Information provided by the Chinese Ministry of Education
Before the foundation of the People's Republic of China in 1949, basic education in China was extremely backward. In 1946, the peak year of educational development, the country had only 1,300 kindergartens, 289,000 primary schools and 4,266 secondary schools.
With the adoption of the policy of reform and opening to the outside world in 1978, basic education entered a new era of progress. In 1985, the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party issued the "Decision on the Reform of the educational Structure", laying down the principle that local governments should be responsible for basic education. The new policy was an incentive for local governments, especially those of the counties and townships. In 1986, the National People's Congress promulgated the "Commpulsory Education Law of the People's Republic of China", thus placing basic education in the country on a firm legal basis. In 1993 the CPC Central Committee and the State Council jointly issued the "Guidelines for the Reform and Development of Education in China", clarifying the directions and basic policies for the development of basic education till the early years of the 21st century. In early 1999, the State Council ratified the "Action Plan for Educational Vitalization Facing the 21st Century" formulated by the Ministry of Education (MoE) , laying down the implementation of the strategy of "Invigorate China through Science, Technology and Education" and drawing the blueprint of reform and development for the crosscentury education based on the "Education Law of the People's republic of China" and the "Guidelines for the Reform and Development of Education in China". In June 1999, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council jointly promulgated the "Decision on the Deepening of Educational Reform and the Full Promotion of Quality Education", clarifying the direction for the establishment of a vital socialistic education with Chinese characteristics in the 21st century.
During the past 50 years since the founding of the People's Republic of China, basic education in China has gained tremendous achievements. In 2002, there were 111,800 kindergartens with an enrollment of 20,360,200 young children. By 2002, there were altogether 456,900 primary schools with an enrollment of 121,567,100 students and the net enrollment rate of primary schools had reached 98.58%. 97.02% of the graduates enjoyed the access to junior secondary schools and the full-time teachers in primary schools had reached 5,778,900. In addition, there were 65,600 junior secondary schools with an enrollment of 66,874,300 students and the net enrollment rate of junior secondary schools had been raised to 90%. Those schools employed totally 3,467,700 full-time teachers and 58.3% of the junior secondary school graduates continue their study in senior secondary schools. By the end of 2002, the Nine-Year Compulsory Education (NYCE) had been universalized in the area where 90% of the population inhabits, the highest rate among the E-9 countries.
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