Three characteristics of compulsory education:
1. Mandatory. Also called obligation. It is the obligation of schools, parents and society to let school-age children and adolescents receive compulsory education. Whoever violates this obligation will be regulated by law. The national compulsion of compulsory education is the most essential feature of compulsory education. Refers to the compulsory education guaranteed by the state compulsory force in accordance with the law. Compulsory education is not only the right of the educated, but also the obligation of the state. The state should guarantee the right of school-age children to receive compulsory education according to law, which is the embodiment of the will of the state. In order to ensure the implementation of compulsory education, it must be supplemented by a systematic and perfect system of legislation, law enforcement and supervision, relying on the coercive force of national laws to ensure it. In our country, only compulsory education and literacy education can force an educational object to receive a certain degree of education, which is stipulated and allowed by law, and no other education system has such power. The national compulsory nature of compulsory education also shows that any act that violates the legal provisions of compulsory education and hinders or destroys the implementation of compulsory education should bear legal responsibility according to law and be subject to compulsory punishment or sanctions.
2. basic. According to the law, all school-age children. Teenagers must complete the required years of education and receive education on basic knowledge, skills, methods and attitudes. This is not only the objective requirement for the development of social productive forces, but also the most basic requirement for the quality of every citizen in modern society. Most countries in the world stipulate by law that school-age children and adolescents receive compulsory basic education for a certain number of years. The basic performance of compulsory education is that it is a national education, not a talent education. Universal education means that everyone has books to read, and compulsory education means that everyone must read. Education for minority talents is not compulsory. Only by receiving a certain number of years of basic education can a person become a qualified citizen.
3. Universality. It means that the state exempts all or most of the tuition fees for students who receive compulsory education. This is a common feature of compulsory education in all countries of the world. Of course, starting from the actual situation of various countries and regions, compulsory education has a gradual development process from partial exemption to full exemption. Article 10 of China's Compulsory Education Law stipulates that "the state shall exempt students who receive compulsory education from tuition fees", and may appropriately collect miscellaneous fees in accordance with relevant regulations, but the miscellaneous fees collected can only be a small part of the state and society's investment in compulsory education. Exemption from tuition fees actually exempts most of the students who receive compulsory education, which embodies the characteristics of free compulsory education. The free nature of compulsory education is also manifested in that not only are tuition fees free for those poor students, but the Compulsory Education Law also stipulates: "The state establishes grants to help poor students go to school."