Beijing (AsiaNews) - The Chinese educational system is again in the crosshairs of civil society: malnutrition in rural schools and the massive amount of debt that has accumulated in the management of private universities are putting a serious strain on the survival of the industry. Beijing fears students discontent and is trying to manage the difficulties with targeted interventions, but with little success.
The waters were rippled by Wu Zhongxin, delegate to Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference: This is an organization that supports the National People's Congress, the "Parliament" in China, which meets once a year to transform the Politburo decisions into law. According to Wu, "elected" in Hunan province, the authorities need to tackle the problems of industrial and private operators to manage university facilities effectively.
Although "state" on paper, the educational system in recent decades has had to resort increasingly to the work of private institutions. Constructing buildings, dormitories, canteens and providing electricity and food are areas where the state no longer is directly involved, outsourcing to private firms. The 38 million square meters of new dormitories built between 1999 and 2002 - a figure that exceeds the total on the previous 50 years - were constructed for most part by such firms.
In Hunan alone, Wu said, private firms have spent more than 5.3 billion Yuan (about 530 million euros) to build 49 new provincial universities: these are home to over 400 thousand students. The deputy, also rector of the University of Economics and Finance of the province, stressed that in his university alone payment of debts amounting to 100 million yuan was blocked. For the entire country, according to some data, the debts amount to a rate that fluctuates between 450 and 500 billion Yuan.
The problem, he concluded, is linked to the price freeze imposed by the government since 2000. Beijing, in response to the international debt crisis, has calmed the tariffs for the supply of goods and services: to avoid the inflationary surge and unemployment, the government has in fact chosen to lock prices in an artificial situation. Now, however, it is imploding: in several universities, without notice, the energy is cut off, or goods are seized. Students complain of a terrible situation.
The discontent of the students frightens the government. In fact a student movement led to the anti-corruption and democracy movement that culminated in the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989. Not being able to use brute force for now, Beijing has chosen a dilatory path but has sparked media attention and civil society.
The nutritional status of rural schools, where mostly children or pre-teens study for a total of 26 million people, is also causing serious discontent. After a press campaign, several structures have decided for on a line of "transparency" with regard to local soup kitchens, but the funds appear to be small. To avoid cases of malnutrition private individuals are stepping in: Deng Fei, a journalist, has collected about 20 million Yuan to be allocated to children.
To keep the entire school system afloat, which in the country is provided free of charge for at least the first 5 grades, Beijing has allocated for 2012 about 100 billion dollars. This is a substantial investment, or about 4% of gross domestic product, which involves the lives of an estimated 450 million people. In the U.S., the planned investment for 2012 is approximately 900 billion US dollars. For military expenditure, involving more or less 40 million people, the government has invested 106 billion dollars. It should also be stressed that this is the official figure: according to several analysts, spending reaches at least 120 billion and is growing.
