OPINION> Commentary
Family schools too could help
(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-11-06 07:42

It's unnecessary for us to have family schools countering the State-run schools. These could be providers of compulsory education too, says an article in Procuratorial Daily. The following is an excerpt:

In Beijing, some high-income parents spend tens of thousands of yuan sending their kids to privately-run family schools located in mountainous areas. Sitting in farmhouses, children study Confucius classics and learn English and arts. Parents believe that family schools will be able to offer better education than State-run and private schools.

But, some experts said, compulsory education is the national law, and so it may be illegal to send kids to be educated full time in family schools.

In China, primary and secondary schools run by the State are the only official providers of compulsory education.

However, there is no fixed framework for education in other countries. Some communities even have their own self-organized schools where parents give lectures to their kids based on their respective professions such as teachers, engineers, doctors, gardeners and artists.

The fact that a growing number of people opt for old-style family schools for their kids' education shows compulsory education should be made more open and diversified.

The popularity of family schools shows that the monotonous mode of the current education system has already failed to meet the demands of the society.

(China Daily 11/06/2008 page10)