There is no doubt that China is still a developing country, and our financial resources are not strong enough. But can't our current national strength and financial resources really support the "burden" of 12 compulsory education? This is somewhat unconvincing. The difficulty in implementing 12 compulsory education may not lie in "national strength" but in "concept".
The Outline of the National Medium and Long-term Education Reform and Development Plan will not be published until August this year, but the society has begun to pay close attention to whether the nine-year compulsory education will be changed to 12. On March 3 1 day, the Ministry of Education stated that China still adheres to nine-year compulsory education. At present, the focus of compulsory education is to consolidate the nine-year compulsory education and the "two-basic plan". 12 The practice of compulsory education is not in line with China's current national strength. Why is the funding for education less than 4%?
Over the years, the popularization of 12 compulsory education has been repeatedly mentioned by experts and scholars but not implemented, largely because of financial reasons. Zhang Xiaowei, a professor at Nankai University, believes that China should increase investment at present, and it is particularly urgent to implement 12 compulsory education: "Most developed countries have popularized 12 free compulsory education and are moving towards 15 free compulsory education. Even in underdeveloped countries, 12-year free compulsory education is becoming a consciousness, and many poor African countries have already implemented 12-year free compulsory education. However, it is obviously inappropriate for China, which has contributed more than 20% to the world economic growth and reached the third place in the world, to still insist on nine-year compulsory education and still care about education investment. " Although the Outline of Education Reform and Development in China promulgated by 1993 has clearly stated that by the end of the 20th century, the proportion of fiscal education funds in China's GDP will reach 4%. But this goal has never been achieved.
So many countries whose national strength and financial resources are inferior to those of China have implemented 12 years of compulsory education. Why can't we do what others can do? The proportion of education investment in GDP in China has been low for a long time, and it has not reached 4% so far. Why can't the set goals be achieved? "A country's emphasis on education and the number of years of implementing free compulsory education depend on its national strength, financial resources and policy orientation. In recent years, when discussing education investment, people often attribute the lack of education investment to lack of understanding. So, what ideas affect or hinder the country from fulfilling its commitment to invest 4% in education? In addition to what has been discussed in the theoretical circle, attaching importance to the development at the user level, ignoring the development at the cultural level, replacing cultural progress with institutional progress, and replacing educational development with economic development, the deep-rooted concept of' all-round' government and the emotional concept of seeking perfection are also one of the reasons why the 4% goal cannot be achieved. " 2 1 Xiong Bingqi, vice president of Century Education Research Institute and professor of Shanghai Jiaotong University, said. 12 compulsory education "no shortage of money"
The Ministry of Education said that at present, the state has no financial resources to implement the 12 compulsory education plan and can only support local governments to "go their own way" according to their financial resources. Then, how much does it cost to extend the nine-year compulsory education to 12? Does the country have the national strength to solve this cost?
According to the 2007 Education Statistics Bulletin and other relevant data, compulsory education in senior high school will be implemented on the existing basis, and the annual investment in education will be 50 billion yuan. According to the data of the National Bureau of Statistics, in 2007, the proportion of national financial education funds to GDP was 3.32%-a gap of 0.68% from 4%. Based on the GDP of 30 trillion yuan in 2008, the gap of 0.68% is only a quarter of 200 billion to 50 billion yuan. Take it out.
Xiong Bingqi said: "At present, the whole country is implementing 12 compulsory education, and financial affordability is not a fundamental problem, not a problem at all. If it is really' poor', then what is poor is the real concept of' education priority' and the concept of long-term development and scientific development. " There are two main forms of "downward" or "upward" extension of "12-year compulsory education": one is "downward" extension, which means three years of preschool education; The other is "upward" extension, which refers to three years of high school education.
"The two forms of'12 compulsory education' are in line with historical development." Yang Yingxiu, a professor at the School of Education Science of Northeast Normal University, said: "If possible, I certainly hope to extend to both ends, but if I can only choose one, I will choose to extend to the high school stage. High school education is divided into ordinary high school education and vocational education. Rural areas should focus on popularizing and optimizing vocational education, and cities should give consideration to ordinary high school education and vocational education. From the perspective of the whole country, the economic conditions have developed well and we can enter the compulsory education stage ahead of schedule; Economically underdeveloped provinces can enter the popularization stage. "
In the end, no matter whether the direction of compulsory education is "downward" or "upward", it can be regarded as an "adjustment" of attaching importance to education. Of course, "no matter how the grades are adjusted, it is still a matter of concept in the final analysis. 12 years of free compulsory education is related to the quality of the people and the comprehensive strength of the country. How can it be dismissed as "inconsistent with China's current national strength"? From the perspective of the country's future, we must truly implement the concepts of "rejuvenating the country through science and education" and "giving priority to education". In the implementation of 12 compulsory education, what we lack may not be money, but determination and ideas. " Xiong Bingqi's words hit home.