Rural kids' education

Although the number of boarding schools in rural areas has increased, the closure of 229,400 rural primary schools and more than 16,000 middle schools between 2000 and 2010 means that, on average, primary school students in rural areas have to travel more than 5 kilometers and middle school students more than 17 km to attend classes, according to a report released by the 21st Century Education Research Institute on Saturday.

The undesirable conditions, both soft and hard, in most boarding schools have increased the cost of education for rural students, and there has been an increase in the number of children dropping out of school, especially in mountainous areas where transport is not convenient.

Fortunately, the plight of rural schoolchildren has already attracted the attention of the central authorities, and the Ministry of Education issued documents in September suspending the random closing of rural primary and middle schools.

The ministry has also promised that it will try to implement its plan to establish canteens in all rural primary and middle schools.

Local government leaders, those in charge of education in particular, need a sense of urgency in implementing the policies of the central authorities. That the Ningxia Hui autonomous region has already allocated 300 million yuan ($47.66 million) this year to build canteens in all its rural primary and middle schools shows where there's the will there's a way.

However, it is not enough to just establish a canteen in a rural school, efforts must also be made to ensure that it is run in a desirable manner. After reports that a canteen in one rural school was operated by the principal's relatives, who skimmed a profit by providing students with poor quality food, the Ministry of Education has prohibited rural school canteens from being contracted to businesses.

Also, regular inspections need to be organized by the education authorities at different levels to check the quality of food, school buses and the conditions of students' dorms in rural areas. Such mechanisms would not be hard to establish and would help ensure that children are not being shortchanged or put in danger.

Of course, the most essential requirement is local authorities are willing to place rural education high on their work agenda.