Equal education for all

The proverb about a carp jumping over a waterfall at a dragon's gate is an old and enduring Chinese cultural symbol for courage, perseverance and accomplishment. It was originally used as a metaphor for success in passing very difficult imperial examinations required for entry into the imperial administration.

But for many children in rural China today, the waterfall is too high to leap over.

After 30 schools for the children of migrant workers were shut over the past three months in Beijing, most of the 14,000 students have been put in schools for Beijing pupils, some returned to their hometowns and still others are waiting for new schools.

This small group of rural children is an example of the yawning gap in educational opportunities for rural and urban students.

For decades the government's focus has been on urban schools and higher education. Basic schooling in rural areas has been left far behind, along with the rural-urban wealth gap.

Urban schools are outfitted with computer labs, offer instruction in foreign languages and have extra-curricular activities such as music and arts.

In contrast, rural schools get by with barely enough teachers to cover the basics. Village students in many rural areas must travel to township centers to attend junior middle schools, and then farther afield to county centers for high schools.

The centralization of secondary education is part of a government effort to use scarce resources in rural areas more effectively.

The poor, remote areas can hardly find qualified teachers. Still, local authorities in some cash-strapped areas owe their teachers a lot in back pay.

This "two-track" system for urban and rural schools shows how educational opportunities in the country have been unevenly distributed.

For primary education to be successfully delivered in rural China, the financial relationships between the different levels of the government must be clarified and the sources of educational funding diversified.

Due to the lack of public educational funding in rural areas, children from farmers' families are more likely to drop out at the junior high or even primary school level.

This means they lose the opportunity to take the national college entrance examination to further their studies at institutes of higher learning.

The two-track system that has contributed to the current disparity between urban and rural areas should be abandoned to ensure that no child is left behind in compulsory education.

Despite the man-made waterfall at the dragon's gate, many rural children hope to get the kind of education that will allow them to move beyond the poverty of village life. They should not be deprived of this opportunity.