Local Practices and Civilian Efforts on Revitalization of Small-Scale Schools in Rural Areas

Abstract

The adjustment to the layout for rural compulsory education schools in rural areas focused on the removing and merging of village-level primary schools and rural small-scale schools that were scattered with smaller student population, and merging them into larger-scale central schools. Statistics shows that there were 210,090 primary schools and 66,900 small-scale schools in rural areas in 2010. The adjustment of school layout based on the fluctuation of school population should be normalized. Small-scale schools and smaller classes also pave way for high-quality education, as small-scale schools do not necessarily translate into low-quality or backward education. Now that the State Council has confirmed the importance of revitalizing rural small-scale schools where in need, it is important that the revitalization and construction of small-scale schools become an act of the state to ensure the effectiveness and high-quality of the project. Keywords: high-quality education; larger-scale central schools; rural areas; small-scale schools; village-level primary schools