Hunan Education Booms in 40-year Reform and Opening Up

2018-11-15
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Hunan holds its 11th press conference to mark the 40-year development of reform and opening up. (Photo/Fu Jingyi)

A press conference of Hunan¡¯s educational development over the past 40 years of reform and opening up, was held by the Hunan Provincial People¡¯s Government on November 13.

¡°Hunan has steadily promoted educational development at various levels, and made historical leap from a populous province to an educational powerhouse,¡± said Jiang Changzhong, director of the Hunan Educational Department.

The preschool education in in full swing. The number of Hunan¡¯s kindergartens and their kids are 14,760 and nearly 2.29 million, respectively 1.84 and 8.74 times more than those in 1978.

High school education is popularized. The student number is 1.87 times more than that in 1978.

Higher education is more accessible to the general public. The number of higher educational institutions increased from 22 in 1978, to 109 in 2017. College student number increased from 30,000 to more than 1.27 million.

Vocational education flourishes. There were only 131 secondary vocational schools with over 30,000 students in Hunan in 1978. Today, there are 461 vocational colleges, accommodating 1.23 million students.

The non-government funded education started from scratch. By the end of 2017, Hunan has nearly 13,000 private schools (cultural training organizations excluded), accommodating 2.8 million students.

Over the past 40 years, Hunan forged ahead compulsory education in both urban and rural areas, and narrowed the regional gaps, and gaps between urban and rural areas, and among schools. In 2017, 89 counties and county-level cities have realized compulsory education, 73% of the total of the province. Migrant workers¡¯ children are guaranteed to have educational rights commensurate with those living in cities. A total of 551,900 migrant workers¡¯ children have been enrolled in the schools in the cities where their parents live.

Special education has been promoted. The special schools increased from two in 1978 to 79 today, while the students increasing from 295 to 31,200.
Educational subsidies are provided to the poor students in various levels and schools. In 2017, a total of 5.48 billion yuan of subsidies was provided to 4.7 million students.

Hunan gives priority to developing education. In 2017, the fiscal appropriation on developing compulsory education totaled 72.5 billion yuan. Related appropriation mechanism covers regular senior secondary schools, secondary vocational schools, and higher educational institutions. The educational expenditure was 105.1 billion yuan in 2017, more than 400 times more than that in 1978.

Education facilitates economic and social development. Over the past 40 years, Hunan has 9.4 million graduates from secondary and higher schools. Hunan has 238.84 college students per 10,000 people, 44.9 times more than that in 1978. In 2017, average years of schooling for working population reached 10.58 years, 4.78 years longer than that in 1982. Hunan¡¯s colleges and universities have 297 undergraduate subjects, with 2,461 disciplines authorized to confer bachelor¡¯s degree; 24 postgraduate educational institutions, with 125 first-level disciplines authorized to confer doctoral degree, 312 to confer master¡¯s degree, and 273 to confer professional degree.

Source: enghunan.gov.cn