Strategically placing education in
primacy to the development of other items, the Chinese
government formulated the policy of "developing the
country through science and education," constantly
deepens the reform of education system, and carries out
nine-year free education. Governments at all levels are
increasing investments in education, and encourage people to
run schools through any channel and
manner.
" Oriented to the modernization,
the world and the future" is not only the guiding
principle for the development goal of Chinese education but
a principle for its daily educational reform and
construction.
Generally, education in China can
be divided into the following
stages:
Pre-school education for the 3-5 years
old children in kindergartens.
Primary education for
6-11 years old children. Primary schools are usually run by
local educational authorities, and in some cases, by
enterprises and individuals.
Secondary school
provided to 12-17 years old children. Education of this kind
is conducted by local governments and various business
authorities, and classified as secondary schools or
vocational high schools whose graduates hold the same degree
studying as graduates senior middle schools and sorts of
secondary professional schools whose graduates enjoy some
privileges as from colleges. In particular, public secondary
schools include junior middle schools and senior middle
schools, both of three years' study. Students graduating
from junior schools usually go to common senior middle
schools, and parts of them go to vocational high schools or
secondary professional schools for 3-5 years of studying.
Higher education constituted by those for vocational
college students, undergraduates, postgraduates and doctoral
students. Higher education is performed by universities,
colleges, institutes and vocational colleges. These
institutes bear the three major tasks of raising courses,
doing scientific researches and providing social services.