Twelve-year compulsory education refers to bringing schools with high school education such as ordinary high schools, technical secondary schools, vocational high schools and technical schools into the scope of compulsory education, and implementing twelve-year compulsory education, excluding private schools.

Twelve-year compulsory education does not mean unconditional entry into ordinary high schools, and there is no limit on scores. All schools still need to take the senior high school entrance examination or enroll in some secondary vocational education institutions. China Special Economic Zone, ethnic minority areas, Zhejiang, Guangdong, Hebei and other places have tried out free education in secondary education and achieved good response. However, it is mainly concentrated in ethnic areas, coastal areas and other developed areas, and has not been widely popularized.

Compulsory education is compulsory for all school-age children and adolescents, which must be guaranteed by the state and mandatory for the government, parents and students. Wei Zhaung, member of Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and vice chairman of Xiamen CPPCC, questioned the rationality of extending the compulsory education period of students from nine years to twelve years, and put forward three reasons against the implementation of twelve-year compulsory education.