to send their children to school in the towns. Because they know that education is the best way to solve the gap between rich and poor, and it is also an effective way to change the destiny of their children. However, many of our cadres still do not have enough understanding of the importance of education, or they only pay attention to education in words and deeds, but do not do enough in action. The official in charge of education at the United Nations said that the Chinese government’s education investment accounts for about 2.2% of GDP, which is less than half of the United Nations recommended level of 6%. The government budget accounts for only 53% of education spending, with the remaining 47% having to be paid by households or the private sector. Insufficient government budget is also the main reason why excessive education fees have been repeatedly prohibited in the past 10 years. Relevant United Nations data shows that my country’s tangible investment is about 15 times that of education, which is significantly higher than other developing countries. Many local governments have money for development but no money for education. This is a deviation in the government's guiding ideology. In fact, many government officials, as parents, attach great importance to the education of their children. The reason why they prioritize GDP over culture, education and health in actual work lies in the assessment system of superiors to subordinates.
At present, the assessment of superiors to subordinates is often based on economic growth indicators...