Economics drives parental choice of school

Three years ago, I wrote in this newspaper about how Chinese parents would go to great lengths to get their children into popular primary schools.

At that time, one of the biggest controversies about the enrollment exercise, which begins roughly this time every year, centered on the "school-choosing fee" that a coveted school would charge parents who did not live within the attendance zone.

Such a practice had become an important source of finance for top schools to inflate their balance sheets, although no one would admit their places were for sale. As demand far exceeded the positions available at elite schools, the rates of "parental donations" could be as high as half a million yuan.