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China THE EDUCATION SYSTEM
To provide for its population, China has a vast and varied
school system. There are preschools, kindergartens, schools for the
deaf and blind, key schools (similar to college preparatory
schools), primary schools, secondary schools (comprising junior and
senior middle schools, secondary agricultural and vocational
schools, regular secondary schools, secondary teachers' schools,
secondary technical schools, and secondary professional schools),
and various institutions of higher learning (consisting of regular
colleges and universities, professional colleges, and short-term
vocational universities). In terms of access to education, China's
system represented a pyramid; because of the scarcity of resources
allotted to higher education, student numbers decreased sharply at
the higher levels. Although there were dramatic advances in primary
education after 1949, achievements in secondary and higher
education were not as great.
Although the government has authority over the education
system, the Chinese Communist Party has played a role in managing
education since 1949. The party established broad education
policies and under Deng Xiaoping, tied improvements in the quality
of education to its modernization plan. The party also monitored
the government's implementation of its policies at the local level
and within educational institutions through its party committees.
Party members within educational institutions, who often have a
leading management role, are responsible for steering their schools
in the direction mandated by party policy.
Data as of July 1987
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