Progress and Countermeasures of Student Assistance Policy in Compulsory Education

Abstract

A student assistance policy based on Two Exemptions and One Subsidy (TEOS) has taken shape in China’s compulsory education. The TEOS policy refers to exempting low-income students from tuition and miscellaneous fees, supplies them with free textbooks, and provides living subsidies for boarding students from low-income families. In this chapter, we analyze the student assistance policy in compulsory education—its development, status quo, problems, and countermeasures. Special attention will be given to the policy core of student assistance, Two Exemptions and One Subsidy.

Appendices

Appendix 1: Percentage of Students Receiving Miscellaneous Fee Exemptions to Total Students (Based on Data from School Questionnaires, %)

		Primary school				Junior secondary school
		2005		2006		2005		2006
		Spr.	Aut.	Spr.	Aut.	Spr.	Aut.	Spr.	Aut.
Sample province
Guangxi	Mean	25	31	81	92	20	20	77	79
	Median	20	19	94	100	16	18	89	100
Hubei	Mean	15	15	26	28	15	19	27	30
	Median	11	12	19	22	15	15	19	20
Zhejiang	Mean	5	15	25	80	3	27	29	91
	Median	2	4	8	99	2	4	11	100
Heilongjiang	Mean	39	36	51	38	35	51	42	54
	Median	28	26	46	30	43	46	45	45
Sample county
Guiping	Mean	27	32	88	93	15	16	93	100
	Median	16	15	96	100	15	16	92	100
Yongfu	Mean	21	23	89	99	16	16	75	50
	Median	20	20	89	100	16	16	75	50
Rong’an	Mean	29	38	49	75	25	26	68	72
	Median	27	27	31	97	26	26	77	100
Xiaochang	Mean	20	19	37	43	15	22	35	40
	Median	16	16	32	43	15	20	44	49
Wuxue	Mean	10	11	13	13	17	18	24	26
	Median	9	9	13	13	18	18	18	18
Chibi	Mean	13	14	23	23	14	14	16	16
	Median	13	13	19	19	14	14	16	16
Jiangshan	Mean	8	10	12	64	5	34	34	100
	Median	5	8	10	95	5	17	19	100
Anji	Mean	1	3	3	99	3	3	4	51
	Median	1	3	1	100	3	3	4	51
Lin’an	Mean	1	27	72	86	1	34	87	100
	Median	1	2	93	100	1	2	87	100
Mishan	Mean	36	36	35	35	33	35	34	34
	Median	46	46	44	45	44	45	45	45
Tangyuan	Mean	75	72	73	70	4	68	51	100
	Median	99	99	97	98	4	100	51	100
Keshan	Mean	22	22	28	26	55	57	50	49
	Median	23	22	29	28	55	57	50	45
Total	Mean	23	25	45	58	18	28	42	59
	Median	17	17	29	49	15	16	33	51
No. of sample schools		209	231	159	207	39	43	43	46

1. Calculation method number of students exempted from tuition and miscellaneous fees is divided by all students enrolled in the year to get the percentage of exemption at the schools; then, the mean value and median are computed based on the school data

Appendix 2: Percentage of Students Receiving Free Textbooks to Total Students (Based on Data of School Questionnaires, %)

		Primary school				Junior secondary school
		2005		2006		2005		2006
		Spr.	Aut.	Spr.	Aut.	Spr.	Aut.	Spr.	Aut.
Sample province
Guangxi	Mean	21	19	21	21	19	17	21	22
	Median	20	18	18	18	18	16	16	19
Hubei	Mean	16	16	27	30	14	18	27	30
	Median	11	12	19	22	14	14	19	20
Zhejiang	Mean	4	4	6	9	2	5	4	7
	Median	1	2	2	4	2	2	3	4
Heilongjiang	Mean	51	52	51	53	54	46	40	46
	Median	48	53	44	44	47	47	43	48
Sample county
Guiping	Mean	16	15	14	14	16	15	16	16
	Median	15	15	15	14	16	16	16	15
Yongfu	Mean	23	20	22	22	19	15	16	17
	Median	22	20	20	21	18	16	16	16
Rong’an	Mean	28	25	29	30	22	23	30	31
	Median	27	26	29	31	22	23	31	31
Xiaochang	Mean	19	18	39	46	15	22	35	40
	Median	15	16	34	44	15	20	44	49
Wuxue	Mean	13	13	16	16	6	7	10	9
	Median	11	11	13	13	6	7	10	9
Chibi	Mean	13	14	18	17	13	13	14	15
	Median	12	12	17	18	12	13	13	13
Jiangshan	Mean	8	7	10	12	3	8	5	11
	Median	5	4	6	12	3	4	4	11
Anji	Mean	1	2	3	6	2	2	4	4
	Median	0	2	3	2	2	2	4	4
Lin’an	Mean	2	2	3	4	0	0	0	0
	Median	2	2	2	2	0	0	0	0
Mishan	Mean	56	59	52	52	47	39	38	38
	Median	53	55	52	51	47	47	46	46
Tangyuan	Mean	66	72	71	74	93	82	84	82
	Median	61	73	71	72	93	82	84	82
Keshan	Mean	28	27	34	32	24	25	27	24
	Median	29	27	34	35	24	25	37	24
Total	Mean	21	20	25	27	21	22	24	27
	Median	17	16	19	20	15	15	16	18
No. of schools		202	214	219	226	35	37	40	40

1. Calculation method number of student receiving free textbooks is divided by enrollment for the year to obtain the percentage of students receiving free textbooks; then, the mean value and median are calculated using data from the schools

Appendix 3: Percentage of Students Receiving Free Textbooks to Total Students in Spring 2007 (Based on Data of Student Questionnaires, %)

	Primary school	Junior secondary school
Sample province
Guangxi	19	23
Hubei	20	26
Zhejiang	11	7
Heilongjiang	58	68
Sample county
Guiping	12	16
Yongfu	20	28
Rong’an	29	28
Xiaochang	39	38
Wuxue	14	22
Chibi	9	16
Jiangshan	17	8
Anji	4	9
Lin’an	5	2
Mishan	50	46
Tangyuan	88	94
Keshan	24	65
Total	23	29
Sample number	4072	2706

Appendix 4: Percentage of Boarding Students Receiving Living Subsidies to Total Students (Based on Data of School Questionnaires, %)

		Spring 2005	Autumn 2005	Spring 2006	Autumn 2006
Sample province
Guangxi	Mean	9.48	6.98	9.26	10.37
	Median	8.76	3.45	5.48	7.67
Hubei	Mean	2.54	0.85	8.73	10.04
	Median	2.86	0.21	4.5	6.68
Zhejiang	Mean	2.11	5.48	5.05	5.54
	Median	2.43	2.36	2.51	2.51
Heilongjiang	Mean	6.11	3.95	4.3	5.47
	Median	0.97	0.95	4.75	4.3
Sample county
Guiping	Mean	–	0.57	0.59	0.71
	Median	–	0.56	0.56	0.71
Yongfu	Mean	10.05	5.94	8.9	10.09
	Median	10.53	5.26	8.97	7.84
Rong’an	Mean	9.28	8.55	11.72	12.47
	Median	6.01	5.6	9.96	10.75
Xiaochang	Mean	–	0	13.95	12.66
	Median	–	0	10.79	9.21
Wuxue	Mean	2.7	0.28	3.98	3.38
	Median	2.86	0.41	2.86	0.77
Chibi	Mean	2.12	2.12	3.98	4.46
	Median	2.12	2.12	3.98	5.41
Jiangshan	Mean	2.34	8.28	7.93	8.83
	Median	2.5	5.04	3.93	2.53
Anji	Mean	1.34	1.9	2.52	2.52
	Median	1.34	2.3	2.64	2.64
Lin’an	Mean	2.94	2.94	1.42	1.89
	Median	2.94	2.94	1.42	1.32
Mishan	Mean	9.77	0.87	4.36	4.14
	Median	0.97	0.93	4.36	4.23
Tangyuan	Mean	4.5	7.24	4.74	9.2
	Median	4.04	6.75	4.75	7.11
Keshan	Mean	0	0	3.57	2.03
	Median	0	0	3.57	2.03
Total	Mean	6.5	5.33	7.78	8.55
	Median	2.86	2.27	4.38	4.95
The number of schools		39	47	65	73

1. Calculation method the number of boarding student receiving living subsidies is divided by enrollment in the current year to obtain the percentage at the schools; then, the mean value and median are calculated by using data from schools

Appendix 5: Percentage of Boarding Students Receiving Living Subsides to Total Boarding Students (Based on School Questionnaire, %)

		Spring 2005	Autumn 2005	Spring 2006	Autumn 2006	Spring 2007	Autumn 2007
Sample province
Guangxi	Mean	35	26	29	28	32	18
	Median	34	20	32	20	33	23
Hubei	Mean	10	11	38	53	27	34
	Median	7	5	25	47	20	31
Zhejiang	Mean	3	7	8	9	13	17
	Median	3	3	3	3	3	11
Heilongjiang	Mean	44	31	15	22	14	18
	Median	38	3	16	16	16	18
Sample county
Guiping	Mean	–	1	1	1	1	2
	Median	–	1	1	1	1	2
Yongfu	Mean	8	8	17	17	32	23
	Median	0	0	16	12	36	23
Rong’an	Mean	46	42	46	49	42	31
	Median	35	31	38	39	35	31
Xiaochang	Mean	–	0	61	58	33	30
	Median	–	0	62	56	29	31
Wuxue	Mean	6	5	15	47	19	85
	Median	5	5	6	47	10	85
Chibi	Mean	29	29	42	32	27	31
	Median	29	29	42	32	20	30
Jiangshan	Mean	3	11	12	16	23	31
	Median	3	10	13	21	29	32
Anji	Mean	2	2	4	4	4	5
	Median	2	2	3	3	3	3
Lin’an	Mean	7	7	3	4	6	13
	Median	7	7	3	3	6	13
Mishan	Mean	35	2	7	13	14	18
	Median	2	2	7	13	14	18
Tangyuan	Mean	73	73	23	40	–	–
	Median	73	73	23	24	–	–
Keshan	Mean	–	–	16	–	16	–
	Median	–	–	16	–	16	–
Total	Mean	23	19	27	29	26	24
	Median	8	5	16	20	21	21
Number of sample schools		26	33	53	56	60	36

1. Method The number of boarding students receiving living subsidies is divided by enrollment for the year to obtain the percentage at the schools; then, the mean value and median are calculated using data from schools