TY - JOUR
T1 - Child population, economic development and regional inequality of education resources in China
AU - Peng, Huamin
AU - Qi, Lin
AU - Wan, Guowei
AU - Li, Bingqin
AU - Hu, Bo
PY - 2020
Y1 - 2020
N2 - There is great inequality of educational resources between different provinces in China due to unbalanced
economic development. Despite continued redistribution of financial resources by the central government in
favor of poorer provinces, educational inequality remains. In this paper, we argue that focusing on educational
resources is far from sufficient. Poorer provinces do not only suffer from a lower level of educational resources,
but they also have more children to educate, i.e. a greater need for education. Combining and analyzing the data
in the Sixth National Population Census of China and the official statistics on education spending and resources,
we found that provincial-level variations in the child population and the child dependency ratio have made
access to educational resources even more unequal given the unequal financial capacity at the provincial level.
Poorer provinces face a higher child dependency ratio and have lower economic development, and these two
factors jointly lead to limited educational resources. Apart from a much higher level of redistribution in favor of
less developed provinces, encouraging more balanced distribution of teachers and more broadly promoting
economic equality are essential to reduce inequality in educational resources in China.
AB - There is great inequality of educational resources between different provinces in China due to unbalanced
economic development. Despite continued redistribution of financial resources by the central government in
favor of poorer provinces, educational inequality remains. In this paper, we argue that focusing on educational
resources is far from sufficient. Poorer provinces do not only suffer from a lower level of educational resources,
but they also have more children to educate, i.e. a greater need for education. Combining and analyzing the data
in the Sixth National Population Census of China and the official statistics on education spending and resources,
we found that provincial-level variations in the child population and the child dependency ratio have made
access to educational resources even more unequal given the unequal financial capacity at the provincial level.
Poorer provinces face a higher child dependency ratio and have lower economic development, and these two
factors jointly lead to limited educational resources. Apart from a much higher level of redistribution in favor of
less developed provinces, encouraging more balanced distribution of teachers and more broadly promoting
economic equality are essential to reduce inequality in educational resources in China.
U2 - 10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.104819
DO - 10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.104819
M3 - Article
SN - 0190-7409
VL - 110
JO - Children and Youth Services Review
JF - Children and Youth Services Review
ER -