Progress in China s Literacy

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2 Progress in China s Literacy Challenges and changes National Center for Education Development Research

3 Progress in China s Literacy Challenges and changes National Center for Education Development Research 2010

4 Contents 1. Background Progress in the literacy strategy since New objectives and tasks for literacy Actively moving ahead with the reform of literacy Increase funding and enhance the research and assessment for literacy Progress of literacy education Adult literacy rate continues to rise Gender parity index of literacy rate increased gradually Preliminary results achieved for the literacy teaching reform Major experience in moving ahead with literacy Attach great importance to the development of the legal system, institutions and mechanisms for literacy Adopt flexible and diverse organizational forms and methods Widely mobilize various social circles to promote literacy Moving ahead at the same pace with the nine-year compulsory education Combination of literacy education and skills training Providing special support for key groups Supervision, Evaluation and Inspection and Acceptance Are Highlighted Resources Input and Capability Building Are Basic Guarantees for Literacy Challenges of Literacy in China A large Illiterate population and difficulty of elderly literacy Quality and effectiveness of literacy need to be further improved A need to attach more importance to literacy Enhancing policy measures for literacy Improve understanding of the importance of literacy Strengthening the planning of and the resource investment into literacy Deepening the reform in literacy and improving the quality of literacy Enhancing capacity building and innovating literacy mechanism Strengthen organizational leadership, overall coordination and social participation Giving more support to the illiteracy eliminating work on target groups References: Appendix: Postscript I

5 Progress in China s Literacy Challenges and changes 1. Background As a basic need for adults, literacy is an important component of the effort to guarantee the fundamental right of all the social members to learn. Literacy among the illiterate adults to help them master the basic reading, writing and calculating skills is an important way to eradicate the difference in knowledge, promote equity in education and reduce poverty. Literacy has become an indispensable basic means with rich intension to promote the survival and development of people. China is one of the developing countries with the largest population. It is also one of the countries with a relatively large number of illiterates. 1 For the 60 years since the founding of the PRC, the Chinese government has attached great importance to literacy and made sustained efforts to reduce illiteracy and meet the basic literacy needs of adults. Since the Education for All scheme was launched, the Chinese government has persistently made the elimination of illiteracy one of the strategic focuses of Education for All. The China Education Reform and Development Outline of 1993 pointed out that China would strive to achieve the two strategic objectives of making nine-year compulsory education basically universal and illiteracy among young and middle-aged people basically eliminated (referred to as the two basically for short). These two objectives have greatly promoted the development of literacy in China. During the 10 years from 1990 to 2000, a cumulative number of million illiterates learned how to read and write. National demographic census statistics shows that illiterates of 15 years old and above dropped from 182 million to 85 million, and adult illiteracy rate reduced from 22.2% to 9.1% 2 ; illiteracy among young and middle-aged people of 15 to 50 years old dropped from million to 22 million, and illiteracy rate among young and middle-aged people reduced from 10.4 % to 4.8%. 3 China has realized the two above-mentioned objectives in areas with 85% of the total population in the country. 1 Based on the 5th national population census of 2000, there were million adult illiterates, of which million were male and 63.2 million were female. Statistics of National population are based on national population census, sample survey of 1% of national population and sample survey of 1 conducted every 10 years, 5years and per year 2 Since 1990, China has treated young and middle aged(from years old) literacy as working priority. Meanwhile, during the process of implementation, senior aged(above 50 year-old ) people has also been concerned. For instance, some aged people s colleges have been established in some provinces and some community colleges have senior aged people involved who have relatively strong willing to learn. At the same time, statistics of adult illiteracy rate are percentage of illiterate population of 15 years old or above of total population of 15 years old or above, including senior aged people. 3 Refer to Chinese National Commission for UNESCO & National Center for Education Development Research (2007).National Report on Mid-Decade Assessment of Education for All in China and Chinese National Commission for UNESCO(2008) Adult education development and learning report in China. 1

6 In the new century, China has entered a new historical period in literacy and is showing some new characteristics and trends. This report aims to analyze China s progress in literacy since 2001, the existing problems and challenges as well as countermeasures in the future. Figure 1 A falling trend in the number of illiterates of 15 years old and above as well as the illiteracy rate from 1949 to Total of Illiterarte Population(100 million) Rate of Adult Illiteracy(%) Source: 1. State Statistics Administration; public announcements of the main data for the national demographic censuses in 1964, 1982, 1990 and Figure 2 A falling Trend in the number of illiterate young and middle-aged people of 15 to 50 years old and the illiteracy rate Population of illiterate young adults(100 million) Rate of young adults illteracy(%) Source: 1. State Statistics Administration; public announcements of the main data for the national demographic censuses in 1982, 1990 and

7 2. Progress in the literacy strategy since 2000 After China realized the strategic objective to basically eliminate illiteracy among young and middle-aged people nationwide and reduce the illiteracy to below 5%, there has been a change in the focus of literacy in China: first is to make more efforts on the literacy for the remaining illiterates, especially illiterate women and ethnic minority people and other key groups; second is to solidify and improve the literacy results, enhance the post-literacy continuing education and prevent relapse into illiteracy; third is to update literacy ideas according to the social developments and changes in the demands of literacy, enrich the intension of literacy, enhance functional literacy, reform literacy teaching and make literacy more targeted, effective and of better quality New objectives and tasks for literacy In 2002, CPC 16 th Congress came up with the national development objective of building a well-off society in an all round way by 2020, and the important objective, among others, to eliminate illiteracy, form a whole-nation and life-long learning society, and promote the all-round development of humans. In May 2001, the Decision of the State Council on the Reform and Development of Fundamental Education pointed out that during the tenth five-year plan period (2001 to 2005), local governments at all levels shall keep as top priority in education the efforts of making nine-year compulsory education universal and elimination of illiteracy, and maintain a literacy rate of over 95% among the young and middle-aged people. In 2002, the Ministry of Education and other 11 government departments jointly issued the Opinion on Illiteracy Elimination during the Tenth Five-year Plan Period, coming up with the principle of combining the prevention of additional illiteracy, elimination of existing illiteracy and continuing education of people who has just cast off illiteracy, and requiring to reinforce and expand the literacy scheme results, and focus on the literacy in areas of poverty and among ethnic minority groups and women. Besides, efforts shall be made to provide literacy programs and education reforms, establish a literacy mechanism oriented to meet the basic learning needs of illiterates, and increase the quality and effect of literacy. The Opinion requires the provincial governments to formulate and implement the literacy and post-literacy continuing education plan in consideration of local actualities, explicitly comes up with the region-specific literacy objectives, and requires Inner Mongolia, Guizhou, Yunnan, Gansu, Ningxia, Qinghai and other provinces (autonomous regions) in western China to increase the literacy rate to above 90% among young and middle-aged people. And areas which have basically eliminated illiteracy among young and middle-aged people shall strive to work on the 3

8 main tasks of reinforcing literacy results, preventing relapse into illiteracy and seeking a widespread acceptance of continuing education among the young and middle-aged people who have just cast illiteracy. Cities and economically developed areas shall actively explore ways and methods for functional literacy and continuing education of various forms while reinforcing literacy results, and combine literacy and establishing learning communities. This document explicitly comes up with the main tasks of literacy during the Tenth Five-year Plan Period: first is to require the various localities to count the illiterates by enhancing monitoring among new illiterates, relapse into illiteracy and migrant illiterates, completing literacy files and establishing a dynamic management mechanism of literacy; second is to enhancing the effort to reinforce and improve the literacy results among the people who have just cast off illiteracy, by working hard on the continuing education among the people who have just cast off illiteracy, carrying out reading drills of various forms, training of applicable technologies and featured education activities of various types, and conducting inspections and supervisions regularly; third is to focus on moving ahead with the literacy in areas of poverty and among ethnic minority groups and women, by requiring the relevant localities to establish literacy projects in areas of poverty, and special literacy projects for the 22 ethnic minority groups with a relatively small population and literacy projects for women; fourth is to make great efforts to provide literacy programs and education reforms, by transforming the concepts involved in literacy, establishing a literacy mechanism oriented to meet the living and basic learning needs among the illiterates, and improve the quality and effect of literacy. For local government and individual literacy institutions, efforts shall be made to reform the assessment methods of literacy and attach great importance to the process assessment of literacy. There shall be a shift from the result assessment focusing on the number of Chinese characters recognized to the process assessment to evaluate the actual capability of students. And efforts shall also be made to explore the ways and methods of functional literacy of various types; fifth is to establish and complete the literacy network, by requiring the elementary school and middle school in rural areas and adult schools to actively undertake the literacy tasks, and encouraging and supporting school teachers and students to participate in the literacy work. At the end of 2003, the Chinese government issued the Action Plan of Education for All in China, and came up with the stage-specific literacy objectives and tasks for China by 2015 as one of the six major objectives in this area. Afterwards, many forums featuring the education for all scheme were convened, promoting the cooperation and coordination between government departments and civil groups in education. In 2004, the State Council decided to implement the Milestone Plan for the Two Basically Objectives in Western China, coming up with the objective of making nine-year compulsory education basically universal and illiteracy among young and 4

9 middle-aged people basically eliminated in west china by The Outline Plan of Education Sector Development during the Eleventh Five-year Plan ( ), coming up with the objective to reduce the illiteracy rate among young and middle-aged people to around 2% for the whole country and the rate to below 4% in underdeveloped areas. 1 At the end of 2007, the Ministry of Education and other 11 government departments jointly issued the Guidance Opinion on Further Enhancing Literacy, determining the objectives and tasks of literacy by 2010 and 2015, and coming up with a series of measures and policies to enhance literacy and promote education reforms. Box 1: Literacy objectives by 2010 and 2015 By 2010, reduce the adult illiteracy rate to 8%, especially the adult women illiteracy rate to below 12%; the illiteracy rate among young and middle-aged people of 15 to 50 years old to around 2%, especially the illiteracy rate among young and middle-aged women to around 3%. By 2015, reduce the adult illiteracy rate to below 6% and maintain the illiteracy rate among young and middle-aged people to around 1%. Provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government with literacy tasks shall formulate their own literacy objectives by 2010 and 2015 in consideration of their local actualities and general objectives determined by the central government. Guidance Opinion on Further Enhancing Literacy issued by the Ministry of Education and other 11 government departments 2.2. Actively moving ahead with the reform of literacy In 2002, the Ministry of Education issued the Guidance Opinion on Literacy Programs and Teaching Reform (In Trial). It is the first time for the Chinese government to issue a guidance document on literacy programs and teaching, and the document has come up with many new ideas redefining literacy. As opposed to the traditional idea that literacy aims to teach illiterates how to read, the Opinion asks to establish new ideas. It stresses that literacy is both the comprehensive fundamental education for learners and basic education for social members to survive, live and develop. The purpose of literacy is to enhance the capability of sustainable development for learners and lay a foundation for them to keep improving their life quality. Secondly, it stresses that literacy shall be human-oriented and based on the needs of learners; it should be an effort to improve the ideological, ethical, scientific 1 Outline Plan of Education Sector Development during the Eleventh Five-year Plan, Ministry of Education for the People s Republic of China, People s Education Publishing House, 2007, Page 10 to 12 5

10 and cultural quality of learners, help learners cultivate the new concepts of modern production and life as well as the spirits of entrepreneurship for development, develop the preliminary capabilities to use applicable technologies and lay a foundation for life-long learning. Thirdly, it stresses that literacy shall fully utilize the existing experience of adults, arouse their consciousness as the subject in learning and trigger their motivation in learning. Fourthly, it stresses that literacy shall be closely combined with the economic development of local communities, cultural development and individual development. Changes in these ideas have reflected the new definition of literacy and a new approach in the new situation. In other words, there is a shift from the approach of only teaching Chinese characters to a functional education approach, or from eradicating the ignorance of Chinese characters to removing the ignorance of culture knowledge. The purpose is to help adults master the basic skills needed for life and work while learning knowledge about culture. In this way, they may acquire more work opportunities and income, improve their health and life, and promote their participation in society. From the perspective of the above new literacy concept, the Opinion comes up with the specific objectives in the reform of literacy, including: A shift from a reliance on exterior power to an incentive mechanism oriented by the actual needs of learners; A shift from the program objectives placing excessive focus on Chinese characters teaching to the program objectives of comprehensive qualities centering on the improvement in the life quality for learners; A shift from the tendency towards normalized education and elementary education to a focus on cultivating the knowledge utilization capability, entrepreneurship and practice capability and life-long learning capability for learners; Change the obsolete and backward contents in literacy programs and add the contents reflecting the requirements of modern society for the basic qualities and capabilities for citizens; A shift from the original organization forms and methods of literacy teaching to a full respect of learners in the activities they act as the subject and a full utilization of the rich life experience and learning capabilities of various aspects for adult learners; Develop diverse literacy program resources and promote the diversity in textbooks. The Opinion requires the various localities to carefully survey and study the literacy learning needs for different human groups in different areas, and suggests them to establish pilots of literacy program and teaching reform while enhancing the training of teachers for literacy. 6

11 2.3 Increase funding and enhance the research and assessment for literacy During the period from 2007 to 2010, the central government increases the annual funding for literacy from 8 million to 50 million Yuan, in order to reward the advanced regions with outstanding performance in the literacy scheme in western and central China, and move ahead with the literacy scheme in western and central areas of poverty and among ethnic minority groups and women. Meanwhile, education and scientific research organizations are encouraged and assisted to enhance the studies in the theory and practice of literacy, by researching and exploring the organization and mobilization methods of literacy in the new situation, literacy mechanism oriented by the actual learning needs of the target groups in the literacy scheme, literacy textbook formulation modes, effective measures for literacy in areas of poverty, ethnic minority groups and women, etc. For instance, Gansu Provincial Teaching Science Research Institute carried out a literacy reform research project in recent years, and formulated new literacy textbooks and teaching discs. This project has played an active role in making the literacy more practical and clearly targeted, and improving the quality and effect of literacy. Gansu Province has also implemented a sampling survey of literacy results (2005) and literacy project baseline survey and research (2009), analyzing the progress, results and challenges in literacy in the province as well as promoting the policy advice to further improve literacy in the future. 1 In recent years, under overall planning and technical support by UNESCO, Mid-decade Assessment of Education for All in China has been conducted. Firstly, the Chinese government carried out a comprehensive assessment of literacy and life skills education for adults in a combined consideration of the mid-term assessment of education for all implemented by UNESCO, and published the assessment report of education for all in China (2008). Besides, a provincial education-for-all assessment was conducted in Shanxi, Henan, Jiangsu, Guizhou, Yunnan and Gansu. These assessment activities have played a facilitating role in learning about the progress in literacy for adults, defining the existing challenges and problems, and further promoting the literacy in China. Second, the government has enhanced the re-inspection of the areas where the objective to basically eliminate illiteracy among young and middle-aged people has been realized. The central government requires the provincial governments to re-inspect the county-level administrative regions after the acceptance test and on the basis of the data of the fifth national demographic census. The regions with lower performance in main indicators are required to adopt practical measures for rectification before a designated deadline. The national education supervision group shall carry out a random inspection and make verification for the country-level administrative regions under the application of provincial governments where the objective to basically eliminate illiteracy among young and middle-aged 1 Baseline Investigation and Research Report for the Literacy Program of Gansu Province, Gansu Provincial Department of Education and Gansu Provincial Teaching Science Research Institute,

12 people has been realized. Some areas have carried out a basic situation survey of illiterate population and their learning needs in the forms of in-house survey, etc, laying a solid basis to effectively carry out literacy. 3. Progress of literacy education 3.1. Adult literacy rate continues to rise Education statistics have shown that during the period from 2001 to 2008, the cumulative number of people completing the literacy class course (number of people becoming literate) was million. At the end of 2008, China had a cumulative number of 3038 county-level administrative region entities passing the acceptance test of making nine-year compulsory education basically universal and illiteracy among young and middle-aged people basically eliminated, accounting for 99% of the total counties in China. With the gradual spread of compulsory education and development of literacy, the adult literacy rate continues to rise in China. According to the results of demographic sampling survey for the period from 2001 to 2008, the adult literacy rate in China was on a steady rising trend, and the literacy rate of people of 15 years old and above increased from 88.40% to 93.23% by nearly 5 percentage points. And the illiteracy rate for young and middle-aged people of 15 to 45 years old reduced from 4.09% in 2001 to 1.5% in Figure3 Number of people completing the literacy class course from 2001 to 2008 (in 10,000 people) Number of people completing the literacy course Source: previous issues of China Education Statistics Yearbook 8

13 Table1: Changes in the literacy rate for the population of 15 years old and above by gender in China (%) Year Total Male Female Gender Index (Female/Male) Source: data of sampling survey in demographic changes for the years, except for the year of 2005 where data of sampling survey for 1% population is adopted. Table 2: Changes in the illiteracy rate among the young and middle-aged people of 15 to 50 years old (%) Year Total Male Female Source: data of sampling survey in demographic changes for the years, except for the year of 2005 where data of sampling survey for 1% population is adopted. 3.2 Gender parity index of literacy rate increased gradually Since the illiteracy rate among women is generally higher than men, illiterate women have always been the focus of literacy in China. During the period from 2001 to 2008, literacy rate among women have been increased dramatically, with 7.5 million women among the million people becoming literate by taking the literacy class, accounting for 56% of the total. And the literacy rate among adult women rose from 83.12% to 88.48% by nearly 5.4 percentage points, significantly larger than the margin of 2.4 percentage points in the literacy rate among men. The gender equity index of the literacy rate among adults rose from to 0.922, showing that the difference in adult literacy rate between men and women is getting smaller. 9

14 Figure 4 Number of men and women completing the literacy class course from 2001 to 2008 (in 10,000 people) Male Female Source: statistics announcements of national education development of the previous years Literacy not only lays a foundation for women to improve their cultural qualities and social status, but also promotes the participation of women in occupational skills training. The government departments of finance, agriculture, S&T, education, etc have enhanced their policy support for women, especially women in rural areas, playing a facilitating role in increasing occupation education and training opportunities for women. For instance, the Green Certificates Project, Trans-century S&T Training Project for Young Farmers, New Farmers Entrepreneurship Cultivation Project, Sunshine Project, Sparkle S&T Training Dedicated Scheme and other training projects explicitly came up with the idea to have women account for 40% or an appropriate proportion of the total trainees. In 2008, women were 8.4 million and 2.37 million respectively within the enrolled students and graduates of intermediate occupational school in China, accounting for 49.8% and 49.3% respectively of the total; and women reached million and million within the enrolled students and graduates of urban and rural occupational skills training agencies in China, accounting for 47.8% and 46.9% respectively of the total. Participation in the occupational skills training will not only help women master the fundamental labor skills, but also increase their motivation to participate in literacy in return. 3.3 Preliminary results achieved for the literacy teaching reform In recent years, teaching reforms have made the literacy in China more targeted and time-effective in a gradual shift from a pure focus on the learning of Chinese characters and numbers to an emphasis on the cultivation of learners capability to apply the reading, writing and calculating skills in real life and production. According to the Guidance Opinion on Literacy Programs and Teaching Reform (In Trial) issued by the Ministry of Education in 2002, some localities implemented literacy teaching reform projects, trying to explore new mechanisms and methods for literacy teaching oriented by the actual needs of learners Development of literacy materials 10

15 In the prerequisite of adherence to unified literacy standards, literacy textbooks have become more diverse and distinctive with local characteristics. Literacy textbooks of China are formulated by the provincial education departments in a unified way, and supplemented by supplementary textbooks formulated by counties and villages according to their local characteristics, local charms and customs. For the recent 10 years, there have been more than 100 literacy textbooks, nearly 1,000 textbooks and reading materials for post-literacy continuing education. And the education departments of many localities also organized and formulated textbooks and reading materials dedicated to rural areas and women. In order to enhance the formulation of literacy textbooks and improve the quality of literacy textbooks, the Ministry of Education, provinces and municipalities held literacy and post-literacy textbook formulation training classes respectively, and edited and published the Literacy and Post-literacy Reading Series of 11 types and in about 0.15 million copies, with efforts made to enhance the management and assessment of textbooks. For example, Gansu Province revised the literacy textbooks in recent years, and reformulated the Reading and Writing in Life and Numbers and Calculation in Life, aiming to enhance the association of reading, writing and calculating to the real life of adults and their actual application capabilities. In order to enhance the cultivation of life and social skills for adult learners, help them boost their survival capabilities, increase their life quality and improve their awareness and capabilities to fulfill family and social responsibilities, Gansu Province also formulated the Knowledge and Capabilities in Life according to the changes in the social development and living environment in rural areas. This textbook consists of five sections, namely family life, sanitation and health, common sense about electricity, points you need to know about travel and common sense for a citizen Use of technology With the wide application of TV, radio, computers, the Internet, cell phones and other modern telecommunication technologies, more and more localities begin to use such multi-media and remote teaching measures for literacy. Many localities are utilizing the remote education resources of rural middle and elementary schools to explore new forms of remote education and face-to-face teaching. Some localities are exploring how to use TV to televise literacy programs, some creates discs of literacy, and some plays video of practical technologies demonstration and teaching at production sites. Since 2001 in Gansu Province, the Provincial E-Education Center has led the effort to formulate and create the video cassettes and VCD of practical technologies teaching for rural areas in 20 sets and 1567 copies, which were distributed to 78 counties (municipalities and districts). Multi-media and remote education measures and resources not only add to the diversity of literacy teaching methods, but also help trigger the interest of learners and improve the quality of literacy, thus breaking the barriers of time and space in literacy teaching, reducing the personnel costs for literacy teaching and effectively expanding the scale of literacy. 1 1 Retrospective Research Report for the Education for All Policies of Gansu Province, Gansu Provincial Teaching 11

16 3.3.3 Impact of literacy work Teaching reform plays a facilitating role in making the literacy teaching efforts more targeted, effective and of better quality. A questionnaire and interview survey carried out in Gansu Province showed that students taking part in the literacy classes thought positively about literacy in general. The majority of the surveyed students thought that literacy played an important facilitating role in improving their cultural levels and life quality. And some thought that they improved their life skills through literacy by learning how to keep accounts and calculate money; some changed their ways to spend their leisure time through literacy by developing the habit of self-teaching and reading news; some thought that the knowledge about operations, labor, law, etc in literacy were very helpful; and some women students expressed that literacy enhanced their awareness and capability to protect their own rights and interests. 1 Table 3: Evaluation on literacy (%) Very satisfied Quite satisfied satisfied Unsatisfied Students (N=328) Teachers (N=327) Source: Questionnaire survey on literacy in Gansu Province, Baseline Investigation and Research Report for the Literacy Program of Gansu Province, Gansu Provincial Department of Education and Gansu Provincial Teaching Science Research Institute, December, 2009 Box 2: Literacy results survey by Gansu Provincial Teaching Science Research Institute According to the results of the sampling survey by Gansu Provincial Teaching Science Research Institute (2000 samples of 17 to 60 years old in 40 administrative villages of Tianshui Municipality, Linxia Municipality and Wuwei Municipality in October, 2005), literacy learning plays a significant positive role in improving adults' cultural levels, especially reading capability and calculating capability. Literacy learning produces significant effects on improving the reading capability of students. 94% of the surveyed students on the literacy class answered that they found it easier to read newspapers after the literacy class; and 85% answered that it was easier for them to understand instructions of medicine; only 3.9% of the surveyed students could easily read books, newspapers and letters, and this proportion rose to 82% after the literacy class; before the literacy class, 86% of the surveyed thought they need help when shopping; and after the literacy class, only 2% thought they need help, and 96% thought they could easily calculate how much money they should spend and how much they should get. Zhang Shanxin, Kang Tinghu, A Few Words on the Current Status of Literacy in Gansu, Academic Journal of Adult Education for Northwestern China, Issue 2, 2006 Science Research Institute, September, 2009, Page 54 1 Baseline Investigation and Research Report for the Literacy Program of Gansu Province, Gansu Provincial Department of Education and Gansu Provincial Teaching Science Research Institute, 2009, page 21 to

17 4. Major experience in moving ahead with literacy 4.1 Attach great importance to the development of the legal system, institutions and mechanisms for literacy Development of legal system related to literacy The Chinese government attaches great importance to the problem of illiteracy by making great efforts on building an adequate legal system and institutions as an important guarantee for literacy. First is to clarify legal right, responsibility and obligation of literacy by way of developing legal system. In China, eradicating illiteracy is regarded as an important component of the effort to guarantee the fundamental education right of a citizen, and also a basic policy incorporated into the Constitution. The Constitution, Law of Education and other important laws all have clear stipulations on the right and obligation to provide and receive literacy. In order to guarantee the implementation of literacy, the Chinese government also formulated and issued the Work Rules on Literacy (formulated in 1988 and revised in 1993), specifying the details on the obligations, rights, responsibilities and work mechanisms, etc. Many local governments have also formulated their own work rules on literacy. Box 3: National laws, regulations and policies on literacy "The government shall develop various education facilities and eliminate illiteracy." The Constitution for the People's Republic of China, revised in March, 2004 People's governments at various levels, autonomous organizations at grassroots for the general public, public corporations and enterprises shall adopt various measures and carry out literacy to eliminate illiteracy. According to the national regulations, citizens with the capability to receive literacy shall accept the literacy. Law of Education for the People's Republic of China, March, 1995 Illiterate and semi-illiterate citizens at 15 years old and above and of any gender, ethnic group and race, except for the ones without learning capability, shall have the obligation and right to accept the literacy. Work Rules on Literacy, August, Literacy as an integral element of social and economic development plans The government shall incorporate literacy as an important item into the general agenda of social and economic development and educational development plans, and 13

18 formulate clear objectives, principles and policies on literacy in various historical periods. Local governments at various levels shall consider the literacy objective as an important indicator to appraise the local social, economic and educational development, and formulate the corresponding plans, policies and measures. Meanwhile, TV, radio, conferences, newspapers, periodicals, blackboard newspapers, slogans and other approaches shall be adopted for the publicity and mobilization of literacy, in order to mobilize the whole society to take part in and support the literacy cause Promote literacy institutional arrangement China has been devoted to establishing a literacy management system and operation mechanism featuring unified leadership by the government, division of responsibilities among the relevant department, coordinated progress for the whole society and joint administration. Governments at the central, provincial (autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the State Council), municipal, county and other levels have all established the corresponding administration agencies for literacy. The literacy administration of the central government was originally the responsibility of the Adult Education Department under the Ministry of Education. After the reform of government agencies in 1998, the functions of the division were transferred to the Basic Education Department of MOE. Literacy became the responsibility of the Literacy Division and is now the responsibility of the Policy Division under the Basic Education Department I of MOE. There are also corresponding administration agencies established under the education administration departments of the provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the State Council), prefectures (municipalities), county (municipalities), with full-time personnel employed responsible for organizing and managing the literacy work (Please see Box 4). At the level of county governments, the double-line contracting responsibility system is adopted by the governments and education administration departments to delegate education responsibilities to people s governments at the county and village levels as well as the executives of enterprises and public corporations. Some localities have incorporated the performance in literacy into the scope of performance review for government officials. In rural areas, China has established a three-tiered literacy teaching network composed of county, village and rural schools, and delegated the literacy tasks to villagers committees, literacy teachers and illiterate students. County and village governments have full-time and part-time administration personnel of literacy, with the teachers from the township and village schools, township and village adult culture and skills schools or elementary schools in rural areas acting as part-time teachers for literacy. 14

19 Box 4: Diagram of the literacy administration system of China Organizational system Administrative functions Provincial People s Government State Council Ministry of Education Come up with the general national plan on literacy; Formulate national policies and administrative regulations on literacy; Guide, supervise and inspect the provincial governments and departments of education administration in their effort to implement literacy; Organize national literacy activities jointly with the relevant central government departments and social organizations; Municipal People s Government County people s Government Village people s Government Provincial Department of Education Municipal Bureau of Education County Bureau of Education Come up with the general plan on literacy for the whole province; Implement the national policies and administrative regulations on literacy; Guide and supervise the counties (municipalities) in literacy; Formulate literacy textbooks and reading materials suited for local actualities. Organize provincial literacy activities jointly with the relevant provincial government departments and social organizations; Implement literacy policies formulated at higher levels and come up with their own literacy plans; Formulate their own specific policies, regulations and methods on literacy; Organize inspections on how the subordinate townships (villages) have implemented the literacy work; Formulate the supplementary textbooks for rural areas; Organize and coordinate the local literacy work jointly with the relevant local government departments and social organizations. Villagers Autonomous Committee Implement the relevant policies formulated at higher levels and organize the administrative villages to carry out literacy; Organize literacy tests, literacy verification and certification; Carry out inspections and acceptance tests on how the administrative villages have implemented literacy. 4.2 Adopt flexible and diverse organizational forms and methods With a vast territory, China differs greatly between various areas in the natural environment, social climate, local customs and habits, economic and education development levels. Thus, China focuses its literacy on local actualities and tries to meet the production demands, life needs and learning characteristics of the general public, by adjusting to local conditions and adopting flexible and diverse teaching organizational forms and methods. 15

20 First is to focus on part-time studies for literacy. There are three main forms of teaching for literacy, namely class learning, group learning and individual learning. In rural areas with relative more illiterate adults, the learning time is flexible according to farming seasons, which means that spending more time in learning during slack farming season, while spending less time in learning during busy farming season, and prioritize knowledge and skills which is urgently needed during literacy learning, in order to fully motivate the learners to study. Second is to carefully study the characteristics and patterns of the Chinese characters and adult literacy learning, and explore diverse teaching methods for literacy and literacy learning. During the many years of literacy practices, various localities have formed diverse teaching methods, such as phonetics recognition method, representative phonetic words recognition method, recognition method of phonetic marking for familiar words, radical classification recognition method, illustration recognition method, See the physical items recognition method, etc. These methods are applied flexibly in literacy teaching according to the interests and characteristics of different people groups. According to the report of China Education TV, Honghe County of Yunnan Province printed some words and easy sentences to poker cards and provided them to literacy class students for free, in order to trigger the interests of the public for literacy learning; Ludian County created literacy teaching calendars and distributed to illiterate families for free. Such flexible and diverse forms have brought about positive effects. 4.3 Widely mobilize various social circles to promote literacy Literacy is a cultural learning activity for the general public extensively. Joint participation of the whole society and an adequate social environment will promote literacy developing continuously in a more in-depth direction. The Chinese government widely mobilizes various social forces to participate in the scheme, focuses on giving play to the role of non-governmental organizations, and strives to build a social environment where the whole society cares for, supports and takes part in the effort to eliminate illiteracy. National Women's Federation plays an important role in helping eliminate illiteracy among women. Since 1989, Women's Federation has organized women and carried out the women learning, production and labor competition activities featuring Eradicating Illiteracy among Women and Learning Knowledge, Learning Skills, Competing in Performance and Contribution. These activities combine literacy with the day-to-day life and production skills for women, and integrate with the effort to shake off poverty and become prosperous, and fuse with the knowledge on law and safeguarding women s rights, thus helping many women become literate and playing a facilitating role in promoting women s social participation. From 1989 to 2004, there were more than 20 million women in rural areas becoming literate, about 100 million women mastered 1 to 2 production skills, 2.4 million women shook off poverty, and 15 million women learned with the agricultural TV and radio schools, 16

21 more than 0.6 million women acquired the qualifications of agricultural technicians, and a large group of brilliant rural women stood out. China Communist Young League organized young students from around China to take part in the volunteer service activities in education, S&T, culture, poverty alleviation, etc. Since 1996, the Central Propaganda Ministry, Central Committee of the Communist Young League, Ministry of Education and other departments have jointly implemented the poverty alleviation relay plan of teaching assistance by youth volunteers, organizing and mobilizing youth volunteers to go to key areas of poverty and provide fundamental education services for 1 to 2 years each period. Besides, they organize nearly a million students from junior colleges and secondary technical schools each summer as volunteers to the base level organizations in rural areas and regions of poverty, and carry out cultural, S&T, sanitation and sports activities of rich contents and various forms including literacy. China Science and Technology Association has carried out science popularization and practical technologies promotion activities extensively in rural areas by realizing an organic integration of literacy, science popularization and technology promotion, achieving noticeable results. Cultural departments have enhanced the construction of cultural facilities in rural areas and communities by establishing culture and reading rooms and rural libraries in each township and village, carrying out culture popularization activities based on rural resources, and providing venues, books, newspapers, periodicals, discs and other learning resources for literacy in rural areas, thus greatly improving the learning and cultural environment in rural areas. In some areas for ethnic minority groups where it s common for residents to have religious beliefs, local governments have supported influential religionists to participate in literacy, or used temples and other resources to carry out literacy. The Hui Nationality and Tibetan Nationality autonomous regions in Gansu Province have achieved noticeable results in this regard. Box 5: Religionists and ethnic minority groups in Gansu actively participate in the literacy scheme In Linxia Hui Nationality Autonomous State, Imam Ma Shaowu of Wangtai Township in Yongjing County, Imam Ma Jinhong of Street Temple, Imam Ma Wu of Gucheng in Guanghe County and other people started literacy classes in mosques. And in Gannan Tibetan Nationality Autonomous State, the living Buddha was mobilized to carry out literacy in the Tibetan language. The government department of ethnics and religion signs contracts with the temples, with the temples responsible for teaching and the education department responsible for providing textbooks and carrying out acceptance tests and issuing certificates, achieving positive results. The 7 th NPC deputy and Luqu County Buddha Yilajiumai hosted a literacy class at the monastery, helping

22 illiterates learn how to reach, and persuaded 32 young lamas to exit temples and go to school, and more than 300 parents to send their children to school. There have been 15 literacy points where religionists act as literacy teachers and 1093 students accepting literacy. They also recorded the literacy class teachings of religionists into cassettes and played in remote pasturing areas, providing helpful experience for literacy in ethnic minority areas. (Excerpt from the Research Report of Education for All Policies in Gansu Province ( ), Gansu Provincial Teaching Science Research Institute,May, 2009) 4.4 Moving ahead at the same pace with the nine-year compulsory education China has been following the work principle of One Block, Two Sweeps and Three Improvements in literacy, striving to implement, inspect and test the illiteracy elimination among young the middle-aged people and nine-year compulsory education popularization at the same pace, effectively preventing the emergence of additional illiterates. Increasing the enrollment rate and completion rate of compulsory education for children at school age is an important prerequisite to prevent the emergence of additional illiterates. China has mobilized various social forces through the legal system, planning, financing, supervision, evaluation, accountability and other administration resources, with a view to increasing the enrollment rate, maintenance rate and graduation rate of children at school age for compulsory education and reducing dropout rate constantly. Meanwhile, efforts have been made to actively organize children at school age below 15 to receive compensatory education at school. In recent years, governments at all levels have been constantly increasing financial input into the compulsory education scheme, striving to promote balanced development of compulsory education and improve the quality of education. These measures have forcefully promoted the popularization of compulsory education. At the end of 2008, China had a cumulative number of 2,831 counties where the two basically objectives have been realized, accounting for 99.1% of the total. The enrollment rate of for elementary school for children at school age reached 99.5%, and the gross enrollment rate 105.7%, maintenance rate for five years of elementary school education 99.5%, 4.2 percentage points higher than the rate of 95.3% in And the enrollment rate and maintenance rate for girls have been almost the same with those of boys. The gross enrollment rate for the three years of middle school education reached 98.5% in the country as a whole, 1 percentage point higher than 88.6% in And the survival rate for the three years of middle school education also attained 93.7%. A constant increase in the enrollment rate and maintenance rate for children at school 18