1. National compulsory education
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. The publicity of compulsory education
Compulsory education is a social public undertaking and belongs to the category of national education. It is an education for all the people in the region and the nation, and should not be monopolized as a tool of a certain class, political party or religious faction. This is the publicity of compulsory education. This publicity is manifested in four aspects: first, the separation of education and religion makes school education a secular public utility; Second, compulsory education is implemented by schools established or approved by the state, which embodies the will of the people; Third, the schools and teachers that implement compulsory education are public and official, and their work is responsible to the country and the people; Fourth, the state effectively supervises and manages the implementation of compulsory education, rather than letting itself drift. We emphasize that the whole society respects teachers and values education, and safeguards the legitimate rights and interests of primary and secondary school teachers. The fundamental reason lies in the publicity of compulsory education.
3. Free and compulsory education
The free nature of compulsory education 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."
4. The basis of compulsory education
The basic nature of compulsory education refers to all school-age children according to the law. 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.
The essence of compulsory education is that this kind of education is quality education, not exam-oriented education. Article 2 of the Compulsory Education Law stipulates: "Compulsory education must implement the national education policy and strive to improve the quality of education, so that children and adolescents can develop in an all-round way in morality, intelligence and physique, and lay the foundation for improving the quality of the whole nation and cultivating talents with ideals, morality, culture and discipline for socialist construction." This provision embodies the fundamental purpose of compulsory education. Examination-oriented education aimed at entrance examination obviously runs counter to it.