1. Introduction

　　China’s basic education includes nursery, primary and secondary schools.

　　China’s reform and opening up since 1978 has brought the basic education into a new period of development. In 1985, the central authorities adopted the decisions to reform the educational system and in 1986, it went on to promulgate the law on compulsory education. In 1999, the State Council mapped out an outlined program for the reform and development of the educational system, making clear the orientation of development and basic principles for developing basic education. In 1999, the State council approved a program of action for invigorating education in the 21st century. In July of the same year, the State council passed the decisions on bringing educational reform into depth, with the aim of improving the educational quality.

　　By the end of 1998, there were 181,400 nursery schools, with an enrolment of 24,030,300 students; 609,600 primary schools, with an enrolment of 139,538,000 students; 63,940 junior secondary schools, with an enrolment of 53,630,000 students; 13,900 senior secondary schools, with an enrolment of 9.38 million students; and 1,535 special education schools, with an enrolment of 358,400 students (including 225,500 students in special education classes attached to regular schools and in regular schools”.

　　2. Administration

　　Basic education services are principally provided by local governments under the guidance of the state. The State Education Commission is responsible for formulating rules, principles and policies and general development program and basic school systems. The state has set aside grants for poverty-stricken areas, areas inhabited by people of minority nationalities and teachers’ schools.

　　Provincial governments are responsible for the general affairs of basic education, including mapping out development programs and primary school teaching plans and organize the assessment of the result of compulsory education in their own areas. They also set aside grants for poor regions and areas inhabited by people of minority nationalities. They are responsible for provide subsidies to county-level finances that have difficulty in educational spending.

　　County (city, district) governments are responsible for specific matters relating to compulsory education, including managing educational funds, principals and teachers of primary and secondary schools and providing specific guidance to teaching at primary and secondary schools. Township governments are responsible for implementing the compulsory education program in their own areas.

　　The state encourages private sponsors to participate in the running and management of nursery, primary and secondary schools and advocates for establishment of partnership between nursery, primary and secondary schools and enterprises and businesses, communities or village committees in order to get support from people of all walks of life.

　　3. Nursery schools

　　Nursery schools are mainly in cities. Some offer three-year education services; some offer one year or two years of education. The nursery system varies. Some are full-time service; some offers half-day service; some offer food and lodging services; and some offer services on the hourly basis. But in the rural areas, they are mainly called pre-school infant classes. Besides, there are seasonal nursery schools. In the remote and poor areas, there are also activity centers for infants, play groups, mobile services and other irregular educational services. Nursery schools in China are run by the state, collectives and private persons. By the end of 1998, there were more than 180,000 nursery schools in the country, with an enrolment of more than 24 million children. More than 70% of the children enter nursery schools one year before primary school. Large and medium-sized cities have basically popularized pre-school education. In the remote poor areas, progress has also been made in pre-school education. In 1998, 39.95 of preschool students received education for three years before going on to regular primary schools in the 22 poor counties in 11 provinces in southwest and northwest China and 66.7% received one year preschool education.

　　The nursery schools are managed according to the state regulations on the management of nursery schools and work procedure for nurseries and other legal documents issued by the state.

　　Teachers have to acquire the prescribed qualifications and there is an assessment system for the performances of nursery teachers. There are children’s teachers schools, specialist secondary education for nursery teachers.

4. Primary and secondary schools

　　In China, there are primary schools, junior secondary schools and senior secondary schools, offering a total of 12 years of education. Primary schools usually last five years or six years. About 35% of the primary schools last five years and 65% last six years. Junior secondary schools usually offer three-year education and only a few extends to four years (about 98% of children attend three-year junior secondary schools). The nine years from primary to junior secondary are the compulsory education period. The regular senior secondary schools usually last three years to prepare the students for further and higher education.

　　(1) Nine-year compulsory education

　　China promulgated the “Law of the People’s Republic of China on Compulsory Education” in 1986. By the end of 1998, 98.9% of school-age children were enrolled in primary schools and 94.3% of the primary school students went on to junior secondary (including regular junior secondary and secondary vocational). The enrolment of junior secondary schools has reached 87.3%. About 90% of the regions in the country have made compulsory education universal and 73% of the regions have made junior secondary compulsory education universal. Large cities and coastal economically developed areas have already begun to make senior secondary education universal.

　　The Chinese government has attached much importance to compulsory education in rural areas, especially poor regions and regions inhabited by people of minorities. At present, primary and second education are primarily offered at the county, township and village levels, with the county as the principle education provider. At present, more than 95.2% of primary schools, 87.6% of junior secondary schools and 71.5% of senior secondary schools are in county towns, towns and other rural areas. In 1995-2000, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Finance launched a project to aid compulsory education in poor regions. The central finance earmarked 3.9 billion yuan and local governments provided 10 billion as matching funds for improving the school conditions in poor areas.

　　(2) Teaching

　　Each school year of primary and secondary schools is divided into two semesters. The teaching hours of primary school are 38 weeks, leaving one week flexible and 13 weeks as festival holidays and vacations. Junior secondary schools offer 39 teaching hours, leaving one week flexible and 12 weeks as festival holidays and vacations. The teaching hours at senior secondary school are 40 weeks, leaving 1-2 weeks flexible and 10-11 weeks as festival holidays and vacations. Primary and secondary schools all follow the five-day week system.

　　Beginning from the autumn semester of the 1993 school year, primary and secondary schools began to teach both the national curriculum and local curriculum. Local curriculum is fixed by provincial, autonomous regional and directly-administered municipalities (under the direct administration of the central government) according to actual circumstances and needs.

　　Curriculum for regular senior secondary schools is divided into statutory subjects and activities. Statutory subjects include both compulsory and optional courses. Activities include extra-curriculum activities and field study. In 1999, the Ministry of Education started to organize the designing of a new curriculum system for basic education to cater to the needs of the 21st century.

　　Children aged six may enter primary schools nearest their homes. In areas where conditions are limited, the school age may be extended to seven. In areas where junior secondary has been made compulsory, primary school students may go on to junior secondary without examination. But students after finishing junior secondary education have to pass a unified examination organized by local educational authorities to go on to senior secondary schools.

　　During the compulsory education stage, students have to go through examinations at the end of each semester, school year and at graduation to get their performances assessed. The performance assessment at the end of primary school covers language and maths and the rest are attainment check subjects. Subjects for examination after finishing junior secondary schools are to be fixed by various provinces and autonomous regions and centrally administered municipalities according to the unified requirements by the state.