刘延东副总理：让农村孩子接受更好的义务教育（中英对照）

让农村孩子接受更好的义务教育

Providing Better Compulsory Education for Rural Children

中华人民共和国副总理 刘延东

Liu Yandong, Vice-Premier of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China

党的十八大明确提出“两个百年”、“两个全面”的奋斗目标，为教育事业改革发展指明了方向。习近平总书记在新一届中央领导集体中外记者见面会上把教育列为人民期盼“七个更”之首，李克强总理在国务院第一次全体会议上强调要编织一张包括义务教育在内的覆盖全民、保障基本民生的安全网，这对教育工作提出了新的更高要求。

The report to the Eighteenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) set forth the goals that we must work towards in the years ahead. These goals include completing the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects by the time the Communist Party of China celebrates its centenary (2021); and turning China into a modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, and harmonious by the time the People’s Republic of China marks its centennial (2049). In addition to completing the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects, the report also proposed the goal of deepening China’s reform and opening up in an all-round way. These targets have provided us with a clear direction for the reform and development of education. In the first meeting of the newly elected Party leadership with the Chinese and foreign press, General Secretary Xi Jinping listed better education as the first of seven major public expectations. Moreover, Premier Li Keqiang also highlighted the establishment of a safety net that covers all the people and ensures their basic wellbeing, including education, during the first full session of the State Council. Therefore, in order to meet these new expectations, more will be required of our initiatives in education.

实现十八大提出的奋斗目标，全面建成小康社会、顺利实现现代化，基础在教育、重点在农村。从一定意义上说，农村教育是兴国之基、惠民之要，关乎经济社会发展全局，关乎社会公平正义。九年义务教育是人生连续受教育时间最长的阶段，是打牢人生基础的关键阶段，对人的发展和未来幸福具有决定性影响。在义务教育阶段，农村学校占全国85%以上，农村学生占全国70%以上，覆盖了同龄学生的大多数。因此，办好农村教育，直接关系2020年教育现代化目标的实现。农村义务教育还是城乡统筹发展的连接点，只有为数以亿计的农村孩子提供公平而有质量的义务教育，才能缩小城乡差距，实现社会公平；才能为工业化、信息化、城镇化、农业现代化同步发展提供人才支撑，全面建成小康社会。习近平总书记在十八大之后到河北阜平考察时讲，“下一代要过上好生活，首先要有文化。义务教育一定要搞好，让孩子们受到好的教育”。可以说，农村义务教育重中之重的地位怎么强调都不为过。

Education and rural areas hold the key to achieving the goals established by the report to the Eighteenth National Congress of the CPC, which include accomplishing the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects and realizing the modernization of the country. In a certain sense, rural education can be viewed as the foundation for the rejuvenation of the nation, and the key to ensuring the wellbeing of the people. As such, rural education has an important bearing on China’s overall social and economic development, and also on social fairness and justice. As the longest continuous stage of education that we attend, nine-year compulsory education lays down key foundations in our lives, having a decisive influence on our future and happiness. In China, rural schools account for over 85% of all schools providing compulsory education, while rural students account for more than 70% of students in compulsory education. Therefore, the provision of sound education in rural areas will ensure our success in the modernization of education by the year 2020. Rural compulsory education also represents a key link in the coordination of rural and urban development. Only by providing fair and quality education for China’s hundreds of millions of rural children will we be able to narrow the development gap between urban and rural areas and safeguard social fairness. And only by doing that will we be able to train the talent we need to achieve the simultaneous progression of industrialization, IT application, urbanization, and agricultural modernization, and thereby complete the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects. During a visit to Fuping County, Hebei Province, following the Eighteenth National Congress of the Party, General Secretary Xi Jinping said, “If we want the next generation to live a better life, we must educate them well. We need to deliver a good performance in compulsory education, so that our children can receive a quality education.” Therefore, the importance of compulsory education in rural areas is something that cannot be overemphasized.

近年来，国家为发展农村义务教育办了一系列大事实事好事，既加大投入、加强建设，又深化改革、完善机制，在推进公平和提高质量上都迈出了重要步伐。城乡免费义务教育全面实现。农村中小学生均公用经费标准大幅提高。中央和地方投入3000多亿元实施的校舍安全工程，让学校成为最安全、家长最放心的地方。营养改善计划从最贫困地区起步，已经惠及3000多万学生。特岗计划、国培计划、免费师范生培养计划等提高了农村教师队伍整体素质，绩效工资、周转房建设、职称评定改革等措施改善了农村教师待遇。农村义务教育面貌发生了历史性变化，呈现出健康发展的新局面。

In recent years, the Chinese government has carried out a series of large-scale, practical, and beneficial programs to promote the development of compulsory education in rural areas. By increasing expenditure, enhancing development, deepening reform, and improving mechanisms, we have been able to make significant advances with regard to the fairness and quality of rural compulsory education. For example, free compulsory education has been achieved in all urban and rural areas; public expenditure per student in rural primary and middle schools has been increased by a significant margin; the central government and local governments have allocated more than 300 billion yuan in funding to improve the safety of school buildings, making school the safest place for children and setting parents’ minds at ease; since being launched in China’s most impoverished areas, schemes to provide better nutrition for rural students have already benefited more than 30 million students; the overall quality of the rural teaching workforce has been improved through several initiatives, namely, a plan to place university graduates in special teaching positions in rural schools in western regions, a national plan to train primary and middle school teachers, and a policy of free tuition for teacher-training students; and benefits for rural teachers have been improved through measures such as introducing performance-based pay, providing temporary housing at subsidized rates or for free, and reforming the accreditation system for teaching professionals. Owing to these efforts, we have managed to change the face of compulsory education in rural areas. Now, compulsory education in rural areas is showing new signs of sound development.

2011年，我国全面普及九年义务教育（以下简称“普九”），解决了适龄儿童少年“有学上”的问题。“普九”完成后，义务教育发展向何处去？十八大报告、政府工作报告和国务院第一次全体会议都提出了明确要求，即推进义务教育均衡发展，让所有孩子不仅“有学上”，而且“上好学”。各级党委政府、各有关部门要按照中央的要求，把均衡发展作为义务教育的战略任务，明确路线图和时间表，确保到2020年基本实现区域内义务教育均衡发展的目标。

The universal coverage of nine-year compulsory education, which was achieved in 2011, has ensured that all children are able to attend school. But now that universal coverage has been achieved, what will our next goal be in the development of compulsory education? In fact, clear requirements for the development of compulsory education have already been set out in the report to the Eighteenth National Congress of the CPC, the report on the work of the government, and at the first full session of the State Council. In other words, our next requirement is to promote the balanced development of compulsory education. By balancing the development of compulsory education, not only will we guarantee that all children are able to attend school, we will also ensure that they are able to receive a quality education. Therefore, in accordance with the requirements of the CPC Central Committee, Party committees, governments, and related departments at all levels are required to view the balanced development of compulsory education as a strategic task, formulate clear roadmaps and timeframes for these initiatives, and ensure that the balanced development of compulsory education on a regional basis can be attained by the year 2020.

义务教育均衡发展承载着群众对公平教育和优质教育的双重期盼，比实现“普九”更为复杂、难度更大。推进均衡发展首先要从最广大的农村开始，这是因为历史形成的城乡二元结构带来的城乡差距，使农村成为我国社会事业和教育发展最薄弱的地方。因此，一个地方教育办得好不好，首先要看义务教育抓得怎么样；义务教育好不好，首先要看农村义务教育办得怎么样。在党中央、国务院的关怀重视下，2012年财政性教育经费占国内生产总值的比重实现4%，总量达到2万多亿元，占财政支出的20%，各级党委政府、各级财政部门为此作出了很大努力，成果来之不易。当前，在经济下行、财政增收大幅度减少的情况下，中央仍把教育投入作为刚性支出，提出继续增加但要用好的要求，体现了中央对教育的特殊重视，社会对此也高度关注。各级党委政府要以高度的责任感使命感，对农村义务教育倾注更多的精力，投入更大的财力，把钱用在刀刃上，向边远贫困地区和民族地区倾斜，做到雪中送炭，织好网、补短板、兜住底、促公正。本届政府任期内，要进一步加大支持力度，努力实现义务教育办学条件改善、教育质量提升、城乡差距缩小，让老百姓感受到实实在在的变化，为亿万农村孩子成长成才奠定坚实基础。

The balanced development of compulsory education embodies the expectations of the public for fair and quality education. For this reason, balancing the development of education is a more arduous and complex task than attaining the universal coverage of nine-year compulsory education. Efforts to promote the balanced development of compulsory education must begin in our vast rural areas. This is because China’s urban-rural gap, a result of the dualistic urban-rural structure that has emerged in China over the long term, has caused the development of education and other social programs to be the weakest in rural areas. In ascertaining how well education has been implemented in any given local area, what we need to look at first is how well compulsory education has been handled. And in ascertaining how well compulsory education has been implemented, what we need to look at first is how well rural compulsory education has been handled. With the close attention and care of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, government expenditure on education was able to reach 4% of the GDP in 2012, standing in excess of 2 trillion yuan in total, or 20% of overall government expenditure for that year. This hard-earned result can be attributed to the efforts of Party committees, government authorities, and financial departments at all levels. At present, the central government still views spending on education as fixed expenditure, even though our economic growth is coming under increasing downward pressure and the growth of fiscal revenue has declined significantly. Moreover, the government will continue to increase government expenditure on education, although it has also required that education funding must be used more effectively. These commitments bear testament to the special importance that the central government attaches to education. This has also been the subject of significant public attention. Guided by a strong sense of responsibility and mission, Party committees and local governments at all levels must devote more energy to compulsory education in rural areas, increase the level of spending that goes to rural compulsory education, and ensure that this money is used where it is needed. By tilting government expenditure towards outlying poverty-stricken areas and ethnic minority areas, they must come to the aid of those in need, weave a solid safety net, address weak areas, provide basic guarantees, and promote fairness. During the current term of government, we must step up our efforts to improve conditions in schools offering compulsory education, raise the quality of education, and narrow the gap between urban and rural areas. Through these efforts, we must seek to achieve tangible change that can be felt by the public, and lay down solid foundations for the healthy development of hundreds of millions of rural children.

第一，坚持不懈巩固提高“普九”水平

I. We will make continued efforts to improve nine-year compulsory education

“普九”是新中国的一项世纪工程，取得的成就举世瞩目。目前，我国小学净入学率达到99.85%，初中毛入学率达到102.1%，九年义务教育巩固率达到92%，小学和初中的辍学率一直低于国家控制线（小学1%、初中3%）。但也要看到，我国义务教育城乡差距还比较大，贫困、边远、民族地区差距更大，部分地区“普九”水平低、不稳定，巩固提高的任务相当艰巨，决不能因为全面完成了“普九”任务，就有松口气的思想。

The universalization of nine-year compulsory education was a major undertaking that began with the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. The results that we have gained in this regard have captivated the world. At present, the net enrollment ratio for primary school is 99.58%, the gross enrollment ratio for junior middle school is 102.1%, and the retention rate of nine-year compulsory education is 92%. In addition, the proportion of children dropping out of primary and junior middle school has dropped below 1% and 3% respectively, the red line set by the government. However, the development gap between urban and rural areas in compulsory education is still considerable, with impoverished regions, outlying regions, and ethnic minority regions lagging even further behind. Some areas are only just managing to provide and maintain the provision of compulsory education for all children, and still have a great deal to do in order to bolster and build on what has already been achieved. Therefore, we cannot let up in our efforts just because we have achieved universal access to compulsory education.

义务教育是宪法和义务教育法规定的、所有适龄儿童必须接受的教育，具有强制性、免费性、普及性。提供义务教育是政府法定职责，让子女接受义务教育是家长法定义务。当前，一些地方辍学现象仍然存在。过去学生辍学主要是因为家庭经济困难，现在情况更为复杂。少数家长觉得读书无用，让孩子辍学务工；个别地区学生因上学路远不便而辍学；有的学生因厌学而辍学；有的家庭监护责任不到位，造成一些留守儿童逃学离校。这些现象都须引起高度重视。教育规划纲要提出，到2015年义务教育巩固率提高到93%，2020年提高到95%。这是硬指标、硬约束，必须确保。一是政府责任不能减。控辍保学实行属地化管理，要纳入地方政府和教育部门的政绩考核指标。学生在什么地方辍学，所在地政府及相关部门就有责任促其返学。二是学校工作要做实做细。加强管理，改进教学，以父母之心育人，帮助孩子成长成才。对学习困难、厌学逃学的学生，要注重培养学习兴趣，增强学习信心。三是全社会要形成合力。对没有尽到责任的家长，要督促改正。对非法使用童工，出现一起查处一起。对流浪儿童，要动员社会力量，多措并举，坚决减少以至消除儿童流浪现象。

In accordance with the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China and the Law on Compulsory Education, all children of the prescribed age must attend compulsory education, which should be obligatory, free of charge, and universal. The government is legally obliged to provide compulsory education, while parents are legally obliged to ensure that their children attend compulsory education. Despite these provisions, however, the problem of children dropping out of school is still present in certain regions. In the past, most school dropouts were the result of families experiencing financial difficulties. However, the situation now is more complicated. A small number of parents, believing that school is pointless, force their children to leave school and find a job. In certain areas, some children drop out of school because the distance between school and home is too great. Some children drop out due to a lack of interest, while in some families, a lack of adequate supervision results in unattended children playing truant. These problems demand a high level of concern. China’s outline for the reform and development of education states that the retention rate of nine-year compulsory education should reach 93% by 2015 and 95% by 2020. This is a binding and non-negotiable target that must be met. First, the responsibility of the government should not be reduced. The responsibly for controlling the drop-out rate should be assumed by the government in the place of schooling, and ensuring attendance in school should be integrated into the performance appraisals of local governments and education authorities. Where a child drops out of school, the local government and related departments are obliged to arrange for that child’s return to school in the same area. Second, schools must be run practically and meticulously. Management in schools needs to be strengthened, teaching standards need to be improved, and schools should nurture students’ talents with a strong sense of responsibility. With regard to students who experience learning difficulties, or who play truant due to a lack of interest, schools should place an emphasis on stimulating their interest and building up their confidence in learning. Third, concerted efforts need to be made throughout society. Negligent parents should be urged to fulfill their responsibilities. Any and all cases involving the illegal employment of minors will be investigated and followed up resolutely. In addition, all sectors of society should be called upon to take various measures to reduce the number of vagrant children living on the streets, with a view to eradicating this phenomenon entirely.

巩固提高义务教育普及水平特别需要关注两个群体，就是留守儿童和流动儿童。留守儿童因与父母长期分离，关爱不足，容易导致心理、情感、行为、学习等方面的问题。流动儿童也面临入学和融入城市问题。要通过大力改善受教育条件，给予他们更多的关心和体贴。寄宿制学校要优先接纳留守儿童，城市公办学校要为流动儿童提供更多入学机会，同时构建社会关爱服务机制，加强心理辅导和健康教育。要让学校成为留守儿童温暖的家，城市成为流动儿童成长的乐土，老师成为最亲近的人，让孩子们学习有劲头、生活更快乐。

In our efforts to bolster and improve the coverage of compulsory education in China, there are two groups that deserve special attention: children who move around with their parents, and children who stay behind in the countryside while their parents leave in search of work. Owing to their long-term separation from their parents, children whose parents leave the countryside in search of work often lack the care and affection that they need. In some cases, this may cause them to experience psychological, emotional, behavioral, and learning problems. Children who move around with their parents encounter difficulties getting into school and integrating into cities. Therefore, we need to show greater care for these children by engaging in a major effort to provide better access to education. Boarding schools should give priority to children whose parents do not live at home. Government-run schools in cities should offer more places to children that have moved into the city along with their parents. At the same time, we should put a social care and services mechanism in place to provide stronger mental and health guidance for these children. Through these efforts, we need to make our schools warm homes for children whose parents have left in search of work; we need to make our cities happy places to grow up for children who migrate with their parents; and we need to make our teachers the closest people that these children have, thereby ensuring that they are able to find interest in learning and live happily.

结合贯彻中央改进工作作风、密切联系群众的八项规定，教育部要研究制定开展“普九”成果“回头看”活动。这项活动要与深入推进义务教育均衡发展结合起来，与教育督导结合起来，与发挥社会各界的监督作用结合起来。通过“回头看”活动，摸清底数，发现问题，采取有效措施，切实巩固“普九”成果，推进义务教育水平有新的提高。

In line with the eight requirements of the CPC Central Committee with regard to improving styles of work and maintaining close ties with the people, the Ministry of Education should make plans to look back on the achievements that have been made in our effort to provide nine-year compulsory education for all. These activities should be carried out alongside efforts to promote the balanced development of compulsory education, alongside efforts to inspect and oversee education, and alongside efforts to encourage the involvement of various social sectors in the supervision of education. By looking back on what we have achieved, we will be in a better position to ascertain the current situation, identify problems, and take effective measures to solve those problems. In turn, this will allow us to effectively consolidate our achievements in the universalization of nine-year compulsory education and bring about new rises in the standard of compulsory education.