Education in China is becoming increasingly unfair to the poor
The hukou system of household registration exacerbates a huge divide
A FTERXIONG XUAN’ANG gained the capital’s best score in China’s university-entrance exam in 2017, he was interviewed by Beijing’s media. The son of diplomats, Mr Xiong acknowledged that his upbringing had been privileged. “All the top scorers now come from wealthy families,” he said. “It is becoming very difficult for students from rural areas to get into good universities.” His honesty drew much praise online.
Since 1998, when China began a huge expansion of university enrolment, the number of students admitted annually has quadrupled to nearly 10m. About one third of high-school students now proceed to undergraduate courses. Data are patchy, but experts agree that the share of rural students at China’s best universities (the top 1%) has shrunk. Only 0.3% of rural students make it into them, compared with 2.8% of urban ones. Most other tertiary institutions are far inferior.
This article appeared in the China section of the print edition under the headline "Serve the rich"
From the May 27th 2021 edition
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