Equal educational opportunity means the creation of an environment that enables the provision of a thorough and efficient education for every child, no matter who their parents or grandparents are. Equity means that all students master the goals of the curriculum to approximately the same degree.

Narrowing the gap between rural and urban incomes may take decades. The millions of farmers who move to the cities with their families seek a better quality of life or better future for their children.

But crowded classrooms in cities do not have enough seats for this influx of children. Often, the issue is not whether a suburban school will accept rural kids, but rather, where to put them. In Beijing, a classroom with 70 kids is now often considered normal. Teachers now have less time with each student. This poses major quality issues for the delivery of education. Enhancing education equality requires a cohesive set of policies, programs and practices. Pursuing educational equality cannot be at the cost of education quality.

More needs to be done to improve students' access to knowledge.

The government should enforce policies and practices governing student recruitment, teacher hiring and evaluation, and education quality control. Local governments need to invest more to ensure students in the same district, regardless whether they are from villages or cities, receive an equal and quality education in the classroom. Government should provide effective systems to ensure that schools focus on educational activities and programs, not profit-driven activities.

Preferential policy is needed for rural areas, which suffer from a shortage of teachers, poor infrastructure, inefficient teaching materials and poor parental support. Most children live in the countryside, and that matters for the future of China's next generation. Government should take the lead in shaping successful policies to improve rural educational programs.

Schools should also organize outdoor recreations. Children devote too much time to redundant homework assignments but too little time to outdoor activities. The goal of education is not just learning but also, perhaps more importantly, being able to apply that knowledge and innovate.

Along with its fast-growing economy, China must take steps to ensure that it will educate all of its children well. When we short educational opportunities, we short our future. Lack of educational quality can affect children today, but it will ultimately affect our nation tomorrow.

The author is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit:

http://www.shenbo75.com/opinion/node_7075405.htm