University is still not the first choice for China's rural youth

• Source: The Global Times
• [14:31 May 07 2009]
• Comments

By Zhang Feifei

As soon as he finished high school, 20-year-old Geng Li from Dengzhou county, in Nanyang city of Henan Province, packed his bags and left behind two sick parents and sister to join the thousands of young people who want to find a job.

His destination was Beijing, the dream city for millions of migrant workers who swarm to capital every year.

“I thought I could find a decent job here and began a new chapter in my life,” he told the Global Times.

Soon after arriving, Geng found a job as a security guard at a local university, but only six months later, he left and travelled to Hangzhou to continue his “migration” journey.

   He is not alone as thousands of young rural “gold-rushers” quit middle school to work as migrant workers in China’s big cities.

According to the Chong Qing Evening News, more than 10,000 high school graduates didn’t even register for the College Entrance Examination; most were from rural areas in Chongqing Municipality.
  
Nationwide, 40 percent of junior middle school students in China’s rural areas drop out during their studies according to a survey conducted by the Central Committee of China Association for Promoting Democracy in 2005.
 
Wasting time on education

Asked why he didn’t continue studying, Geng smiled bitterly and answered frankly, “You know, farming is the only income for my family. With an annual income of 3,000 yuan, I just couldn’t afford the tuition fees,” he said with frustration in his voice.

The average cost to go to China’s universities is 10,000 yuan per year, including the tuition, accommodation, and daily spending. Some art or technical colleges will cost more, according to a report by the People’s Daily.

 “Also, most of my peers from the same hometown area prefer working directly after middle school rather than going to colleges or technical schools,” Geng continued. “It has become a common idea in my hometown that even you are accepted into a university, you may still not find a well-paid job after graduation.”

Professor Zhu Xiaoman, head of the UNESCO International Research and Training Centre for Rural Education admitted that rural graduates may be at a disadvantage when competing with their counterparts born in the cities.

“With relatively fewer social networks and financial resources, the employment outlook for rural youth could be more challenging, especially due to the financial crisis, which could make them think it’s useless to read,” Professor Zhu said.

However, she didn’t believe the economic downturn was the main reason for Geng’s decision to give up going to university.

“If he took the College Entrance Examination and was enrolled into a university, he could go on with his studies without having to pay at first with the help of a program called ‘Green Pass’,” Zhu explained.

In order to ensure rural students with financial difficulties can get a chance at tertiary education, all public universities in China are required to set up the "Green Pass" system to give out loans and funds to this group of people. As many as 390,000 students benefited from the policy in 2005, according to the website of the Ministry of Education.

“In recent years, there are fewer and fewer rural kids being excluded from universities for economic reasons,” Professor Zhu said. “A financial aid system has been undergoing development, which includes national scholarships, commercial loans and part-time job leads.”