Abstract
According to the 1986 Compulsory Education Law of the People’s Republic of China, all children who have reached the age of six are required to enrol in school and receive compulsory education for nine years—six years of primary school and three years of junior high—regardless of sex, nationality or race. Article 10 of the law states clearly that “The state shall not charge tuition for students receiving compulsory education”. However, in many cities, local government bodies have established what are known as “key schools” and are charging school-selection fees or “voluntary” donations—practices that have attracted condemnation from the media (Cai 2005). Many parents who want a better quality of education for their children are required to pay surprisingly high school-selection fees to key schools. Those who cannot afford to pay have to accept lower-quality education with poorer school facilities, less experienced teachers, and a lower chance of going on to a good university (Tam 2009). Against this background of inequality between key schools and common shcools, many parents use guanxi to acquire school places.
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Ruan, J. (2017). Using Guanxi to Gain School Places. In: Guanxi, Social Capital and School Choice in China. Palgrave Studies on Chinese Education in a Global Perspective. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-40754-8_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-40754-8_2
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