The central government says it is committed to spending the equivalent of 4 per cent of gross domestic product on education next year, despite having failed to deliver on the same promise for 11 years.
During a special National People's Congress Standing Committee review of the implementation of a 10-year blueprint for education development, Deputy Finance Minister Zhang Shaochun said yesterday government spending on schooling was likely to be between 3.83 per cent and 3.86 per cent of GDP this year and that there should be little problem reaching 4 per cent next year.
Beijing initially set the 4 per cent target in 2000 to bring China in line with many developing countries. However, it has repeatedly failed to deliver and the country only registered spending equal to 3.66 per cent of GDP in 2009.
The National Outline for Medium- and Long-Term Education Reform and Development, covering 2010 to 2020, was released at the end of February last year amid rising public discontent over a school system increasingly dogged by bureaucratic corruption and widening inequality.
To meet the target next year, Zhang said the central government would continue to prod regional governments into spending more on education and making some of the proceeds from land sales available for schooling, among other initiatives. He stopped short of specifying how much would be spent beyond next year.
Standing Committee member Wu Qidi said she was concerned about the long-term sustainability of the funding mechanism.