China’s continuous progression in economics and business development requires an educational system that provides opportunities for children to thrive in the future. But there is a wide range of school quality among urban and rural areas. Often major metropolises offer great quality education, while schools in rural areas are far less developed. Rural schools typically struggle with being understaffed, and the student’s educational opportunities and environment are much different than in the city.
The Chinese education system requires kids to complete five years of primary school and the first three years of middle school. There are three optional years of kindergarten before primary school. The required first three years of middle school is considered junior middle school and the final three years are called senior middle school. Following middle school students often take several years of higher education. Primary school and junior middle school are mostly funded by the government since they are mandatory, but schools may still charge for each semester or add charges for food or extra curricular activities.
Children in China attend school five days a week. The school day typically begins at 7:30 or 8:00 in the morning and ends at 17:00 or is 5:00pm in the evening, but hours may differ depending on the grade and location of the school. The beginning of the school year is in September and ends in late June or July. Chinese school systems not only have longer school days but also go for more months than most schools in the United States. One key difference between public and private schools in China is that private schools tend to use bilingual teachings.
Kindergarten or daycare is considered pre-primary education in China, so they provide various educational classes that are designed for young children to get a head start in preparing for their academic careers. Childcare is considered an essential part of a child’s overall education even though it is not mandatory. All nurseries, kindergartens, and pre-schools require tuition. This cost can vary greatly depending on the school, but many parents in China plan to invest lots of money in their child’s education. Even in kindergarten, the Chinese approach to education is strict and values discipline highly.
Education in primary school allocates 60% of it’s time on “The Big Two”, math and Chinese. The other 40% of the time is filled with classes on music, art, morals and society, and nature. Some schools begin teaching foreign languages towards the end of primary school. Students also have extracurriculars on top of school. The competitiveness of China’s educational system starts early causing parents to often sign kids up for a large variety of extracurricular activities with hopes they will have better prospects in the future. After primary school the students must take exams that test their knowledge of Chinese and math.
Following primary school students go to middle school. Junior middle school is required, so after completing these three years students can choose to attend a regular senior middle school, a vocational school, or a professional school. Many students struggle to afford higher education. Although the cost of junior middle school is typically minimal the cost for later education increases significantly. Financing their next level of education is not all the students have to worry about. Students must take Zhongkao, the senior high school entrance examination. The score they receive determines their options for what institutions to apply to.
Senior middle schools or high schools aim to prepare their students for higher education. These students are under lots of pressure to not only excel in their regular workload but to prepare for the Gaokao, the National Higher Education Entrance Examination. The Gaokao exam is the basis for recruiting students for college and the quality of the high school is often measured by the number of students they send to college, putting even more pressure on the students. The Gaokao exam is 9 hours long and taken over 3 days. The exam tests the students’ knowledge in Chinese, math, a foreign language, and a few other optional subjects. Only 40% of students pass the challenging exam on the first try.
Resource: https://www.internations.org/go/moving-to-china/education
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