Guangzhou is planning to build 20 middle schools and 75 primary
schools in three years to meet increasing demand for basic
education.
Most will be built in rural areas in a bid to build a broader
system of quality, basic education throughout the city.
A total of 34 middle schools and 532 primary schools will be
either closed or merged. The city aims to provide 81,466 more
school places in primary schools at municipal level and above by
2007, and 60,771 more school places in middle schools at municipal
level and above.
Guangzhou had spent 4.7 billion yuan (US$121 million) on
reforming its basic education layout since late 2001, Hua Tongxu,
director general of the municipal education bureau, was quoted as
saying by the Information Times. The government had closed 15
middle schools and 153 primary schools, which were either too small
or too poorly equipped to be improved. Hundreds of schools had been
merged or expanded.
The reform had also resulted in 22 more middle schools at
municipal level and above and 41 more primary schools at municipal
level and above.
In some newly developed districts such as Panyu, the poor
education system in some housing estates had forced many parents to
send their children to expensive private schools. Hua said the
government could subsidize the cost above the standard public
school fee. The newspaper did not elaborate.
The expansion of existing schools and construction of new
schools could face obstacles in land acquisition. Authorities had
studied the issue, and called for wide social support.
Guangzhou had seen imbalanced development in basic education,
with some schools improperly located and education quality greatly
varying among schools. The city's campaign was in line with a
decision by the State Council.
(Shenzhen Daily January 6, 2005)