[Photo Supplied by VCG]

Officials of China's Ministry of Education (MOE) held a news conference, on March 23, to discuss the development of education in China during 2022. The officials explained, in 2022, China had 518,500 schools or academic institutions, of various types and at all levels, with a combined 293 million students and 18,803,600 full-time teachers. New entrants into the workforce had completed, on average, 14 years of formal education.

"In 2022, basic education made remarkable progress, which gave a strong boost to social equity and the well-rounded development of all people," Ma Jiabin, Deputy Director-General of MOE's Department of Basic Education, told reporters.

Compared with 2021, there were 245,700 affordable kindergartens in China, an increase of 1,033, and the gross enrollment rate of preschools — which covers the first three years of schooling before elementary school — was 89.7 percent, 1.6 percentage points higher than in the previous year. The children registered in affordable kindergartens accounted for 89.55 percent of registered preschoolers in China, an increase of 1.77 percent over the previous year.

Further, the completion rate of China's nine-year compulsory education reached 95.5 percent. There were 149,100 primary schools nationwide, with a combined 107 million registered students. There were 52,500 junior high schools, with a combined 51.206 million registered students. The gross enrollment rate of (regular and vocational) senior high schools was 91.6 percent.

In 2022, the central government allocated 60.5 billion yuan (US $8.64 billion) for basic education, Ma explained. Of that money, 23 billion yuan (US $3.29 billion) was allocated for the development of preschool education; 30 billion yuan (US $4.29 billion), for shoring up weak links in compulsory education; 7 billion yuan (US $1 billion), for improving the conditions of regular senior high schools; and, 500 million yuan (US $71.43 million), for special education.

Last year, China also made great strides in higher education. The gross enrollment rate of higher education reached 59.6 percent, 1.8 percentage points higher than in the previous year. The number of registered students, in all higher education institutions, totaled 46.55 million, an increase of 2.25 million over the previous year.

Liu Changya, Director-General of MOE's Department of Development Planning, believes China has built the largest higher-education system in the world, and that China should continue to improve the quality of its higher education. Liu says greater efforts should be made to train professionals, especially as such individuals are badly lacking in the fields of science, engineering, agriculture and medicine.

According to this year's Report on the Work of the Government, China will intensify efforts to develop vocational education. Lin Yu, Deputy Director-General of MOE's Department of Vocational and Adult Education, says MOE has coordinated the development of general and vocational education.

Now, there are 9,752 secondary-vocational schools (including technical schools) in China, and they enroll a combined 6,506,900 students (in 2022), accounting for 40.71 percent of the national enrollment rate at the upper-secondary level. There are 1,521 higher-vocational schools (including undergraduate programs for vocational education) in China, and they enroll a combined 5,466,100 students (in 2022), surpassing the enrollment rate of regular colleges and universities for the fourth consecutive year. 

(Women of China English Monthly June 2023 issue)