Public schools in China are administered by the National Ministry of Education. Whilst the Ministry supervises general guidelines such as staff recruitment, national budgets and formal examinations, specific regulations directly correlated to each public school are managed by their District and Provincial Commissions of Education. The government is responsible for all aspects of the public education system, including but not limited to staff salaries, yearly curriculum, internal assessments and external rankings (Wang, 2005).
Private schools in China are administered by private individuals or corporations. Unlike public schools that are managed by the government, each private school’s independent board of directors is responsible for tasks such as staff and student recruitment, salaries, principal assignment and student fees (Wang, 2005).
History
History of Public Schools in China
Following the formation of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, the government announced that workers were the most important class in society. As such, the Ministry of Education established that henceforth, education must be made accessible to all workers, in order to favour the development of the country. By 1950, when the nation’s first middle schools and universities commenced, all staff involved were given welfare entitlements like other proletariat members in the public division. This establishment of the new Chinese education system was constructed upon a combination of the Soviet model and elements of traditional China (Wang, 2005).
History of Private Schools in China
Unlike public institutions, schools administered by private bodies were established very early on in China (Wang, 2005). However, despite them being a fundamental component of the early educational system, they were forced to either shut down or transfer ownership to the administration of the central government in 1952 following the 1949 revolution that formed the People’s Republic of China (Zhang, 2001). This command was carried out in order for the economy to conform with the Soviet model the government wished to achieve – one that promoted a unified state management of education (Wang, 2005). It was not until 1992 that the re-emergence of private schools occurred, brought about by a statesman named Deng Xiaoping (Cheng, 1997). He proclaimed that education could not rely on educational departments alone and stated the importance of support from industries and professions (Cheng, 1994). Ultimately, the increasing need for education combined with gradual reform of China’s economic system expanded the development of private schools (Wang, 2005).
Governance
Public schools in China maintain a centralised governance, in that its form of distributed leadership entails the school principal deciding and approving all necessary operations. The deputy principal aids in other facets of the school’s implementation and decisions. Teachers, parents and student bodies also uptake various roles, where representatives may be chosen from each category to participate in decision-making and collective school discussions. As they consist of government policy and centralised leadership, public schools prioritize additional funding for better equipment and the enrolment of higher academically achieving students (Chan, 2019).
Private schools differ from public schools in that they were developed to be market-oriented, and profit driven. Rather than the principal’s responsibility, school decision-making and implementation are instigated predominantly instead by market demand, the parents. As school acceptance is dependent on a student’s family income basis rather than a student’s academic achievements, private schools prioritize differently to government schools – focusing instead on preparation for overseas universities and the use of distinctive curriculum (Chan, 2019).
Quality and Distribution
Various differences in conditions, geographical distribution and the quality of education exist between public and private schools. Particularly in urban areas, Yan (2013) states that private schools have a greater number of “educational and sports facilities, foreign and bilingual teachers to teach English, school buses, etc” (p.275).
Another point of difference occurs in the geographical distribution of private and public schools across the nation. Whilst government schools are generally evenly spread, private institutions at secondary levels are more centralised in urban regions such as cities and towns (Yan, 2013).
Finances
Although public schools are subsidised by the central government, there are still various additional funding mechanisms that are implemented in order to sustain a high-quality education. To reduce the Ministry’s financial burden, all public schools must have a ‘creation of income’ channel that provides supplementary financial support. This is required as the government is only able to supply approximately 80 percent of all public educational expenditures. The remaining 20 percent is dependent on the funds generated from the school’s ‘creation of income’ channel (Wong, 2004).
One such method is to accept extra pupils, otherwise known as ‘Jiwaisheng’ students. These are students whose formal examination results are marginally lower than the schools’ entrance boundary. To apply as a ‘Jiwaisheng’ student, parents must pay sponsorship fees to the school, where they will then be processed through an ‘out of plan’ channel for acceptance. The finance gained from this is used exclusively for acquiring higher-quality teaching equipment in order to improve the standard of school facilities (Wong, 2004).
Another method used to gain funding is business acquiring. Public schools are able to establish external companies, whereby a proportion of the profit generated by these companies is then offered to the school as a form of sponsorship (Wong, 2004).
Private schools receive no financial support from the government, thus allowing all educational funds to come from private sources. Whilst educational debentures were the primary form of support during the 1990s, this was later revised to a fee-paying system as it was recognised that an annual interest from banks was not able to generate sufficient educational funds (Wong, 2004).
In order for private schools to secure their financial condition, there are various additional funding methods other than their annual fee-payment. As private schools are owned by individuals or independent corporations, many are able to structure them as companies in the stock market as a means to strengthen their fiscal status. One common method involves linking the school to a real estate development project. As the enterprise achieves gradual success, the school will also receive continuous financial support provided by the firm (Wong, 2004).
References
Chan, P. W. K. (2019). Public Education Reform and Network Governance. [Kortext version]. doi: 10.4324/9780429460203
Cheng, B. (1997). Exploring the Practice and Theory of Chinese Private Schools. Chinese Education & Society, 30(1), 23-37. doi: 10.2753/CED1061-1932300123
Cheng, K. M. (1994). Young Adults in a Changing Socialist Society: Post-Compulsory Education in China. Comparative Education, 30(1), 63-73.
Ding, X. (2001). Policy Metamorphosis in China: A Case Study of Minban Education in Shanghai. Retrieved from https://books.google.com.au/books?id=CEjECwAAQBAJ&pg=PA147&lpg=PA147&dq=Zhang,+Minxuan.+2001.+%22Converted+Schools+in+Shanghai:+Fact,+Factors+and+Future.%22&source=bl&ots=qkZjDYp5_W&sig=ACfU3U1jwHgKuftIMTjJSfBEcsNwnzxUrg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjoy8ufsZ7wAhWg6XMBHYygBxYQ6AEwAXoECAEQAw#v=onepage&q&f=false
Wang, H. (2005). The motivation of public and private school teachers in China (Master’s thesis). Available from FGS - Electronic Theses & Dissertations database. (Record No. 20641)
Wong, J. L. (2004). School Autonomy in China: A Comparison Between Government and Private Schools Within the Context of Decentralization. International Studies in Educational Administration, 32(3), 58-73.
Yan, F. (2013). Private Education. In Q. Zha (Ed.), Education in China: Educational History, Models, and Initiatives. Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/j.ctt1j0pszw.71.pdf?ab_segments=0%252Fbasic_search_gsv2%252Fcontrol&refreqid=excelsior%3Aacc83313094b9cec2cd52e8bcd0e6500
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