Abstract
It is an internationally observed phenomenon in education provision that rapid quantitative expansion is often out of step with quality. How to maintain a balance between more opportunities and better quality has been a critical dilemma for educational policy-makers. Almost 50 years ago the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights proclaiming that: “Everyone has the right to education. Education should be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory” (United Nations, 1956). In spite of the most praiseworthy efforts, for many children in today’s world, especially those in developing countries, this minimum right still remains a distant dream. According to UNESCO’s World Education Report (1995b), there are 75 million school-aged children in Asia and Oceania who have no access to education. Over half of the total of 884.7 million adult illiterates in the world live in China and India, namely, 166.2 and 290.7 million respectively. As the most populous continent, Asia has been and will remain the major battlefield for the international campaign toward a more literate World.
This study was made possible with the sponsorship of the Graduate School for International Development and Co-operation (IDEC), Hiroshima University. The author wishes to acknowledge his personal gratitude to Gansu Institute for Educational Research (GIER) for their institutional support. This study also benefited from the stimulating insights and devoted personal help from many scholars, in particular, Shuichi Nakayama, Shigekazu Takemura, Raja Roy Singh, Li Binde, Ma Peifang, Rupert Maclean, Penkae Matrakul, and John Fox.
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Zhang, T. (2003). Education of Children in Remote Areas. In: Keeves, J.P., et al. International Handbook of Educational Research in the Asia-Pacific Region. Springer International Handbooks of Education, vol 11. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-3368-7_12
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-3368-7_12
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