中国推进教育公平

阿邱

Facing vast regional differences in quality and access to universities, the government is planning a sweeping rework of the education system.

It aims to ease college entrance exam pressures and enable more enrollment from under-developed areas.

Vice Education Minister Du Yubo says three measures will be launched to reduce the gap between developed and less developed regions.

"The first is to improve the national enrollment plan. The plan will consider a number of factors like the number of students, their education conditions and graduates' employment in different regions. Universities should also strictly abide by the plan. Secondly, we will continue our plan to support students in the western region. The next step is to urge universities in eastern provinces to reserve a number of seats for students from the west. The third is to require universities to publish their quota plans. The quota of local students enrolled should be restrained."

College enrollment opportunities vary in different parts of China due largely to gaps in development and population.

The average enrollment rate following last year college entrance exam was 76 percent, with the lowest region enrolling 70 percent.

The six percent gap was down from a 17 percent gap in 2007.

Du says their target will be "less than four" by 2017.

Also, the current system provides preferable policies to students leading in some areas like arts and sports.

This is said to have led some to forge awards and has also encouraged bribery.

The revised system will cancel part of those preferable policies.

"Adding scores for students who are good at some subjects will be cancelled next year. But it can be a reference item when enrolling in universities. Local preferable policies will also be reduced. Supervision on these policies will be strengthened and publicized. When fraud is found, we will disqualify the student from the Gaokao and enrollment in universities regardless."

But Du adds central and western students will continue to enjoy preferable policies in college enrollment, saying that roughly 200-thousand students have benefited from the support plan this year.

The pilot program for Gaokao will begin this year for the first year students at senior high schools in Shanghai and eastern province Zhejiang.

Those students will be the first patch in China that experience the new university enrollment system.

For CRI, this is Luo Wen.