China seeing fewer schools, but more students and teachers

The number of schools in China declined last year, but even with fewer campuses, the number of teachers and students grew, according to a newly released report by the Ministry of Education on Wednesday.

According to the annual report on education development in China, last year, there were a total of 518,500 schools with 293 million students and 18.8 million full-time teachers across the country.

In 2021, 529,300 schools were operating, with 291 million students and 18.44 million full-time teachers.

The number of children at kindergartens also fell last year, to 46.28 million — 1.78 million fewer than in 2021, a 3.7 percent decline.

Meanwhile, universities saw a bump in the number of students. Enrollment was 46.55 million last year, an increase of 2.25 million compared to 2021.