Great changes have taken place in education in various regions of China since the reform and opening up 20 years ago. No matter in the eastern, central and western regions (note), all kinds of education at all levels have made great progress than before the reform and opening up. Take the enrollment rate of school-age children as an example. 1By the end of 1997, the net enrollment rate of school-age children reached 98.92% in China, and reached 99.66%, 99.36% and 94.65% in the eastern, central and western regions respectively, which not only greatly improved before the reform and opening up, but also exceeded the average level of developing countries. Even in Xizang Autonomous Region, where school conditions are very difficult, the enrollment rate of school-age children is close to 80%, which is more than twice as high as before the reform and opening up.

1997 school year, the annual dropout rate of compulsory education in China is 1.0 1% for boys and girls in primary schools and 3. 14% for boys and girls in junior high schools. From the perspective of gender comparison, the dropout rate of girls is lower than that of boys. The dropout rate of primary school girls is 0.92%, and that of junior middle school girls is 2.8 1%. In absolute terms, in the school year of 1997, the number of primary school dropouts and secondary school dropouts were1370,000 and1560,000 respectively. Among them, there are 590,000 girls and 640,000 girls.

From the regional distribution of dropout rate, there are great differences among the eastern region, the central region and the western region. In the primary school stage, the dropout rates in the eastern and central regions were only 0.73% and 0.68% respectively. While the western region is as high as 2.45%. In junior high school, the eastern and central parts are 2.72% and 3.10% respectively; The western region reached 4.48%. The regional difference of female dropout rate is more significant. At the primary school stage, the dropout rate of female students in the eastern and central regions was 0.67% and 0.59% respectively, while that in the western region was 2.38%. In junior high school, the dropout rate of female students in the eastern and central regions is 2.25% and 2.9 1% respectively, while that in the western region is 3.9%. Judging from the situation of various provinces and cities, the three provinces (Shanghai, Fujian and Zhejiang) with negative dropout rate of primary and secondary school students in 1997 all belong to the eastern region, while the provinces with dropout rate higher than 1% are almost all in the western region. The dropout rate of primary and middle school students in Tibet, Yunnan, Guizhou and Qinghai provinces is even higher than 3%.