China only spends 2.4 percent of its GDP on public education, according to the main think tank of the Chinese Communist Party's State Council.
Cai Fang, head of the Research Institute of Population and Labor Economics (IPLE) of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), noted that China’s annual education expenditure is lower than several developing nations and is only half that of the U.S. when presenting his “Chinese Green Book of Population and Labor 2009” at a Sept. 8 conference in Beijing. It’s a number that Cai calls “severely insufficient.”
The numbers quoted in the Green Book showed that in 2005 the global average for governmental expenditure on public education amounts to 80 percent of a nation’s total expenses on education; for developed countries its 86 percent, and 75 percent for developing countries. China, however, was found to spend only 46 percent of its total education expenses on public education—much lower than the average of developing countries.
According to Mr. Lili Yang of the China Information Center, an NGO in the U.S., China’s reluctance to pay for public education has been a problem for years.
“In fact, a report from a few years ago talked about how the U.N. has repeatedly criticized China for spending so little on education—even less than some African countries like Uganda,” explained Yang. “In 1993, China’s State Council released ‘Guidelines for the Reform and Development of Education,’ where they stated that before the year 2000, China would increase its education spending to 4 percent of the GDP, but in reality they had never made it. Professor Cai's research indicates that they may only reach 4 percent in ten years.”
The Green Book also mentioned that, in comparison with other countries, individual spending on education in China is not only higher than the world average, but also higher than that found in many developed countries. In China, big education spending from individuals has weakened private consumption, resulting in weakened social consumption in other aspects, which in turn has hurt the motivation of China’s economic growth.
Another unfortunate result of China’s lack of governmental spending in education is unfairness. The Green Book said that education expenses have become big burdens for many Chinese families.
Well known U.S.-based Chinese economist Cheng Xiaonong thinks that governmental spending in public education will only get worse.
“Education spending, especially for elementary and middle school, is the most powerful way to improve the quality and cultural standards of citizens,” remarked Cheng. “However, since funding education does not provide any profits for local officials, they have no interest in investing in it.
“According to the design of the Chinese financial system, the central government only pays for affiliated universities or colleges. All the rest of the nation’s education funding—including schools at high school level and below, as well as ordinary colleges—depends on local governments for money. There are often many officials in each county, and they all demand a cut. They need money for travel expenses, a good vehicle, gourmet food and drinks…there never seems to be enough money to satisfy their appetites. The only way they can handle this situation is by cutting spending on education. So at the county level, the regime will never have enough money for education no matter how much they get from the central government,'' Cheng said.
In the Green Book CASS researchers predicted that China’s working population will reach its peak before 2015, and then descend. This means that that the economic growth brought by this population will soon fade. Therefore, they strongly encourage investing and developing the nation’s education system as a necessary preparation for this aging society.
CASS suggests that China promote equal opportunities in education and make better use of the nation’s social resources.
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