Shenzhen considers offering 12 years of free education by 2025
- Hi-tech hub would be one of a handful of mainland Chinese cities to introduce free schooling for all children
- The government has come under fire for failing to provide enough public school places in the city
If it goes ahead, Shenzhen will be one of a handful of mainland cities to offer free schooling for all children after neighbouring Zhuhai – which has a much smaller economy – was the first to do so in 2007.
The city’s education bureau is assessing a proposal put forward by local legislators to extend free education to 12 years, local newspaper Shenzhen Special Zone Daily reported on Wednesday.
“Shenzhen will explore [the feasibility] of extending free education on the basis of the current nine years of compulsory education extending to cover the two ends – the preschool and senior secondary levels,” the bureau said in a reply to the legislators. “[Our aim] is to strive to gradually introduce 12 years of free schooling by 2025.”
While Shenzhen has been successful in expanding its economy – its GDP has surpassed Hong Kong’s, reaching 2.77 trillion yuan (US$423 billion) in 2020 – the government has been criticised for failing to provide enough public school spaces for the city’s children.
Yang Qin, a member of the local legislature, the Shenzhen People’s Congress, said the authorities had invested more in education, from preschool to university level, but there was more to be done.
“There will be all sorts of problems if Shenzhen only extends compulsory education to 12 years,” Yang told Shenzhen Special Zone Daily. “[We] can instead start [this process] by offering free education first.”
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Xiong Bingqi, director of the 21st Century Education Research Institute, echoed that view, saying it would be easier to offer free education for all children than to extend compulsory education to 12 years since it would be a more complicated process.
“Making [education] free would be less controversial as it would mean the government increases funding but students won’t be obliged to [go through 12 years of schooling if they don’t want to],” Xiong said. “More investment in education and free education will no doubt contribute to greater access … and reduce the burden on families.”
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He said while Shenzhen had made great progress in recent decades to become a leading tech centre it struggled to attract and retain top talent because parents were concerned about the lack of quality education for their children in the city.
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Fu said Shenzhen had been slow to meet demand for more kindergartens and primary schools, even as prestigious universities such as Peking University and the Harbin Institute of Technology set up campuses in the city.
He said it had become a problem as more professionals moved to Shenzhen.
“The negative impact of the shortcomings in basic education began to slowly unfold – the Shenzhen authorities are well aware of it,” he said. “We need to look at the big picture and … how to strengthen university education and innovation in an increasingly competitive international environment.”
