With the goal of sparking new action research ideas and fostering continued investment in improving education in rural China, REAP Co-Directors Scott Rozelle and Linxiu Zhang recently led a group of over 40 collaborators, students, entrepreneurs, and donors from around the world on a week-long trek through rural villages in Shaanxi Province to visit various REAP project sites.
They facilitated exchanges with local principals, parents, clinicians, and government leaders dedicated to changing the lives of millions of China's poorest children. The following projects reflect these and other knowledge exchanges that continue to increase the capacity of REAP's work to eliminate barriers to quality education.
Financial Aid
Only 40% of students from poor rural areas of China attend high school. One reason is that Chinese high schools are expensive to attend (in fact, the most expensive in the world). Moreover, even when high schools provide financial aid, they do not guarantee that poor students will be covered. The resulting financial uncertainty deters capable students from attending high school.
Seeking to address this problem, REAP conducted a longitudinal study from 2010-2013, showing that poor junior high students were 13% more likely to attend high school if guaranteed financial aid. We reported these results to the Chinese State Council, who accepted our policy brief and signed our findings to policy action. Today, high schools inform junior high students of their financial aid status before they graduate and issue bank cards to ensure timely disbursement of funds. Read a translation of our policy briefhere.
Certain that tuition at any public high school will be covered by REAP's financial aid program, Xiao Tian's grandparents are eager to see her fulfill her dream of becoming an English teacher.
Vocational Education
The Chinese government is spending 32 million dollars per year to fund vocational education, a system that is not only failing to educate kids, but is harming poor students. At the same time, vocational high schools are the fastest-increasing education expenditure in China today. However, REAP researchers found no rigorous studies evaluating the impact of vocational education.
By tracking vocational high school students from 2011-2013, REAP showed that vocational education fails to improve poor students' technical skills and actually reduces their math ability. One of the key problems is that vocational high schools are managed by multiple government bureaus, leading to poor oversight. We are now writing a policy brief to communicate these results to China’s State Council.
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This is a glimpse into a computer repair class at Shahezi Vocational School in rural Shaanxi. With facilities like this, can vocational school students learn effectively?
Over 200 million people in rural China have poor vision, but few have access to quality vision care services or wear properly prescribed eyeglasses. In 2012-13, REAP undertook the largest vision care study ever conducted in rural China to tackle the problem.
By screening nearly 20,000 fourth and fifth graders in rural China, we determined that 1 in 4 rural children have uncorrected vision problems and that the poorer their eyesight, the lower their academic performance. We also found children with more severe vision problems suffered disproportionately from high anxiety and emotional difficulties. We are now evaluating
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different vision care delivery strategies to measure the impact of eyeglasses uptake on school performance—in all providing nearly 4,000 pairs of new eyeglasses to nearsighted children. Read the policy brief summarizing our results and recommendationshere.
In April, 2013, the REAP team conducted a survey of rural Chinese babies, testing them for international growth benchmarks, anemia, and cognitive and mental development. We found that an astonishing 55% of babies in China's villages are anemic - a condition that, if uncorrected, can have serious impacts on cognitive ability, school performance, and even lifetime earnings. Since only around 20% of babies are stunted or wasted, we further believe that this is a micronutrient problem - the babies are getting enough calories, but not enough vitamins and nutrients. Through our survey, the REAP team also learned that 35% of babies suffer from significant cognitive delays, and 57% suffer from significant motor delays. We have just submitted a new policy brief to the State Council reporting these findings.
Nutritious School Lunch
In 2012, partially as a result of REAP's extensive work showing high rates of undernutrition among rural Chinese primary school students, the Chinese government launched a 22 billion USD national school lunch program to provide all rural primary students with a free and nutritious lunch. Subsequent REAP research, however, has shown that this new school lunch policy is only providing a free lunch, not a nutritious one. We submitted a new policy brief outlining the implementation gaps in the new school lunch program, and the Chinese government responded by requesting that REAP submit a detailed policy plan for improving nutrition among rural schoolchildren. Thisnew planwas just submitted in June, 2013.
2008的6月，超过1000万的考生参加了高考，以竞争570个进入大学的名额。尽管高考的初衷是给予每个学生平等的机会，但严重的不平等依然存在着。同等条件下，北京的考生相对于陕西的考生就有更多的上大学的机会，因为北京有更多大学和招生名额。同世界上其他地方一样，中国的大学也倾于照顾本地的生源。
对小苗和小石来说,首当其冲的便是经济问题.他们很穷.我们都知道这一点.但他们究竟有多穷？我们接下来会看到.在蜿蜒的山路上继续盘旋了几个小时后,我们终于快到目的地了,我们也停车开始了步行.我们在空旷的山间小路上走了很长一段时间,终于在远处看到了一个小人点.
那便是小苗的爷爷,我们跟着他找到了他的孙子.小苗非常有礼貌的向我们打招呼,一看便是个受过良好教育的年轻人,他还连连向我们道歉说家里没什么能够招呼我们的.他的班主任雷老师过去拍了拍这个年轻人的肩膀.对这个山里的孩子来说,一下子迎接这么多城里和国外来的朋友真是一件有趣又充满挑战的事儿.
苗爷爷从他懂事起就在这个小山坡上种地了.像很多陕北人一样,他也习惯在头上盘一条白毛巾.不过随着时代的发展,白毛巾渐渐被白帽子取代.苗爷爷用浓浓的陕北口音向我们自豪说小苗是他的大孙子.小苗的爷爷.奶奶.爸爸.妈妈.叔叔都没上过学,小苗是这个村子里走出的第一个大学生！
